Soccer drills for 12 players
46 free, with video

One attacking line and one defending line, each starting between two small goals.

Two fields side by side, each split into two grids with a goal at the end.

Seven or eight three-yard gates around the island.

Everyone dribbles on the island; on KNOCKOUT, protect your own ball while trying to kick everyone else’s off.

Two small 1v1 fields side by side with pug or cone goals, one line attacking and one defending on each, with the coach standing between them.

Turtle, dog, cheetah. Players dribble around while you call out speeds, switching often.

Everyone dribbles. Call a speed, then a body part, and players stop the ball with it: foot, knee, elbow, head.

Cones in two colors scattered around the grid.

The coach is the Cone Monster and carries a cone.

Players dribble at you, drag the ball back with the sole just before they reach you, shout “See ya later, Coach!” and speed away into space.

The coach starts as the shark in the middle.

Everyone dribbles inside the island while the sharks wait in the water outside the cones to steal any ball that floats away.

Players dribble anywhere in the grid and freeze with a foot on the ball when you shout.

Pairs face each other across a line neither can cross, a cone at each end.

Groups of four in 8x8 grids with spare balls at every grid.

3v3 or 4v4 on a field with an end zone at each end.

Two teams of three with two balls in play and small gates around the area. Score by dribbling through any gate past a defender.

Cones laid out in your team shape on half a field, one player per cone.

5v5 plus keepers on a 40x30 split into back, middle and front bands.

The same warm-up before every game, all season: rondo, move, pairs with a ball, a habit game, shots and saves, then the huddle.

Cone gates scattered 12 to 15 yards apart across a 30x30. In pairs, pass through a gate to your partner, then both run to a new gate.

A server twelve yards from a receiver with a shadow defender behind, either tight or loose.

4v1 in a 10x10 with a helper walking the outside holding up a colored cone. The receiver has to call the color before the first touch.

4v2 in a 12x12 where the defenders try to keep the ball when they win it, and the four have five seconds, counted out loud, to win it back.

4v2 in a 10x10 with two mini goals fifteen yards away.

Threes in a line, ten yards apart.

Two squares side by side. Five passes earns the long pass into the other one.

Score by finding one wide target, then the other.

3v1 in the middle, then one player goes forward to make it 2v1.

Three teams of four. Win it back in five seconds and your next goal doubles.

Lose it near their goal, win it back in five seconds, and score for three.

Press, win it, and counter on goal inside eight seconds.

Win it high and go. Win it low and keep it. Where you win it decides the speed.

The first rondo. Three attackers on three sides of a small square, one defender inside, two touches and five passes for a point.

Four attackers on the sides of a 10x10, two defenders inside working as a pair.

The simplest build-up picture: a goal, a keeper and two backs on the edge of the box against one presser, with two gates on the far line.

Keeper, two backs and a center mid in a diamond against two pressers, with three gates across the far line.

Four attackers around a 12x12 with two defenders standing as a gate in the middle, three yards apart.

Three attackers with one ball travel down a 10x30 channel against a defender who may only walk, keeping a triangle around the defender the whole way.

A long, narrow rondo. Two attackers on each short end of a 16x8, two defenders inside.

Two attackers against one defender in a 15x10 channel, ten seconds to dribble over the end line.

Two servers twelve yards apart, a receiver in the middle with a shadow defender behind.

A passer and a runner on a 20x15 with a mini goal.

A 4v2 rondo with one extra rule: when the defenders win it, they try to keep it in the square and the four have five seconds, counted out loud, to win it back.

Several 12x12 boxes with a 2v2 in each. Five passes is a point, and if you lose the ball you have five seconds to win it back for two.

3v3 on a 20x15 with a mini goal at each end.