Is 3v3 the future of football? Why FA thinks ‘playground feel’ is the way ahead

New format is coming in for under-sevens next season, giving children more chance to express themselves

There are six different colours of bib strewn across the indoor pitches of St George’s Park. There’s an equally vibrant kaleidoscope of disc cones marking out small pitches, and there are collapsible goals at each end. Amid it all are a load of youngsters, largely unattended, trying skills, dribbling past opponents, shifting from pitch to pitch and forming new teams. It’s 3v3 football: a bit messy, a little unstructured and, the Football Association hopes, a key development in ensuring the future of the game.

From next season, as part of a new strategy for youth football, the youngest cohort in the game – the under 7s, which is six- and seven-year-olds – will play three-a-side instead of five-a-side. When they’re under-eights, they will shift back to five-a-side. It’s a small tweak that lasts for just 12 months, but the FA believes a window of exposure to this new form of the game will help improve young players’ technical ability and decision-making on the pitch. There are also quieter hopes that 3v3 may make some positive changes off the field, too.