This document describes several youth soccer drills from Spanishsoccer.net. It provides instructions for drills like "Cross the River" which works on coordination and changes of direction as players cross different zones. "King of the Pitch" has players dribble in a space and kick other players' balls out to score points. "Pass and Run" has pairs passing and one player running to a cone when called. The drills focus on skills like dribbling, passing, shooting and teamwork.

1. THE “FIRST ELEVEN” OF THE YOUTH SOCCER
DRILLS OF SPANISHSOCCER.NET
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2. Spanishsoccer.net Juanjo Royan
CROSS THE RIVER (without ball)
Objectives:
Laterality, coordination, speed, stop, acceleration, changes of direction, turns, looking up
Description
A space on the pitch has to be divided in three zones: the middle zone will be called the river and will be
thinner than the other ones, called secure zones. You should adjust the size of the area according the
numbers and ages of the kids you are training. One player is "the crocodile" and he must try to tag the
other players (only moving through the middle area). These have to cross the river and try to avoid the
"crocodile".
You can play the game in two ways:
In the first one, any tagged player become the crocodile and from that time, he plays that role instead the
previous one. In the second one, any tagged player become a crocodile and he joins the first one. In this
case, the winner is the last player who become crocodile.
Variations
- Cross the river backwards
- Cross the river hopping on one leg
- Playing the game in pairs (holding one hand)
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3. Spanishsoccer.net Juanjo Royan
KING OF THE PITCH
Objectives:
Dribbling the football, covering the ball, looking up, kicking the football
Description of the exercise
In a delimited space, every player dribbling a ball. They try to kick other player’s ball off the field. If a
player’s ball is kicked out, he must go for it, take it back and then he will be allowed to return to the game.
The players without a ball can't kick other footballs. Every time a player kicks a ball out, he gets a point. At
the end of the game, the points have to be accounted.
Variations
- Play with pairs (kick each other football) and change the pairs after some time
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4. Spanishsoccer.net Juanjo Royan
PASS AND RUN
Objectives:
Passing the ball, controlling the ball, dribbling with the ball, looking up, covering the ball,
tackling
Description
We separate the players in groups of two. In a delimited space, the couples pass the ball to each other all
along the pitch. When the coach say a colour, the player with the ball in his possession has to go over a cone
of that colour. The player without the ball has to try to get the ball from his partner. Whoever gets his aim
count a point.
Variations
- Change the pairs every 3-4 minutes
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5. Spanishsoccer.net Juanjo Royan
TURN AND BEAT
Objectives:
Controlling the ball, turning with the ball, feint.
Description
We have to situate two feeders (red) at opposite ends of the playing channel, one of them has to have a
football. Also we have to situate one defender player (blue) and one attacker player (yellow) inside the
player channel, as in the pic. The attacker has to receive a pass from the feeder and attempt to turn, beating
the defender and pass the ball to the opposite feeder. Repeat the situation four or five times and then, we
should change player roles.
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6. Spanishsoccer.net Juanjo Royan
RONDO
Objectives:
Passing, control the ball, anticipation, interception.
Description
We are talking about the classic Spanish or Barcelona rondo. In this case, we are going to see the basic
one. This game can be done as in the image, using four outsider players and one inner player. Outsider
players have to be positioned like in the picture, between two cones each. They have to take this as a
reference because they have to keep moving up and down over the imaginary line of the cones. Also they
can move some distance forward and backward, depending of the circumstances.
The outsider players has to keep the ball possession, while the inner player has to get the ball from them.
Once the inner player gets the ball, he exchanges the position with the player who lost the ball or made
the mistake.
Variations
- Limit the number of touches
- Reduce the space between the cones
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7. Spanishsoccer.net Juanjo Royan
1 vs 1 shooting
Objectives:
Dribbling the football, shooting
Description of the exercise
In a delimited space, we play one vs one with one goalkeeper in each goal as in the picture. The player with
the ball has to try to score in the other goal. For it, he can try to dribble the opponent or he can find the way
to create a space and shooting. After every attacking action, the goalkeeper starts a new action facing the
opposite goal. Every player can use a goalkeeper as support, but not too much in every action. The team that
scores more goals is the winner.
Variations
- Play two vs two
- Finalising the action using one touch
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8. Spanishsoccer.net Juanjo Royan
POSITIONAL GAME 4 VS 4+3
Objectives:
Passing the ball, control the ball, keep the ball possession, keep a determined formation
Description of the drill
In this soccer drill, we play a four versus four game with three neutral players who will support the footballers
outside. The objective of the game for the outside players and the neutral ones is to keep the ball possession,
moving it from one side until the other one. Meanwhile, the other four players have to get the ball. The inner
player has to put special attention in the body position principally before receive the ball and offer his partners
a pass option all the time. Communication between the players implicated in the ball possession is essential.
Variations
- Limit the number of the touches per player
- The inner player can use only one touch
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9. Spanishsoccer.net Juanjo Royan
2 vs 1 finishing
Objectives:
Dribbling the ball, passing the football, shooting
Description of the drill
For this soccer exercise, we are going to set up an area of the pitch as in the image below. How big or small
will be the area, depends on the level of the players. As you can notice, it going to be a situation of two versus
two plus one goalkeeper. The youth attackers have to try to score using one of two these options:
1. Dribbling the defender and beating the goalkeeper with a direct shot or a shot after dribble.
2. Trying to kick the ball directly without no dribble.
The attackers (that will start every action at the opposite side of the goal behind the cones) have to decide
what they think is the right option to do in every situation. You should let them choose what they want to do,
even if they are wrong. The main objective of this drill is to help the young players to detect what is the right
way to reach to their goal and for that; they have to commit lot of mistakes. You should guide them, but do
not give them the solutions. Even if takes long time to make them understand what is the best to do.
Variations
- Finishing using only one touch
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10. Spanishsoccer.net Juanjo Royan
4 vs 2 with small goals
Objectives:
Passing the ball, control the ball, dribbling with the football
Description of the exercise
We can use the centre circle of the pitch to set up this soccer drill. We divided a group of 6 players in three
teams of two players each one. Two of the teams (4 attackers) located inside the limitated area have to try to
keep the possession of the ball and keep the ball far from the other team. The defensive team formed by two
players will try to recover the ball. Each pass through one of the three open goals (1-1.5 metres size) mean
one point for the teams implicated. If the defenders recover the ball, the attacker who lost the ball and his
partner then become defender while the other team become attackers. Win the team with more points at the
end of the game.
Variations
- Limited the number of touches
- Score using only one touch
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11. Spanishsoccer.net Juanjo Royan
PRESSING IN INFERIORITY 4 vs 4 + 4 neutral players
Objectives:
Pressing, tackling, anticipation, interception
Description of the exercise
With this soccer exercise, we will seek to promote solidarity and defensive intensity during the pressure in
numeric inferiority. For it, we have to create a 3 teams competition. Two teams will try to keep the ball
possession while the other one have to find the way to get the ball. One of the teams will be on the lines as
in the image and the players could be moving up and down on the lines. The other attacker team will be
placed inside the area along with the defensive team. It the end of the drill, the team that steals or clears more
number of balls wins the game.
Variations
- Get the ball before a certain number of passes
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12. Spanishsoccer.net Juanjo Royan
Rondo 6 vs 1 with in two spaces
Objectives:
Passing the ball, control the football, interception, anticipation
Description of the exercise
Like in the classic rondo, the objective of the game for the outside players is to keep the ball possession, as
much time as they can while the player in the centre has to try to get it. However, the players are going to
find a couple of differences with the classic one. First, the number of the players outside is six and they will
be playing in two squares. Besides keep the ball possession, the players have to move the ball to the other
square, but only once they have made at least five passes in their own side.
Variations
- Limit the number of the touches
- Increase the number of the touches to make before passing the ball to the other side
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