Football | Football Drills

Players split into pairs or small groups up to 5, with 1 ball per group. Player keep the ball in the air and must take two touches. One touch to control the ball and the second touch to pass the ball to their partner.

Defensive header relay. 3 players with one ball. Front player of the 2 players throws up the ball to the heading player, after the player throws the ball he has to try and close down the heading player. The player heading the ball has to head the ball over the approaching player to the 3rd player waiting to catch the ball.

Set up 3 gates on each side as shown. The blue team run through the blue gates and the red team run through the red gates. Players run with the ball through all the gates, round the last cone and then bring the ball back. The first player to get back wins a point for their team.

Player(s) dribbles from one cone to the other. He/She takes 1 touch with the interior of the foot followed by 1 touch with the exterior while maintaing a good rhythm of forward movement.

*AUDIO DESCRIPTION ON* Goalkeeper starts with the ball and throws it to the attacker Attacker must take a touch and try and get into the end zone to score a goal

The keeper works their way around the circle and must react to three different types of feed which they must try to catch/stop and then return the feeder. The first feed is a simple chest-height catch. After this first stop the keeper then jogs around two cones before sharply changing direction and diving low to catch the second feed. After this the keeper quickly gets back to their feet and jogs around the next cone before then diving to catch the third feed.

Players carry out the commands from the coach. The commands are as follows: Turn Dive left Dive right They must react as quickly as possible.

Players line up in 3 queues, with the ball starting with player 1. Player 1 makes a 1-2 pass with player 2 before passing the ball down the line for player 3 to run onto. Player 3 times their run to meet the pass and gets the ball under control before swinging a cross into the box for the players 1 and 2 to run onto and head into the goal.

Player 2 curves their run away from the passer before then cutting back to the ball. Player 2 receives the ball and turns towards goal in 1 fluid motion. Player 2 then delivers a cross for the waiting centre forward.

Set up: 3 Attacking players from each team on each side of one half, taking it in turns. If you have 2 GKs then have a GK for each team Attacking players A1, A2 and A3 positioned as shown in diagram. Description:  A1 passes to A3, and runs towards the penalty area. A2 runs behind A3 to the upper right corner of the field to be passed the ball. A3 then also runs into the penalty area. Out of the 2 strikers running in, the first person who gets to the box is the one who takes the front post. This will usually be A1 as they started running in first. Therefore A3 takes the back post. A2 crosses in and A1/A3 finishes. The opposition have the same set up the other side and they go while the other team is setting up again. Swap the GK for the opposition Having 2 teams makes the drill competitve The teams switch sides after 10 crosses. After 10 crosses each on each side the team who gets the most goals wins and you can make the other team do a forfeit. (For example a high intensity run)  

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 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.

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.

The coach calls out any of the four directions: Coke, 7 Up, Sprite or Pepsi. The players must dribble their ball in the direction that the coach has called. The coach can introduce other commands such as milkshake - kids do a forward roll, Sparkling water - All players link arms around the coach, Orange juice - all players hop on one leg.

Set out as many gates as possible within the area (2 discs, 2 yards apart). Each player has a ball. Group in pairs. Player 1 must dribble through as many gates as possible in a specified time limit. Player 2 must try and shadow his partner and each time he is able to kick his ball and it hits the ball of his partner, Player 1 loses a point. One point per gate.

3 pairs of players start by holding hands. They are the crocodiles. All other players have 1 ball each. The players dribble around trying to avoid the crocodiles. If a crocodile kicks a players ball out of the area, the player then links hands with the crocodile. Together, they chase other players. Play until 1 player remains.