Soccer drills and skills

This season, never hunt around for a fresh soccer drill again. Get proven and easy to use drills for all groups and abilities with Soccer Coach Weekly. As a coach, it is your job to give your team the skills and technique to be great players.

The soccer drills in this section will help you coach your players in the core skills of the game. We’ll tell you what to look out for, how to get the ideas over to your players, and we’ll give you games and exercises to really power-up their skills.

Drills by skill

Drills by age group

How to coach goalkeeper passing drills- part 1

The ‘footballing’ goalkeeper

in Goalkeeping, Practice plans

This week’s session is designed to improve your goalkeeper’s ability to pass and receive the ball and make him more confident while in possession. MORE

All round passing and receiving

in Passing, Practice plans

Fine-tune your players’ general passing and receiving and passing. skills with this trio of drills that all take place inside a circle. Increasing the speed of each activity will improve players’ skill level. MORE

Why mistakes help player learning

in Ball Control and Footwork, Email newsletters

Last night I played 5v2 for half an hour with stops to show what it was I wanted the players to do when they were either trying to play the ball or working in pairs. Players make a lot of mistakes in games like this but mistakes are one of the best ways the players can learn and understand the game. MORE

Possession Game

in Passing, Small Sided Games

Both teams must try to win and keep possession of the ball. A goal is awarded to the team that completes a certain number of passes (a minimum of 5 for younger players). The game is played for a set time period. MORE

Arrival activities that work!

in Arrival activities, Email newsletters

It was the first game of the season on Saturday and the local council had decided to close the main road leading to our club's ground. So the phone calls started coming in thick and fast: "Dave we are going to be late." MORE

Chest control

in Ball Control and Footwork, Practice plans

Players should be comfortable at dealing with balls at whatever height they arrive – and that means being able to control a ball that’s too high to control with feet or thighs or too low to head. MORE

How to coach varying pass drills- part 1

Mix and match

in Passing, Practice plans

In matches, players have to make a range of passes across various distances. The practices in this session are designed to improve awareness of when to use a short pass and when a longer pass is required. MORE

The final pass

in Attacking, Tactics

This session works on patterns of play building up to the final ball into the striker. Important for youth players to understand the role of the support players in build up play. MORE

Why small-sided games matter

in Blog, Small Sided Games

Small-sided games are a fantastic way of getting players to work together to score lots of goals with every single player having a big part to play in the game. Small-sided games are not ideal for coaching player positional roles but they do get players to face match relevant situations. MORE

Striker gets free

in Attacking, Shooting

This involves making use of overload situations in your players’ favour, and finding space to score goals in 1v1 situations. MORE

Michael Beale’s multi-ball SSG

in Attacking, Small Sided Games

If your team hasn't won a match for a while, you need to get your players back to basics and working on their core skills. Try this small sided game to help them with their basic skills MORE

Lofted and driven

in Passing, Practice plans

There are two types of long pass: Lofted and driven. Develop your players’ ability to execute both with this session that will keep them interested. MORE

How to coach shooting across goal- part 1

Shooting across the goal

in Practice plans, Shooting

This session will encourage your players to play the percentage game. Shooting across the goal enables the team two chances to score – either directly from the shot or from any rebounds that follow. MORE

Aguero in the box

in Attacking, Shooting

Passing and shooting from in and around the penalty area is vital if you want to score goals. This session gets your attackers doing just that. MORE

Engine room passing

in Midfield, Shooting

When midfielders win the ball they need to make good passes quickly in order to take advantage of any space on the pitch. In this session the quick pass sets up a scoring chance. MORE

How to teach chipping

in Passing, Soccer drills and skills

This simple game not only helps to develop the kind of soft touch your players will need to chip the ball, but it is also a fun way to pack up at the end of a training session too. MORE

Pre-season with your goalkeeper

in Email newsletters, Goalkeeping

I've made it my target as soon as we got back to training to get hold of a keeper... and I have found a great one. It can easily be overlooked when you are the manager of the team unless you have a plan worked out for pre-season that includes your goalkeeper. MORE

Pre-match warm-up

in Passing, Warm Ups

This session works on encouraging communication and good passing and getting players to drive into space and hit the target. MORE

Quick turn and fire

in Practice plans, Shooting

Creating space in a packed penalty box in order to turn and fire off a shot is an invaluable skill that brings great rewards for strikers. MORE

How to coach group defence drills- part 1

“Gang up” defending

in Defending, Practice plans

When a defender puts pressure on an attacker, it is vital that another defender stays close by in a supporting position. This session is designed to improve how your players “gang up” in defensive situations. In doing so, they will improve their understanding, positioning and teamwork. MORE