When coaching young people, the question quickly arises: ‘What position will he play?’ Goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, striker… Children themselves like to define themselves by a role, and so do their parents. However, in youth football, specialising too early in a position can hinder a player’s progress rather than accelerate it. Before a certain age, the main objective should be to train good footballers… rather than specialists in a single position.
1. Why you shouldn’t fix a position too early
Between the ages of 6 and 12, coaches often refer to this as the ‘golden age of learning’: children develop their coordination, motor skills and vision of the game. This is the ideal time to introduce them to as many different situations as possible, both in attack and defence. If they are locked into a single position too early, several risks arise:
- The player progresses only in one type of role (e.g. always defender) and develops less certain qualities that are useful everywhere: dribbling, finishing, covering, pressing.
- Their overall understanding of the game remains limited: they know ‘their zone’ well, but understand less about the needs of other positions.
- They may become bored if they never have the opportunity to change roles, especially younger players who need variety and enjoyment.
Studies on early specialisation in sport also show that focusing too early on a single role or type of movement increases the risk of injury and mental fatigue.
2. The advantages of letting young players explore multiple positions
Conversely, rotating players between different positions (except in special cases such as highly motivated goalkeepers) has many advantages.
- Better understanding of the game: a striker who has already played as a defender has a better understanding of the difficulties faced by the back line, and vice versa.
- Versatility is sought after: modern football greatly values players who are able to adapt to several roles on the pitch.
- More accurate profiling: by testing several positions over several months, we sometimes discover that a player ultimately feels more comfortable in a position that we would not have initially imagined.
- More fun: for children, changing roles, scoring goals one weekend and then saving the team the next is also a way to stay motivated.
In practical terms, in the children’s and pre-teen categories (approximately U8 to U12), it is often advisable to have each player play in at least two or three different positions during the season.
3. When should players start specialising?
There is no single magic age, but many recommendations point in the same direction: in team sports such as football, it is best to wait until the early teenage years before committing to a specific position.
n practice, a reasonable approach might be:
- Before age 12: focus on discovery. Players rotate regularly, particularly between defensive, midfield and offensive positions.
- Between ages 12 and 14: profiles begin to emerge (fast wing-back, centre-back, defensive midfielder, mobile forward), but some rotation is maintained so as not to pigeonhole players.
- After 14–15 years old: specialisation becomes more logical, especially for players who want to move up to a competitive level. A main position is then stabilised, while retaining the possibility of filling in elsewhere.
The idea is therefore not to reject specialisation, but to postpone it a little to give the player time to build a solid foundation and a real understanding of the game.
4. The role of the coach: guiding without restricting
The role of the coach is not to decide at the age of 8 that a player ‘will be a defender for life’. A good coach observes each player’s qualities, suggests different positions, listens to the player’s wishes, and then gradually guides them towards a main position when the time is right.
In summary
Rather than chasing after the ‘future number 9’ or ‘future number 10’ from football school onwards, it is better to train young people to understand the game as a whole. The position will then come naturally when the player is ready to really commit to it.