Football workbooks for coaches and young players

Coaching a team? Pick the workbook for your age group. The U6-U7 notebook is written for 5 and 6-year-olds in Year 1 and Year 2, with short games told as stories and match-day sheets that suit the FA's 3v3 format for under-7s. The U8-U9 workbook is for 7 and 8-year-olds and 5v5 match days. The U7 to U13 workbook suits a coach who follows several age groups and records proper matches: each drill is marked U7-U9, U10-U13 or both, and as the book follows French age groups (by calendar year, not school year) they line up with English ones give or take a few months. Buying for a player? The journal for ages 7 to 13 starts every match with a target to write down; the season journal for ages 13 to 17, roughly U14 to U18, adds a game plan, detailed stats and an end-of-season review.

Everything prints in black and white on a home printer, on A4 or US Letter. The U6-U7 and U8-U9 pages measure 21 × 27.9 cm and print at actual size on either paper; the U7 to U13 workbook and both journals are US Letter, so choose “Fit to page” on A4. You can reprint session plans, match sheets or match pages for your own use (another team you coach, next season, a brother or sister), but please don't share the file.

Planning your first sessions? Our U7 football session plan shows how an hour of games fits together, and personal goals for football players gives 25 examples a young player can copy into their journal. Coaches in the US call it soccer: the drills are the same, just check your league's format.