Player development ¨C when to introduce 11v11

The debate on when to introduce 11v11 in youth football has been running for years; and it's clear that FA's across the continent have different opinions on when the best time is.

Here in England, 11v11 can't be introduced until the age of 10. Germany wait until 12, France and Sweden bring it in at 13 and Spain leave it until 14 years old.

The FA's development office are keen to push the age up in England to 11, allowing the younger players to be involved in small-sided games for longer, which they expect will improve development.

This is more in keeping with our philosophy. At Everton we don't introduce 11v11 until the under 12's, giving our young players the chance to develop naturally into a full-sided game.

We start them out between the ages of 6 and 8 in 4v4 games. Soon they'll move on to 6v6, before joining the 8v8 programme at under-9 when they are eligible to sign for the club. This natural progression gives the players the chance to take lots of touches, make lots of tackles and score lots of goals as they develop.

At the back end of 10 years old we'll start the transition to 11v11 so they're prepared for a full switch at under 12. Because the development has been so gradual and progressive, by the time the players get to under 12, they are more than ready for the full game.

And during the 12's programme the competitive element is kept to a minimum. We don't enter a competitive league programme until under 18, because it's all about developing the players; and to do that, we need to be able to shape the match situation and develop certain areas of their game. The natural competitiveness of the players comes through in development matches against other Academies like Manchester Utd and Liverpool. This allows us to experiment. We can put players in a range of positions to give them a good array of experience across the pitch. We can also see how they cope in the variety of positions too.

As an Academy, our main focus is to produce players who are ready to compete at the highest level, where the results do matter. It's important we get those players technically developed in order to do this.