Introducing The TFA Tactics Board: A New Tool For Football Coaches And Analysts

We’re pleased to introduce the TFA Tactics Board, a new tool to help you explore, develop and explain football ideas, whether you’re coaching, analysing matches or learning more about the game.

You might be preparing your next coaching session, illustrating a point in your match analysis or trying to explain a movement that you spotted at the weekend.

The free soccer board gives you a digital pitch to work through those ideas, arrange the players, and show the detail that matters.

It runs smoothly in your browser, with a free diagram editor that you can use straight away, and plenty of additional tools for TFA members!

Whether you read TFA for free or support us as a member, we hope the pitch board becomes a useful part of your own coaching and analysis work.

See An Idea On The Pitch

A passing pattern is a good example of what the board can help you explain.

In the position below, pink number 6 is looking for number 8 between the blue players, with number 11 starting wide.

The aim is to find number 8 and then release number 11 into the space beyond the defence.

Useful questions include the angle of the first pass, where number 8 receives, and when the winger begins the run.

Pink number 8 is currently positioned between the two blue players, cutting off the passing lanes.

Move 8 into space to create a clear passing angle from number 6 and a route towards number 11.

The fixed arrow from number 6 points to the space where 8 should receive.

You can reset the players to their starting positions and compare the options without changing the original board.

Move pink number 8 into the space at the end of number 6’s arrow, then consider the pass into number 11’s run.

Being able to move the players makes this a useful starting point for a coaching discussion or for testing whether a tactical explanation is clear.

Start With The Free Board

You can open the free board and create a tactical diagram without an account.

Arrange players and the ball, draw passes and runs, add text and export the finished diagram as a PNG image.

Starting formations help you set out both teams before adjusting individual positions to suit the situation you want to show.

Player numbers, labels and tactical roles let you give the diagram the detail your audience needs.

For a coaching session, that could mean showing the support positions you want around the player on the ball.

For a piece of match analysis, it could mean illustrating how a team creates an overload or leaves a passing lane open.

You can take the resulting image into a presentation, add it to your written analysis or keep it as a reference for your next session.

What TFA Membership Adds

The member tools let you develop an idea across several phases and show how the situation changes as the players and ball move.

In our passing example, that means following the move from number 6, through number 8 and into number 11’s run beyond the defender.

Animation helps you explain the order and timing of those actions, with phase duration, playback speed and looping available to shape the presentation.

That extra detail is useful when the point you want to make depends on what happens next, such as a midfielder receiving before a defender can close the space or a winger timing a run to meet the pass.

Members also have more ways to explain the football within each phase.

Dribbles, curved arrows, shots and freehand drawing help illustrate different actions, while zones and a spotlight can draw attention to the space you are discussing.

Player body orientation lets you show the direction someone faces when receiving or preparing the next action.

For session planning, cones, mini goals, and mannequins help you lay out a practice, with training grids, smaller pitch formats, and focused pitch views to suit the exercise.

These tools give you room to develop the same idea for different purposes, from a short explanation for players to a more detailed analysis presentation.

Keep And Share The Work You Create

Members can export an animated sequence as a video for a presentation or team discussion, and use a share link so others can view and play the complete sequence.

For written analysis, members can also embed a selected phase as an interactive pitch, like the example earlier in this article.

Readers can move the players and reset the position, giving them a way to explore the idea alongside your explanation.

Your work saves automatically in the current browser, and members can keep multiple named boards there.

Those saves depend on retaining that browser’s data, so members can also export editable project files to keep a separate copy of important work or move it between devices.

You can import a project again when you want to continue editing it.

Try TFA Free Tactics Board

Open the TFA Free Tactics Board and try an idea you are working on, whether it is a pattern for your next session or a moment from your latest match analysis.

The free tools are ready to use without an account.

To access the member tools, sign in with your TFA membership email address.

We hope you enjoy putting the board to work.