The 9v9 3-2-3, a 4-3-3 made small
Soccer · Formation · 9 of your players
Three at the back, two in the middle and three up front, with the wingers holding the width. The most common nine-a-side shape, and the bridge to the eleven-a-side system many clubs ask their teams to grow into.
Opens on a soccer pitch with the shape already drawn. Free, no signup.
How the shape works
The keeper, a back three across the edge of the penalty area, a central midfield pair, and a front three: a striker in the middle and two wingers standing on the touchlines near halfway. Eight outfield players, and for the first time the pitch is big enough for three distinct lines with real distance between them.
The 9v9 3-2-3 is popular because of where it leads. Add a full back on each side and it is a 4-3-3, which is the shape a lot of clubs and academies play at eleven a side. A player who learned to hold the touchline as a winger at ten, or to step out of a back three with the ball at eleven, already knows their job at thirteen.
What it teaches
- Wingers who stay wide. The front three only works if the wingers stand on the paint and make the opposition back line choose. Drawn here right on the touchlines, deliberately.
- A back three that plays. With a build-out line, the outside centre backs split wide either side of the box and the middle one drops between them. Animate it from the keeper's hands.
- Two midfielders who share. The midfield pair is outnumbered against a 3-3-2. One holds, one goes, and they swap.
Where it is weak
Central midfield. Against a team playing three in the middle, the two central players are overrun unless a winger tucks in or the striker drops. Draw that picture before the game, not at half-time. If it keeps happening, the 3-3-2 is the same back line with a third midfielder instead of a winger.
Open the 9v9 3-2-3 in the designer and draw a winger's run in behind the full back.
Also known as
- youth soccer
- 9v9
- nine a side
- front three
- small sided
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Put the 9v9 3-2-3 on a pitch
It opens with the shape already drawn. Move the players your team does differently, drag the runs, and send your squad a link that animates.
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