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

• Dribbling drills
• Turning drills
• Crossing drills
• Heading drills
• Tackling drills
• Passing drills
• Shooting drills
• Ball control & footwork drills

Drills by age group

• U5 soccer drills
• U6 soccer drills
• U7 soccer drills
• U8 soccer drills
• U9 soccer drills
• U10 soccer drills
• U11 soccer drills
• U12 soccer drills
• U13 soccer drills
• U14 soccer drills
• U15 soccer drills
• U16 soccer drills

Pass to Ronaldo

in Attacking, Passing

A good final ball can create a solid scoring opportunity. The aim of this session is to get players passing like Juventus and to create scoring chances for your own Cristiano Ronaldo MORE

Start scoring more goals!

in Email newsletters, Shooting

It can be a frustration when your players take their chances in training, but fail to do so when they play a match. To help mitigate this problem, I am always using sessions to help all my players to score goals, so if one player is off colour in a match there is always another one to score the goals. MORE

Brazil nuts

in Attacking, Set pieces

This was inspired by the Brazil national team. It needs space for the move to work, so think about it when your players are awarded a free-kick some 25-30 yards from goal MORE

The cross collector

in Defending, Practice plans

Dealing with crosses as part of a defensive unit is a large part of a goalkeeper’s job. That, is why it is vital to spend time on the practice ground helping your goalkeeper with their positioning, communication and punching and catching skills. “The cross collector” shows you how. MORE

Running backs

in Defending, Tactics

This session will help school your players in defending against the many difficult situations that arise from opponents launching long balls down the pitch. MORE

Generate a hunger for the ball

in Attacking, Email newsletters

A couple of weeks ago I was on a course discussing what got youth players thinking during a game and how they could react to that. If their team has the ball what should they be thinking about and if they have lost the ball how should they react. MORE

Busquets in control

in Defending, Midfield

Use this training session to coach your midfielders how to win possession by quickly closing down the opposition and pressing the player with the ball. MORE

Passing in threes

in Passing, Practice plans

Teams such as Barcelona and Swansea base their games on dominating possession of the ball. You can get your players doing the same with this drill. MORE

Minesweeper

in Defending, Practice plans

The role of a sweeper is given to a player that plays behind the line of defenders. It is that player’s duty to cover the space behind and sweep across to remove the danger of the opponent’s attacks. This is how you can develop the use of a “minesweeper” in your team. MORE

Changing of the guard

in Defending, Small Sided Games

Reacting to quick transitions is key to this session, as is holding onto the ball under pressure. This includes using clever play to shield the ball and get passes away. MORE

Technical development

in Ball Control and Footwork, Small Sided Games

Every young player in your team needs to feel comfortable to have the ball at his feet all the time - especially in tight areas of the pitch. The final part gives ownership of the session to the players. MORE

Challenges as players receive the ball

in Blog, Passing

I spent a lot of time on the receiving moment in a match this week. There are two challenges for young players as they receive the ball. Where is the space? Where is the danger? MORE

Have it, lose it, win it back

in Email newsletters, Passing

Who doesn’t love to dominate the opposition with a lot of possession by intelligent short passes which in the end opens up the entire opponents defensive line? It is a fantastic tactic to use but remember you also need a plan to win the ball back when your team inevitably loses it! MORE

Score in every direction

in Passing, Small Sided Games

This training session is all about the ability to control the ball by passing in tight areas, taking advantage of moments of transition, and being coordinated to change the direction and angle of attack. MORE

Switch to find space

in Attacking, Practice plans

By constantly probing the opposition’s defence by switching the point of the attack from side to side, eventually a space will open up that can be exploited. This session will help you teach your players how to work the ball into such posi MORE

First contact

in Defending, Practice plans

Not all players enjoy defending so it is essential practices are competitive, fun and give the player a reward for winning the ball (the chance to score a goal!) Encourage your defenders to make “First contact” in the bid to thwart an attack. MORE

Winning gateways

in Attacking, Small Sided Games

The session splits the work into two parts: getting the ball wide and attacking in the final third. There are lots of individual responsibilities here, with the pitch in three parts and a job to be done in each zone. MORE

Right foot, left foot… why not both feet?

in Ball Control and Footwork, Email newsletters

I'm not bragging when I tell you my Under 9 team scores lots of goals – they do but that's down to their hard work on the training pitch. And that is not to say they are all perfectly formed with a good shot on the player's favoured foot. My players use both feet... sometimes just to guide the ball into the net with their less favoured foot MORE

Go it alone

in Ball Control and Footwork, Soccer dribbling drills

If you want your players to beat defenders with style, run this session. Getting young players to dribble and beat their opponent in 1v1 situations is vital to getting behind the opposition defence and creating goalscoring chances. MORE

Create your own Fergie Time

in Attacking, Email newsletters

Scoring last minute goals can be due to the opposition tiring or suddenly becoming less attacking and sitting back hoping for the final whistle – but it can also be because your team is putting in a big effort to score a winner or to rescue a point with clever use of tactics. MORE

Shooting competition

in Fun soccer games, Shooting

This session coaches two-touch shooting, one of the weapons Aaron Ramsey of Juventus uses on the edge of the area to control and fire in a shot. This is a fun game that gets players competing against each other in teams MORE

Quick thinking midfielders

in Midfield, Small Sided Games

This game develops quick thinking midfielders like Christian Eriksen. Players like this can set up attacks by reacting quickly to moments of transition in a game, principally moving from defence to attack. MORE

Shielding the ball

in Ball Control and Footwork, Practice plans

Watch your players’ confidence soar when they realise they can keep control of the ball for longer by using their bodies as a shield to protect the ball. MORE

Showboating

in Ball Control and Footwork, Practice plans

Players should be encouraged to express themselves in practice. This will improve their confidence in matches and they are more likely to try out some skills. You should inspire your players by asking them to play in the “showboating” role of Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. MORE