Soccer Systems and Strategies

Build a successful team around the strengths of your players! In Soccer Systems and Strategies, two coaches of the Danish national team provide a practical guide to implementing the world's top styles of play into your game plan. They present soccer's four primary systems of play—defined by the number of players at each position and their alignment on the field—and then break down the different strategies, tactics, and styles of play that can be used within these systems.

First, learn the basics of the four primary systems of play: the 4-3-3, the 4-4-2, the 3-5-2, and the 3-4-3. Second, choose a style of play that can be used within some or all of these systems. These include different attacking styles, various defensive styles, and styles that are characteristic of international soccer powers, including the Latin, British, Norwegian, South American, and African styles of play.

After you determine the optimal system and style for your team, you learn how to counter opponents' tactics and how to teach your system, style, and tactics through practice instruction and drills. Detailed diagrams and plans of action for implementing the systems are included, along with insights on how to make adjustments during the game.

Top coaches throughout the world have proven that adapting your system to match your players' strengths and your opponents' weaknesses is the key to developing teams that are competitive year in and year out. With Soccer Systems and Strategies, you have all the information you need to implement the ideal system for your team.

Jens Bangsbo has been playing and coaching soccer for more than 35 years. He spent 15 years as a top-level player in Denmark, playing more than 400 matches in the top Danish league. In international play, he represented Denmark as both a youth player and as a member of the “A” national team.

An instructor at the Danish Football Association since 1986, Bangsbo has published more than 100 articles on soccer and conditioning, and he has written Fitness Training in Football – A Scientific Approach.

Birger Peitersen is also one of Denmark's top soccer figures, having coached the Danish Women's National Team and the national champions of the men's league, and also serving as staff coach of the Danish Football Federation. In 1982, he received the highest coaching award in Denmark, the Diploma in Elite Soccer Coaching.

Peitersen was the expert commentator for International European Matches on Danish television in the UEFA Champions League and for Danish Radio at the World Cup in 1990 and 1998 and the European Championships in 1992 and 1996.