5-a-side Football formation types (with free template downloads!)

One of the best ways you can prepare your team for a football game is to practice the tactics and strategies that you utilise in-game. Of course, building up your base skills of agility and coordination are vital to playing a good game, but tactics can mean the difference between winning and losing, especially in such a fast paced game. 

In order to help you get the most out of your team, we’ve put together a guide to football formations for your team’s practices and created some templates that are free to download! 

Formation Rules

No matter what formations you choose to utilise mid-game, there are some things that are inevitably important.

• Firstly, walk onto the pitch prepared - you should have done some research into how your opponents are most likely to play, what their strengths and weaknesses are so that you can strategise and play against them efficiently. 

• Secondly, every formation you play must adhere to two main rules - always cover attack and defence. If you don’t cover both primary positions, you leave yourself open to the possibility of a goalless game. 

• Lastly, make sure you adapt during the game, as you score goals, lose goals or if you notice your opponents changing tactics, you should be ready to respond. The best way to do this is to have a large collection of football formations up your sleeve, allowing you to comfortably adapt your playing style as you go.

5-a-side formations

When it comes to 5-a-side football, an incredibly fast paced game that requires a lot of skill and preparation, formations and communication are vitally important. If you want to win, your team needs to be tightly knit and be able to move in tandem from one formation to the next throughout the game, keeping your opponents on the backfoot the entire time. By doing this, you’ll quickly find goals come easier as you choose attacking formations, such as the Y, when their defences are open and swap quickly to defensive positions such as the Pyramid or the Wall when they are attacking.

The Square (2-0-2)

The simplest formation to set up, the square is commonly used by inexperienced teams and, while it can become predictable in the eyes of the opponent if it’s followed too rigidly, it can be altered according to need and is a worthwhile formation to learn and practice. 

Communication is imperative to the 2-0-2 formation as, without clear understanding of which attackers and defenders should be pushing or falling back, you risk allowing neither or both to go, which will result in weakened defences and uncoordinated attacks. If you have good communication however, this formation is an excellent way to alternate between defending and attacking swiftly. 

The Pyramid (2-1-1)

With a structure that focuses more heavily on defence than The Square formation, the Pyramid consists of two defenders, one dedicated attacker and one floating midfielder ready to provide support to either position. This formation allows the striker to remain free from defensive manoeuvers, letting them focus on a strong attack strategy while the defenders and midfielder slip between roles to provide attacking and defending support. 

An important thing to remember when performing this formation is that the midfielder, who will likely be running between roles, has the most stamina draining role in this formation, and should be the fittest on the field in order to fully support both attackers and defenders. A more advanced formation than the 2-0-2, the Pyramid also relies more heavily on player awareness and cooperative plays, so prepare your team for this strategy with frequent communication building drills.

The Diamond (1-2-1)

Very similar to the Pyramid’s structure, the Diamond formation features one dedicated striker, one dedicated defender and has two floating midfielders ready to provide support to either position. 

There are two primary risks associated with this formation which you should be aware of if your team intends to try it out. Firstly, the two midfielders will be doing a lot of running and, if possible, shouldn’t be kept in that position long enough for their stamina to drop. Combat this by swapping the players around on the field or by refreshing the midfielder role with substitutes. The second, more obvious risk is that there is only one defender blocking the path of opponent attacks, leaving you more vulnerable to striker attacks. This can be counteracted with support from the midfielders, so make sure they always have one eye on their defences.

The Wall (3-0-1)

The perfect strategy for when you’re playing against a particularly strong group of opponents that are known for their attacking ability, the Wall formation is built from one striker and a wall of three defenders. As with any other formation, you needn’t stick strictly to your positions and can move around the field as needed, but if the defenders move too far from their defence position to help in midfield, they also risk leaving a gap in your team’s defences. 

The best use of the Wall formation in 5-a-side is as a preventative measure. Use it when you notice the opposing team shift into an attacking position to protect from conceding goals. Of course, if you stay in this formation for the whole game, you aren’t likely to score any goals of your own, so be balanced with your plays in order to try for some attacks.

The Y (1-1-2)

While the Wall is a strong defending formation, the Y leaves the goal weakly defended as it focuses instead on attacking plays. With one defender, one midfielder and two strikers, this is a strategy to deploy when your team has strong possession of the ball. Capitalise on the team’s strong position by pushing through the opponents defences with the two strikers and support from the midfielder where needed. 

While it may go without saying, the weakness in the Y formation is the defence. With only one player left to mount a defence, it would only take a unified push from the opposing attackers to push through, so make sure you’re ready to fall back into a defensive position if your team loses possession of the ball. 

Download our free formation templates to help your game

When you’re training your team and just beginning to learn your formations, it can be hard to remember where everyone should be on the field. To help you in your training, we have created some formation templates to work as visual aids. These aids are free to download and can be printed and brought to your training so that you can learn your formations quickly and easily.