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Football · Level 5

Upper-Intermediate

10 sub-levels · 100 tests · 1000 facts · updated 6 September 2026

Level 5 deepens tactical understanding beyond Level 3 fundamentals: pressing systems and triggers, possession philosophies, direct play, build-up structures, defensive schemes, attacking geometry, set-piece design, football analytics, formation logic, and the tactics of the modern women's game.

Sub-levels

Sub-level 5.1Pressing Triggers & GegenpressingFrom Michels and Sacchi to Klopp and Iraola: pressing triggers, counterpressing principles, cover shadows, traps, PPDA and high turnovers — and what happens when the press breaks.10 tests · 100 factsSub-level 5.2Possession PhilosophiesTotal Football, Cruyff's Dream Team, tiki-taka, juego de posición and relationism: superiorities, the third man, rondos, possession metrics — and the failure modes of the ball-dominant game.10 tests · 100 factsSub-level 5.3Direct & Counter-Attacking FootballFrom Reep and catenaccio to Mourinho, Simeone and Leicester: verticality, transitions, second balls, rest attack, counter metrics — and the modern direct turn of 2025-26.10 tests · 100 factsSub-level 5.4Playing Out from the BackSweeper-keepers, the salida lavolpiana, the +1 principle, inverted full-backs and the 2019 goal-kick law: how modern teams build from the gloves up — and what it costs when it breaks.10 tests · 100 factsSub-level 5.5Defensive Schemes & The Offside TrapLaw 11 from 1925 to SAOT, pressure-cover-balance, block mechanics, the trap's cues and catastrophes — and the champions built from the back, from Graham's Arsenal to Flick's Barcelona.10 tests · 100 factsSub-level 5.6Attacking Geometry: Half-Spaces & WidthHalbraum, false nines, inverted wingers, overlap-versus-underlap, wing-back width, five-corridor pitches, cut-backs and box geometry: how modern teams draw the field to make attack.10 tests · 100 factsSub-level 5.7Set-Piece Design & Dead-Ball SpecialistsFrom Panenka in Belgrade to Jover at Arsenal and Cueva at Chelsea: corner routines and blockers, in-swingers and out-swingers, walls and Panenkas, long throws and dead-ball specialists — and the failure modes that…10 tests · 100 factsSub-level 5.8Football Analytics: xG & BeyondFrom Charles Reep's notebook to StatsBomb 360: xG, PSxG, xA, xT, OBV, VAEP and field tilt — how the game learned to value events, actions and positions, the people who built the tools and the specific ways models…10 tests · 100 factsSub-level 5.9Formations & Their LogicFrom the 2-3-5 pyramid and Chapman's WM to Bielsa's 3-3-1-3, Alonso's 3-4-2-1 and Guardiola's 3-2-4-1: how numeric shapes evolved, how coaches use them, how they transform between in-possession and out-of-possession,…10 tests · 100 factsSub-level 5.10Women's Football: Tactics & Modern EraFrom Dick, Kerr Ladies and the 1921 FA ban through Marta, Wiegman and Bonmatí to Arsenal's 2025 Lisbon win: how the women's game's tactical vocabulary has converged with the elite men's game, the era's landmark…10 tests · 100 facts

Written from

IFAB Laws of the Game / UEFA & FIFA technical reports / Opta & StatsBomb definitions / coaching literature