The importance of transitions in soccer

Soccer is classified as an invasion game, alongside other sports such as netball, rugby, field hockey and basketball.

The key characteristics of any invasion game is that it features teams of an equal number of players, where the overall aim is to attack the opponent’s territory to score some form of goal or point.

Other fundamental factors include the game being played on some form of field or court that has clear boundaries and specifically marked areas within it. In addition, some form of object is used to score, such as a ball, puck or disc.

The concepts of invasion games

As well as these key characteristics and factors, three main concepts are common to all invasion games: in possession, out of possession and transition - the latter can be from in-possession to out-of-possession or from out-of-possession to in-possession.

There are similar characteristics to a team being in and out of possession across all invasion games. For instance, whatever the sport, when a team is out of possession they need to remain compact, while in possession they will need to penetrate the opposition. 

However, it can be argued that the principle of transition within soccer is quite different to most other invasion games and that, in fact, it has a much greater role than in any other sport.

In netball, for example, a turnover does not usually provide opportunities to exploit the opposition due to the positions of the players being restricted.

"Transition happens in different ways and places, resulting in a range of outcomes..."