Football | Football Drills

Two players begin the drill on the wings with the ball, while to players wait in the centre. The two players on the wing will run in opposite directions (attacking opposite goals). The central players begin their run once the crosser has taken their first touch. After the cross has been delivered players swap roles.

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.

Set out a triangle with 3 cones all 1 meter apart. Player 1 passes the ball to player 2 through the area of the triangle. Player 2 has to control the ball and touch it to the side before playing a return pass. Players must make sure that when they make a return pass that it is never played through the same side of the triangle that they have just received the ball through.

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.

Set up 4 meter wide channels along each sideline. Play 3 vs 3 in the middle area (between the channels) with a goalkeeper at both ends. Station one player in each channel. The object of the game is to get the ball to your wide player as quickly as possible. As soon as the wide player receives the ball they should sprint to the goal line and cross the ball in towards the goal to their team mates who are attacking the near and far posts.

Set up as shown with two attackers and one defender, with the defender positioned closest to the goal. Attackers must look to pass the ball quickly  before dribbling it into the goal.

Player 1 starts with the ball. The ball is played in with pace to the feet of player 2. As the ball is played in player 2 moves to the ball, and with their first touch aim to bring the ball inside and round the defender. The same can be done on the outside towards the touch line.

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.

Great for warm ups. Players dribble through the cones, pass to the waiting player at the end of the cones and then run back to touch the first red cone. They then turn and sprint back inside the red square where they play a quick one-two. After this they run back towards the start line, looking to run onto the weighted pass from the blue player. The next player then goes.

Player takes 2 footed calf springs along the ladder. He jumps forward two rungs, and then back one, all the way to the end

Set up a square roughly 10m x 10m. Have a few players at each corner. In 2 of the corners (diagonal) a player starts with a ball. They pass the ball clockwise around the square, to the next corner and follow their pass. The ball is passed clockwise around the square. Once each player has passed a few times switch to anti-clockwise. 

This drill encourages players to work together in a Defensive unit and is especially relevant for midfield players. Set up 3 areas in a line: 5 x 5 yards, 20 x 5 yards and another 5 x 5 yards Opposite this, within shooting distance (about 15 yards), set up 4 goal areas in a line, marked by cones. The 2 inside goals will be used for the first game and then just the 2 outside goals will be used for the second game. Have 1 player restricted to each of the 5 x 5 areas, and 2 players in the 20 x 5 area. The goal of these players is to pass amongst themselves to score (firstly in the goals marked "1" and then in the goals marked "2"). Against them will be 4 defenders who will need to work together to shut down these shooting opportunities, starting midway between the boxes and the goals. The coach plays the ball to the Attackers, and at this time the Defenders will approach the Attackers. They cannot travel into the boxes but will use angles to try to stop a quick pass and shoot option.  

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.

Set up two lines of players as show in the image, about 30m from the goals. The first player dribbles with the ball at pace and then puts their foot on top of the ball, to leave it dead in front of the other player. The first player continues their run around the cone in front of them and then runs back inside the area. The receiver uses a positive first touch to move into space and then try to finish through one of the wide goals. The first player should have continued their run and now tries to put pressure on the receiver's shot.

1) Player 8 plays to player 1 who returns the ballslightly wide. Running onto the wide pass player 8 passes the ball down the side to meet the diagonal run of player 4. 2) Player 4 shoots and player 1 makes a supporting diagonal run to the far post for rebounds.