Top Fundamental Soccer Skills Every Player Must Know

A lot people call soccer “the beautiful game”, but before it can be played that way players need to work on mastering fundamental soccer skills. Even at the highest level of professional soccer, players do the same basic soccer skills they have been doing since they were youth players.

The main differences are they do everything better, faster, and more efficiently, and consistently. All professional players have a required base level for each skill of the game no matter what position they play and then they specialize in the specific skills required for that position.

For example, central midfielders are usually better at passing than wingers while wingers are usually faster than midfielders. There are endless examples, but once you have a basic level of each of the fundamental skills, then you need to develop your position-specific skills to stand out from others.

In this blog post, I will be going over the most important fundamental soccer skills that you need to know about if you are trying to get better at the game.

Technical Skills

In soccer, technical skills are the fundamental abilities I was talking about earlier that all players need to have at a base level. These include skills like:

• Dribbling– Moving with the ball while keeping it under control
• Passing– Moving the ball to a teammate
• Shooting- Striking the ball towards the goal
• Heading- Striking the ball with your head
• Turning- being able to turn while receiving the ball
• Tackling- Taking the ball away from the opponent without committing a foul
• Ball control- How well you can manipulate the ball Juggling– keeping the ball in the air without letting it hit the ground

First Touch

Your first touch, which is technically part of the technical skill of ball control, is so important that it needs its own section. Your first touch sets you up for your next move: which is usually always to pass or take the ball and dribble to space, then pass to a teammate or shoot towards goal.

To improve your first touch, you have to get comfortable using all parts of both feet instep, outside, sole and laces. In soccer, seconds are crucial, and a bad first touch can waste time, slow down play, or lead to a goal-scoring opportunity for the other team.

An excellent first touch will help maintain the speed of play, can help you beat the opponents, and will help you keep the ball under control so that you can perform your next move with confidence.

Skill Moves

Skills moves are a part of dribbling and no matter what position you play you also want to make sure you have some skill moves in your locker room to get out of tricky situations. The most basic and effective skills moves to master include skills like

• The Body Feint
• The stop-and-go
• The Step-over
• The Scissor
• The ball roll
• The Cruyff turn
• La Croqueta
• The Roulette
• The Ronaldo Chop
• The Elastico
• The Reserve Elastico

Game IQ

Game intelligence includes spatial awareness, risk assessment, decision-making, and having a tactical understanding of your position and role based on your team’s formation. Here are some key areas to focus on to help you become a more intelligent player.

• Understand where you have to be positioned relative to where your teammates and opponents are on the soccer field
• Be aware of where the ball is, where your teammates are, where the opponents are, and where the empty space is
• Space = time in soccer.
  • Look for spaces called “pockets” to create time for yourself.
  • The more space you have, the more time you have. The more time you have, the better able you are of making the right decision.
• Think 2-3, even more steps ahead of the play.
  • Think in the future – know what you will do with the ball long before you even get the ball.
• Create angles for your opponent to receive the balls.
  • This means making triangles and different shapes with your teammates and knowing how to move together as one unit.
• Know your role in your team, know what areas of the field you have to cover, and what your primary duties are

Scanning

One of the best ways to improve your game intelligence and overall soccer skills is by improving your scanning abilities. Scanning refers to a player’s head movements when they don’t have the ball and it is used to gather information about the current situation.

By scanning, players learn how to survey their options before making their next decision However, scanning isn’t just about moving your head around for the sake of moving your head; it is more about the information you pick up when moving your head.Think about quantity over quality.

Yes, you need to be scanning a lot, but remember scanning is more about gathering information and what you do with that information. Scanning is also part of how you can become more aware of what is going on around you and can help you better anticipate what is going to happen.

Decision Making

Making the right decisions is one of the most important things as a footballer. You can have all the skills in the world, but if you don’t make the right decisions you are not being as effective as you could be.

Knowing how to make the right decisions comes from experience, having a deep understanding of the game, having a good foundation of all the skills already mentioned in this post, as well as being able to trust your instincts and get in the flow state.

Speed

In soccer, being fast physically and mentally is a very important skill Some players succeed while being fast physically, while others succeed being fast mentally. You can be fast in one or in both, but the point is you have to be fast.

Creativity

The final skills on this list is creativity. Creativity refers to having variability which means you are able to come up with different solutions to the same problem. The best players in the world are creative and they know how to express their skills to their advantage. .

Summarize

Now that you are all done with the blog I hope you know what soccer skills you have to train to really see improvement as a soccer player. To improve your potential and the skills mentioned in this post make sure you are playing the game a lot as well analyzing the players you want to play like and taking care of every other aspect of your life that impacts performance such as injury prevention, sleep, recovery, nutrition, hydration, EMF exposure, relationship with nature, and mitochondrial function.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I improve my soccer skills?

To improve your soccer skills check out this detailed blog to first find out what the most important soccer skills to train are. Once you have done that, go outside, and start training which means play the game as much as possible through real games and team training and variations of the game such as pick-up games, futsal, beach soccer, soccer tennis, and soccer ping pong.

If you are interested in learning more, private training, or have any questions please contact me and mention this blog post or fill out the form on our private training page.

How can I learn more about the game?

To learn more about soccer the most important thing is to join a team and play the game as much as possible. If possible, analyze high level games as much as you can and your own games as well by recording them with a soccer camera. Also read soccer books, listen to podcasts, watch soccer documentaries, as well as some movies, tv shows, and anime.