What Are Principles Of Play In Football?
The way we talk about football has changed dramatically in recent years. Significant progress in data and analytics, and improvements in the way this area of the game is communicated to wider audiences (via platforms like The Athletic, Tifo, and Analytics FC) mean that typical football fans have a much wider football vocabulary than ever before.
Whether it's counter-pressing or forming a low block, building out from the back or focusing on specific patterns of play, there is now a wealth of different phrases and terms used by average supporters to describe what happens on a football pitch.
One phrase that hasn't yet sunk in for the masses (although it may in the not too distant future) is 'principles of play'. It's an expression that gets to the root of how football is played, focusing on the most basic things each team tries to do when it takes to the field.
And in this article, we'll be explaining exactly what the phrase 'principles of play' means, and how it impacts the work done by coaches all over the world.
What Are Principles Of Play?
Described by Luke Saunders, a game insights analyst at the English Football Association (FA) as "the building blocks of football," principles of play form the basis of every single football training session.
According to Saunders — whose work is all about translating insights and data from professional competitions and tournaments and applying them to youth, amateur, and grassroots football — understanding and teaching the principles of play in football is about giving players the tools they need for problem-solving.
"The principles of play are the fundamental ways a team attacks and defends effectively," he explains on England Football Learning. "A team's tactics and strategies may differ, but the principles of play will always remain the same across all formats of the game."
Principles of play boil down to the simple question: what is a coach trying to get their team to do when attacking and defending?
Do they want to gradually work their way up the central areas of the pitch using passing triangles? And how tight and compact does the coach want their players to be when the opposition has the ball? Do they want to press aggressively or sit back and challenge the opponents to break them down? All these considerations are part of a coach's playing principles.
This brings us to the fact that even if they aren't using the specific phrase 'principles of play', the vast majority of football coaches all over the world (whether they're at grassroots level, semi-professional, or at the top of the game) already use these foundations on a daily basis.
There's plenty of fluidity when it comes to the way that football actions are described, but principles of play as a concept is all about simplifying the fundamental things that happen and forming a list of key buzzwords for them that coaches can draw on.
How Many Principles Of Play Are There?
There are a total of ten established principles of play within football: five attacking (or in-possession) principles, and five defending (or out-of-possession) principles. These principles of play, established most notably by the English Football Association, are as follows.
-
Penetration
-
Creating space
-
Movement
-
Support
-
Creativity
-
Delaying
-
Compactness
-
Cover and balance
-
Pressing
-
Control and restraint
In order to give each principle the explanation it deserves, we're going to break down these five attacking and five defensive principles in detail so that next time you're watching a game of football, you'll be able to notice these core pillars of the sport in action.
In-Possession Principles Of Play Explained
#1. Penetration: Creating a goalscoring chance tends to rely on a moment of penetration, where the ball is played through, around, or over the opponent. This could be via a pass or a dribble, but either way, it's about breaking through the lines and getting past them.
#2. Creating space: It's very difficult to create chances without first creating space on the pitch, by stretching opposition players, pulling them out of position, and opening up room in different areas.
#3. Movement: This relates to the last point, and is all about players creating opportunities to receive the ball in the best position they can (and shift opposition markers away from their teammates). According to the FA, "movement can be a small adjustment, like stepping backwards away from an opponent. It can also be much bigger and more intense, like sprinting behind the defence."
#4. Support: It's super important that players on the ball are given options by their teammates. Whether it's teammates getting around the ball to provide different passing lanes or moving further away into space, providing support boils down to giving options to players in possession.
#5. Creativity: These are the moments that get fans off their feet; whenever a player beats their direct opponent, performs an outrageous skill, or unlocks a defence that's been difficult to break down, the core principle of creativity is pushed into centre stage.
Out-of-Possession Principles Of Play Explained
#6. Delaying: Slowing the progress of opponents, either by defensive jockeying or screening, or by more physically combative methods like engaging in an aerial duel, is a key defensive principle.
#7. Compactness: Almost all coaches teach their defenders to remain close together as a tight unit when out of possession. This is about marking space (for example, setting up in a low block) and ensuring the gaps between different lines (eg. defence and midfield) are small and difficult to exploit.
#8. Cover and balance: When a teammate moves out of position in order to press the ball or mark a particular space, it's crucial that another player slots in to provide cover and keep a broader shape.
#9. Pressing: An increasingly important part of the modern game, all sorts of pressing structures are at play these days, but ultimately this is about pushing tighter to opponents, defending spaces, forcing them into an area where the ball can be won, or forcing opposition players into making a mistake.
#10. Control and restraint: All 10 principles must be balanced delicately, and the final one sums this up perfectly. Control and restraint is about picking your moment, performing defensive actions at the right time, showing discipline in your positioning, and waiting until a certain trigger is presented to you before you act.
As the FA explains, "As the game is forever moving and changing, so too are the required principles - when is the right moment to stop the control & restraint and put the ball carrier under pressure? Does our team's compactness allow the opponents to play around our defensive shape too easily? When is the right moment to delay and which players should be providing cover & balance?"
How To Coach Principles Of Play
It's crucial that coaches don't get bogged down in technicalities; ultimately, the phrase 'principles of play' is designed to boil football down to some core fundamentals, rather than making things more complicated.
[1/2] There are no 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒔, there are 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚.
— MÁS Positional (@maspositional) June 13, 2025
Roberto De Zerbi explains that today schemes no longer exist, there are principles of play that prepare the team to manage different game situations through a common language. pic.twitter.com/3QSEOEDO2a
When on the training ground, coaches are encouraged to make this terminology as simple as possible, tailoring its delivery to the age group in question. For young age groups, football skills could be described as 'super powers' and terms like 'hunting in packs' could be used to make tactical strategies more evocative and vivid.
A term like 'restraint' could be turned into 'hold', while 'compactness' could just be translated to 'stay tight'. It's ultimately down to the coach to judge what players will be comfortable with and adapt their language accordingly.
"Combining [the principles of play] with other things that you're already doing is really powerful," says Jack Saunders, who stresses the importance of a holistic approach that places these principles of play within a broader context.
"Every team will have their own what we call 'game model'" he says. "You're gonna have a style of play you like, or that you think's effective with your players. Let's say it's long ball. My centre back's gonna pick up the ball and hit it forward and we're just gonna run after it: that's penetration, you're just penetrating over the defence rather than through it. So you're already working on these things, they're not new."
By observing key moments and actions in the game and counting them — for instance, number of penetrative passes, wide crosses, or moments of creativity — coaches can create a bank of easily accessible data to help show players how they're performing in certain key areas and tweak the application of the ten principles of play.
Crucially, coaches should also try to identify what opponents are doing principles-wise: are they playing it long or playing out from the back? Are they pressing high in packs, or waiting for certain triggers to press in midfield? By better understanding opposition principles, you can tweak your own approach in order to maximise performance.
If you're interested in building your understanding of the principles of play by gaining a coaching qualification, check out our article on how to become a football coach in the UK.
Related Articles
What Are Patterns Of Play? (And How To Coach Tactical Patterns)
