Most advice assumes smaller numbers

A rondo "with everyone" works fine at 12-16 players. At 22+, the same activity either becomes unwieldy (a 4v1 rondo with 22 players means most are standing around) or needs adapting — and most coaching content simply doesn't address this gap.

Splitting into groups: the basic solution

Most activities scale by running MULTIPLE instances simultaneously — three separate 4v1 rondos instead of one impossible 22-player one. This requires more space and more equipment (more balls, more marked-out areas) but the ACTIVITY itself doesn't need reinventing — just multiplying.

Activities that scale well

  • Multiple parallel rondos/small games — as above, the default solution for most technical/tactical work.
  • Whole-group warm-up games (see our warm-up games guide) — games like "stuck in the mud" or "traffic lights" genuinely work at almost any group size, since everyone's doing the same simple thing simultaneously.
  • Parallel small-sided games — for the game phase, 3-4 separate small-sided games running at once (with enough space) gives everyone real game involvement, vs one massive game where most players rarely touch the ball.

Setting up the space before players arrive

With 12 players you can improvise the layout as you go. With 22, that costs you five minutes of standing around while you sort it out mid-session — and that's five minutes where attention drifts. Mark out your parallel areas (cones at each corner, one colour per group if you have them) before anyone arrives, and decide in advance which group starts where. If you're using a shared pitch or hall, claim your section early — arriving five minutes before kick-off to find another team has taken the space you needed for three parallel grids is a large-group problem you don't get with a smaller squad.

Common mistakes when scaling up

  • Running one big version instead of several small ones — the single most common mistake. One 22-player possession game with one ball means most players are spectators. Three 7-8 player games with one ball each means everyone's involved throughout.
  • Explaining to the whole group at once — with 22 players in a loose semicircle, the ones at the back stop listening within seconds. Bring everyone in tight, physically close, before you explain anything, and keep the explanation to one or two sentences plus a quick demonstration.
  • Not having a plan for transitions — moving 22 players from one activity to the next takes noticeably longer than moving 12. Have a simple, consistent signal (a whistle, a shout of "switch") and a clear idea of where each group goes next, rather than figuring it out on the spot while players wait.

The assistant question

At 20+ players, even basic oversight (everyone roughly doing the right thing, nobody unsupervised) becomes genuinely harder solo — see our delegation guide. This is the scenario where assistant help moves from "nice to have" to "makes a meaningful practical difference," even if it's just someone keeping an eye on one of several parallel groups.

Equipment at scale

Multiple parallel activities need multiple sets of equipment — more balls (roughly one per 3-4 players for most activities, more for ball-each activities), more cones for marking multiple areas, more bibs for multiple games. See our kit bag guide — at this scale, "enough" means noticeably more than smaller-squad guidance suggests.

Keeping everyone involved

The core risk with large groups is players at the periphery — physically (on the edge of a big group) or in terms of involvement (rarely touching the ball in a too-large game). Smaller parallel groups, as above, are the main defence against this — but it's worth actively checking: is anyone consistently on the edge of things, regardless of which activity?

Adjusting by age group

22 U7s and 22 teenagers are different problems. Younger players need more, smaller groups (three or four players per group, not eight) because attention spans are shorter and instructions need to be simpler — but they also need less space per group, since technical work at that age doesn't require much room. Older players can handle bigger sub-groups and more complex instructions, but games need proper pitch space to be realistic, which is often the actual constraint at scale — you may simply not have room for four full-size small-sided games, in which case reducing pitch size per game (rather than running fewer, bigger games) usually keeps involvement higher.