Set pieces in youth football: almost a third of goals

In matches for 10 to 12-year-olds, almost three in every ten goals come from set pieces, just like at World Cups. What the data says, what to teach at each restart by age, and how to train it in stages without turning it into chalkboard routines.

Linkalde · 2026-10-27

Corners, free kicks, throw-ins, goal kicks and penalties. In youth football they get little training time, and almost always the day before the match, if there is any time left. Yet the ball is dead for a good part of the game, and a big share of the goals come from those restarts, in children's matches too.

What the data says

A Colombian study analysed the 64 matches of the national finals of the Pony Fútbol tournament, with teams of 10 to 12-year-olds. Of the 160 goals, 113 came from open play and 47 from set pieces: 29.4%. The authors point out that this is similar to the World Cups of USA 1994 and France 1998.

In adult football the figures are similar. The studies gathered by López Pertejo in his work on set pieces range from 23% of the goals at the Mexico 1986 World Cup to 39% at USA 1994. In 190 Spanish First Division matches, 31.2%: one goal in three.

At youth World Cups, FIFA saw set-piece goals rise from 25% to 30% in four years and put it down to «regular, repetitive work» on those plays. Training them pays off.

Lots of match time, little training time

According to the studies cited, the ball is dead for between 41% and 44% of the match. In a First Division side followed over a season, set pieces took up 18 hours of the 331 hours of training: a little over 5%. And almost always on the same day, the day before the match.

The practical conclusion for youth academies is not to rehearse set plays every day. It is not to give away almost half of the restarts: take throw-ins quickly to a free team-mate, don't kick goal kicks down the middle, and have someone alert for the second ball at every corner and free kick.

What to teach at each restart

Herráez suggests guidelines for each restart. These are the ones that make most sense in youth football:

After each restart, the game goes on. A good restart is wasted if nobody is ready for the second ball or to defend the counter when the corner goes wrong.

By age

With the youngest, a set piece should be a quick way to get back to playing, not a chalkboard moment. Horst Wein, in his proposal for football for the youngest players, removes the corner and has the touchline and the byline restarted with a dribble or a pass from the line. That way the child plays instead of waiting.

How to train it in stages

López Pertejo suggests teaching each set piece in five stages, from the simplest and without opposition to the real match situation. There is no fixed time for each: you move on when the team has mastered the previous one.

1. Presentation: explain the play with a drawing or a video, with everyone's role.
2. Learning: repeat it without opposition, in just enough space, until it comes naturally.
3. Anchoring: add opponents who mark and defend, so the player has to decide.
4. Specificity: the play carries on after the restart, with the transition if the ball is lost.
5. Reality: play it in a match, with the whole team and on the real pitch.

A few principles to keep it from becoming mechanical: the player has to look and decide, every restart is tied to what happens next, team-mates communicate, and the difficulty goes with the age. In academies it also helps if everyone goes through every role: one takes it today and finishes tomorrow.