How to Play Soccer - The Fundamentals

Bill Shankly (the former Liverpool manager) once said

"Soccer is a simple game based on the giving and taking of passes, on controlling the ball and making yourself available to receive a pass"

It sounds quite simple really doesn't, but:

What are the rules of soccer?
How do the rules of soccer influence how to play soccer?
What specific skills are required?
What tactics should be employed?
What are the physical attributes needed by soccer players?
Do soccer players need specific fitness requirements?
What should I learn first?
What formation is the best one for a team to use?

What to do First

When you are learning how to play soccer, then the very first thing that you should do is ensure that you develop great technical skill.  Getting technical skill can only be done through a lot of practise and repetition of various soccer drills.  Whilst teamwork and tactics play a huge part in the way a team plays, the teams performance will be limited based on the technical ability of the players and the level of skill that players have.

The basic skills that are required for soccer player are:

Ball Control
Dribbling
Passing
Shooting
Heading
Defending
Goalkeeping

To ensure that you have good soccer skills, a great deal of practice is required to develop good soccer skills a great deal of practice and commitment is required. The key to developing great soccer skills is repetition.  I recommend that players do at least 30 minutes a day of solid practice to develop these skills, including juggling a soccer ball to ensure that their technical ability is of an adequate standard.

Tactics and formations

Teamwork is vital in playing soccer and having a good understanding of how to get into goal scoring positions and conversely how a team can defend against the opposition requires an intimate knowledge of the game and of how to get players to play using different soccer formations.

Soccer Fitness

Being Fit for Soccer does have a major impact on how to play soccer.  I was in a team once that had limited technical ability compared with the majority of teams in our league, but guess what we were runners up in the league purely because we were the fittest team in the league and often won games in the dying minutes, because we were fit enough to "run the opposition off their legs".  So never underestimate the impact that fitness will have on your game.

Rules of Soccer

There are various forms of soccer, ranging from micro soccer (3 a side) to the standard game of 11 a side. FIFA are the worldwide governing body for soccer, and it is FIFA who control the laws of the game that dictate how to play soccer from a rules perspective.  Understanding the laws of the game does have a bearing on what you do, and all players should make sure they understand the laws of the game.

A combination of learning the soccer skills described here, team tactics and team formations, soccer fitness and an understanding of the laws of the game constitute the basics of how to play soccer.

See some more of Nigels articles, or his website for more details information on how to play soccer.

Exercising to Improve Your Soccer Skills

For one player the emphasis might be improving general fitness, for another strength might be required more or ball control skills, or shooting etc.

What is most important is finding out where a players weaknesses lie and developing a programme of exercises to improve those weaknesses.  The best way to find out where the problems lie is by asking someone else.  Sure, you might know that you're unfit an that that is a priority but often there are parts of a players game that go unnoticed.  For example, there are many players who are very one footed i.e. they only ever use their stronger foot, be it the right or the left.  When this is the case, the player has usually developed many strategies to combat this one-footedness and it often takes someone else to point out that this is a major flaw in their game.

Writing a list of parts of your game that you are not happy with is a good start.  Passing that list on to a coach who can add their input is the second biggest step to take.  The biggest is taking that advice on-board and finding some great exercises to help you on your way.

The internet is a great resource for exercises but you shouldn't restrict yourself to soccer coaching sites.  Whilst these can provide some excellent drills for ball control and other skills, they are often not the best for improving speed, agility, strength or concentration.  Use your imagination and don't be put off by taking up other sports or forms of exercises.  Yoga and pilates can help with flexibility, strength and balance.  Tai Chi or meditation could be the answer for concentration problems.  Don't be scared to use whatever you need to help you improve your game.

For many professional players, equipment and gyms are instantly available.  Players from Hibs recently had a state of the art training ground built for them.  This is not usually the case for amateur players and again it is often important to improvise. Home gyms, classes in local council facilities etc. can all be good and cheap ways to improve your fitness.  The important thing is to stick at it and find as much information as you can before starting out.  Use the internet, speak to experts on line, your coaches or teachers.  Speak to anyone you might know who coaches other sports, it's all good information.

Alan Webber lives and works in Manchester, his passion is football and he spend as much time as possible visiting football grounds throughout Europe.