Small game formats work well in football, according to research

In April 2025, Mirjam Hintermann and the project she has been driving forward for over three years received high praise. Play More Football was awarded the Grassroots Award in the category Best Participation Initiative by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).

A tournament format with four goals

Play More Football is a variant of tournament football for the youngest juniors. In addition to the classic game format, Play More Football uses a smaller pitch with fewer players. The larger pitch is for 6v6 players, whereas the smaller pitch is for 3v3. With the integration of the small game format, success is achieved less through strength and endurance and much more through finesse and technique.

It automatically involves whoever is on the pitch. There are not two, but four pop-up goals, as well as slightly different rules that encourage players to recognise varied actions on the pitch. For example, if you shoot out of bounds, you have to go and get the ball. In the meantime, the other players continue with a second ball during the power play. In other words, if you play inaccurately, you end up punishing your own team. Everything is designed to ensure that players experience as much action on the ball and as much playing time as possible. As a result, the game is more enjoyable.

Learning through play instead of just training

“Play More Football wants to provide all young footballers with the best possible conditions for their development in football,” says Mirjam Hintermann. “The way of playing in competition has a significant influence on the training content.”

Football is the most popular sport among children in Switzerland. At the same time, young players who are constantly under or overused in training or competition run the risk of giving up the hobby. “We were looking for a format that would integrate everyone into the game, enabling them to perform as many actions and make as many game decisions as possible,” stresses Hintermann.

Before the start of the study, there was an intensive exchange with coaches. Based on existing scientific findings, they quickly came up with a small game format as a possible addition to the existing one.

At the same time, the football association wanted concrete evidence that the concept works. “Figures proving that such formats work in practice and offer added value are very important for the football association,” explains Hintermann. That is why she took up the theme as a research project in 2017. She collected, analysed and summarised data from 32 football teams over three years.

Combined game format works well

And it was a success: the results show that the players are clearly more active in the new game format. While they have 2.63 actions (per minute of play) on the large pitch, they get the ball 4.27 times in the new format. The effect is even greater for juniors, who tend to get fewer actions on the large pitch. In comparison, they carry out 71% more actions on the small pitch. Which means that Play More Football does exactly what it says on the tin. The players receive and pass the ball more often. In addition, they dribble and conclude more.

“The study confirmed that the combination of large and small game formats works well,” says Mirjam Hintermann. The greater involvement of juniors shows obvious advantages. Thanks to the many actions and repetitions, players make rapid progress, which, unlike with isolated training exercises, can be transferred relatively easily to the action on the pitch.

Scientific data convinces associations

The study set the ball rolling, but a lot of work was still necessary to turn the concept into everyday practice in Swiss club football. Play More Football was introduced by the SFV between 2020 and 2023. “I was able to present my study results again and again before and during the implementation phase,” explains Mirjam Hintermann. “Demonstrating the advantages of the new game format in black and white has helped enormously with the implementation.”

Mirjam Hintermann takes the success of Play More Football, to which she made a decisive contribution with her research work, in her stride. “Football is my world,” says the former player. This is impressively demonstrated not only by Play More Football, but also by her more recent research work:

Hintermann has investigated how biological age can lead to an imbalance in equal opportunities in youth football and what measures could be used to optimise the selection process. Her latest research work analyses how young female football players actively search for information in the playing environment (scanning), and to what extent footballers can train this and improve as a result.

“I am fully committed to the further development of Swiss football and therefore pleased that I can contribute with my work as a sports scientist,” says Mirjam Hintermann.