How do small-sided games play a role in skill acquisition in the most productive European Football Academies? Insights from coaches developing Europe’s top-tier players

Small-sided games (SSG) are a widely used training method in European football academies, fostering technical skill development and tactical awareness. Whilst the effectiveness of SSG for player development is well acknowledged, the prevalence of use of this approach and how it fits into wider academy activity is less well understood. To address this gap, academy coaches (n=10) from thirteen of the most productive club academies took part in semi-structured interviews that explored how SSG are incorporated into academy training methodologies. Interviews found that the 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3 formats were used as a link from the ball mastery phases of skill acquisition Movement Coordination (MCT) phase of the PoST framework, to the Skill Adaptability Training (SAT) phase of the framework, emphasizing representative learning design through task constraints. While smaller formats enhanced technical opportunities, 4v4+ games better replicated competitive match dynamics, reinforcing decision-making under realistic conditions, closely linked to the Performance Training (PT) phase of PoST. The findings support the use of SSG in optimising skill acquisition for academy players and detail when and for what reason the coaches used them.