Football Drills

Encouraging 1st time shooting by using the correct technique to take the shot early and finish from close range. Get your knee over the ball and use the pace of the ball to generate the power. By trying to strike the ball too hard, the likelihoood is the accuracy will be poor. Blue 1 plays ball into area and clue 2 moves in to shoot 1st time. Blue 2 goes to replace blue 1 and blue 1 runs around working area to take blue 2s place.

Position players in groups of 4 as shown in the diagram. Repeat in 2 other areas for a total of 12 players. The server (player 3) stands behind the goalkeeper. He makes a pass out to the shooter who strikes the ball 1st time at the goal. This shot must come from the grid at the right of the diagram. Player 2 retrieves any balls from behind the goal. Repeat and rotate. Progression: Serve the ball for a volley or 1/2 volley.

Set up as shown with 2 cones (the disatance of which between can be modified depending on ability or challenge you want to set your players). 1 player on each cone and 1 player in the middle, 1 ball between the 3. Players always take 2 touches, the ball is moved from one end, into the middle man and then to the other end before the sequence is repeated from the other side.

Players pass and then move to find an empty cone. Players should take 1 touch. With bigger numbers in your training session you can increase the number of cones and the number of balls accordingly.

Set up as shown. Player 1 starts with the ball in the middle of the field and plays a 1-2 pass with player 2 before passing out wide to player 3. At this point, players 1 and 2 run towards the penalty area, ready to receive a cross, while one of the defenders goes out wide to put pressure on the crosser. Player 3 will cross the ball into the box where players 1 and 2 will try to beat the defender to it and score.

Set up as shown with 2 cones (the disatance of which between can be modified depending on ability or challenge you want to set your players). 1 player on each cone and 2 players in the middle, 1 ball between the 4. Play begins with a pass from the outside into the middle. The middle players combine to get the ball out to the other side. The player who passes the ball out follows their pass and gets on the outside. The player on the outside who receives the pass from the middle has 2 choices: 1 - rwtb into the area, turn and pass 2 - pass into the other player in the middle before getting the ball back and passing to the outside player on the other side

2 players, with one ball per pair stand between two cones. Players face each other in the centre of an imaginary line between two cones 10 metres apart. On the coaches command "1-2-3 Quickfire", the players must perform a dragback or Cruijff turn and take the ball past the cone behind. If the player passes the cone before being tackled he/she wins a point.

Each teams has 3 players and one goal to defend and one to attack. The ball is not allowed to stop or go over head height. By passing and dribbling the ball players must try to score three goals - first to three wins!

There are two triangles in this drill, both using the same top point player (player 5). Players in the top triangle pass in an anti-clockwise direction and players in the lower triangle pass in a clock-wise direction. Both pairs of players must use the middle player as their third passing option.

Players on the wing run with the ball down the side of the pitch before crossing for an attacker who has ran into the area, usually at the far post. Attackers begin further back than the wingers and in line with the corner of the penalty area. Once the coach blows his whistle, the attacker must sprint at full speed to reach the area and get on the end of the cross.

Players start on the baseline and run one at a time. The next player starts once the player in front of them has run around the first cone. Players sprint around the outside of the 18 yard box and then run around the cone near the D. Players then slow down to a 50% jog and use quick feet to place both feet in each rung of the ladder. After running through the ladder players run around the next cone and slalom in and out of the cones/poles, facing forward at all times and using quick shuffle feet. Finally players jog back around the cones back to the start point.

Straight forward passing and moving drill with only two touches on the ball. The blue players off the ball can only receive the ball at one of the four cones in each corner of the area and the red player is trying to intercept the ball.

Four players with one ball can only be outside the square of cones. Only one defender is allowed inside the square. The players on the outside have to pass the ball through the square to score a goal. The ball must remain on the floor. The player in the middle tries to intercept the ball. Players should move the ball around at speed to move the defender out of position and create pass to pass across the square.

Form a sqaure with players evenly split across the four corners Working diagnally players must look to dribble across, avoiding those also working across the square The more space they have the bigger toucher they can take

Set up a rectangle, 15x10m, with a player on each corner plus two defending players inside the grid with bibs on. The outside players must try to stretch the two defenders in order to make space for the diagonal pass. In order to do this they can pass laterally and use dummy passes to send the defenders. Players keep count of how many diagonal passes they have completed.

A Christmas themed fun football drill for players. Set up as shown in diagram with cones in the shape of a Christmas tree. Players line up in 2 lines. On the whistle, players must run in the direction show on the diagram. First one to the ball, earns the right to shoot at the keeper. Split into 2 teams and keep score. Try to match players with similar agility.