Shooting, dribbling, control and passing are great to master but in the end, the ball has to end up in the back of the net or most of the effort would be a waste.
Finishing in football stands many players out from their contemporaries.
For this reason, players must practice their finishing just as much as they practice the other soccer skills.
The ten soccer finishing drills described below are a great place to start for any player looking to improve their finishing skills and stand out from the rest.
10 Soccer Finishing Drills
Here are the top ten soccer finishing drills.
Rondo To Finish
This is a gamified version of the rondo – the drill that teaches players all about quick decision-making when passing the ball around to create goalscoring opportunities.
With this particular drill, teams and players are thrust into positions where they have to make as many combination passes as possible in order to beat the press from their opponent and score.
To set this up, you will need two teams of five players each and one goalkeeper, making 12 players in total.
Two goalposts will be set back-to-back in the middle of a grid that is about 40 yards long, manned by goalkeepers. Each team will man one half of their grid with one player from the other team serving as the pressing player for his team.
The teams begin a rondo, which must last four rounds (i.e. four passes by each player) before they attempt to score if the pressing player gets the ball while the rondo is happening and scores, his team gets three points.
The pressing player can also receive a pass from his teammates on the other side of the field, but they must have completed their four rondo rounds first. This requires high awareness to execute.
Ten Ball Shooting Test
On October 1, 2000, French soccer icon Thierry Henry scored what is now considered the second-greatest goal in the history of Arsenal Football Club against their famous rivals, Manchester United Football Club.
Henry, who was only a youngster then, had his back to goal when he received a pass from a teammate.
The striker flicked the ball up with his first touch and, in one swift motion, turned around and volleyed the ball into the back of the Manchester United goal.
That quick turn is still being analyzed by many managers today and taught in many soccer academies. Players are being made to understand that shooting should be able to be done on instinct like that.
One way coaches try to drill this into their players is with the gamified ten-ball shooting test.
The set-up of this drill requires players to make quick turns to shoot the ball from the left and the right sides of the “D” (the semi-circle at the top of the penalty box).
Five balls are lined up on the right side and five on the left side, with a cone placed in the middle.
The player being tested starts with their back to the penalty box and, once the whistle goes, swiftly turns around to shoot the balls with their left and right foot with such preparation, just like Henry did for that magnificent goal.
Finishing In A Square
Modern strikers have been described using many terms.
- The point man or target man, who is the striker that holds a position in the penalty box just to score goals. Strikers like Chris Wood (Nottingham Forest) and Luuk De Jong (PSV Eindhoven) fit this description;
- The link-up or hold-up play striker, who is the striker that receives the ball with his back to the goal to maximize the team’s goalscoring opportunities. Roberto Firmino (Brazil) and Romelu Lukaku (Napoli) fit this description;
- The fox-in-the-box or poacher, who is the sneaky striker that pops up out of nowhere to score. Strikers like Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez (Mexico), Miroslav Klose (Germany) and Ruud Van Nistelrooy (Netherlands) fit this description;
- The all-rounder, who can do everything listed above and also drop deep like a midfielder to start attacks for their team while making sure they are in the position to finish them. Strikers like Luis Suarez (Inter Miami), Robert Lewandowski (FC Barcelona), and Harry Kane (Bayern Munich) fit this description.
The best way to train strikers to fit into the fourth category described above is the “finishing in a square drill” which places them and a defender in a box made of cones to receive balls from other players and figure out a way to score it, whether by themselves or by laying off a pass.
For best results, coaches must insist that the strikers score the goals themselves as that is their primary duty.
Rapid One Touch Finishing Drill
Ever heard the name, Bas Dost?
He is a Dutch former striker who set a world record for the most consecutive first-touch finishes in soccer history.
A big, strong striker, the Dutchman – who retired from the sport in 2023 after suffering a heart attack – was so good at positioning himself in the penalty box that he did not need another touch to score goals for most of his career.
Between 2017 and 2018, he had a run of 45 goals where he only needed one touch to send the ball past the opposition goalkeeper.
Dost was able to do this because he practiced his movement in the box and also perfected the art of one-touch finishing, which is what the rapid one-touch finishing drill trains players to be able to do.
To perform this drill, the coach should line up as many players as he can on both sides of the goal and give them a ball each.
When the whistle goes, one player runs from his side of the post, around a cone, and onto a pass from one player on the other side, which he must attempt to finish with his first touch.
To make it more interesting, the coach can announce the drill as a first-to-five so that players can get more competitive.
Three Tier Shooting
There are different types of kicks, different types of finishing, and different ways to score goals. All of these are categorized into three main tiers of finishing, however. These tiers are:
- Short-range finishing: Goals scored from inside the penalty box, less than 18 yards from the goal.
- Long-range finishing: Goals scored from outside the penalty box, more than 18 yards out from the goal.
- Volleys: One-time shots taken without allowing the ball to bounce. This can be done with the feet or the head in the case of headers.
The three-tier shooting drill covers all bases for players. To set up this drill, the coach will line players on both sides of the 18-yard box and another set about 30 yards from the goal.
When the whistle goes, the first player who is 30 yards away dribbles a ball and gets into a comfortable long-range shooting position to take a shot.
After the shot, the player runs into the box to receive a pass for a short-range finish. After that, the player gets closer to receive a cross which must be scored with a header or a volley.
Third Man Overlaps
There is a running gag on social media involving Arsenal Football Club players Bukayo Saka and Ben White. The latter plays as a right fullback (a defensive player who mans the right wing and contributes to the attack from the same position), while the former plays as a right winger for Arsenal.
This gag, called the “Ben White Overlaps”, makes fun of White’s willingness to sprint past Saka into an attacking position whenever Saka has the ball or is in line to receive it.
The enthusiasm seen on White’s face shows that he enjoys these overlaps. We surmise that the third man’s overlap must be his favorite drill.
This drill is performed with players in the box waiting for a combination play between three others on either the left or right side which allows a third man to run in behind and cross the ball. The runs are not enough.
The overlapping third man must make meaningful crosses, which the players in the middle will be able to finish.
Also, the overlapping third man should mix up their runs: head to the near post, head to the far post, and even towards the penalty spot as the attacking sequence directs.
Overlap Crossing Drill
This is a more direct version of the third-man overlap drill described above. In the third-man overlap, the drill focuses on combination plays that allow the third man – the fullback – to run into space in which they can receive the ball to create a goalscoring chance.
In the overlap crossing drill, the goalscoring chance is the focus, which means the quality of their delivery is what is being tested.
The setup is similar, but when the fullback gets into the crossing position, they are left with the decision of how to cross the ball in a way that will make it easy to score a goal.
This also trains their decision-making as there will be multiple runners in the box, thanks to their overlapping run down the flank.
The decision on who or where to cross to is important knowledge that the drill will instill in them for in-game situations.
Coaches should perform this drill on both sides so that players can learn to cross with both feet. This is a very important part of the crossing drill.
Overlap Finishing Drill
In this drill, the overlapping man is the finisher. This reminds me of Jordi Alba, one of the greatest left fullbacks of his generation.
Playing alongside Lionel Messi made him better and more attuned to finishing chances, even though goalscoring is not in his job description.
As a fullback, Jordi Alba is required to defend his flank and overload to create goalscoring chances. However, on occasion, he overlaps into space with a clear line at goal.
Without the overlap finishing drill, Alba and fullbacks like him, who are perfect at overlapping, will be unable to take chances when they get them, increasing the workload that their team has to carry in the game.
This drill is set up so that the fullback can overlap into space which will allow them to test and improve on their finishing. The setup is similar to the last two described but after the pass is released, the fullback must be able to shoot at goal.
Coaches should perform this drill on both sides as well to help the players get better. Wingers can also be trained using this drill because it depends on a third man running into space to finish a goalscoring chance.
Pass & Move Shooting Drill
In this drill, the give-and-go or the one-two pass is trained. Many goals are scored in this manner, so players have to be trained to be ready for these sorts of situations in-game.
The Pass & Move Shooting Drill, at its core, is a simple shooting drill to use when working with small groups to get lots of repetitions during shooting practice.
To set this up, create a line of players just outside the top of the 18-yard box and give each of them balls. Start with the first two players, with one going to the cone set outside the D and the other to the top of the D.
The third player in line passes to the player on the outside cone, who then passes to the one at the top of the D for a turn-and-shoot movement.
After this happens, the third player who made the first pass moves to the outside, the player outside moves to the top of the D, and the one at the top of the D moves to the back of the line. Pass, move, shoot.
Wall Pass Shooting Drill
This is another variation of a give-and-go drill. This time, a player will act as a wall who bounces the ball back into space for the first passer to have a shot at goal.
For the best result, the passing player (the wall) must try to release a pass that is much closer to the goal so that the player running into space can be able to shoot accurately and precisely with a high chance of scoring.
To make sure that every player participating in the drill is adequately trained, the wall (passer) should be rotated often.
The wall passer should also switch sides often so that players can get comfortable performing give-and-go passes (one-two passes) with players on either side of them.
This drill works best with smaller groups so that players don’t have to wait in line for long. If the coach wants to do this drill with a big team, he should set up multiple goals.
This drill can also be performed with a literal wall or a sturdy object that can bounce the ball back into space for the player performing the drill to have a shot at the goal.
Final thoughts
Whether it’s a 30-yard strike, a tap-in, a header, or a volley, the buzz of scoring goals never goes off. It’s what the players love. It’s what the crowd loves. It is what the commentators want to talk about.
To be able to give this feeling form in the hearts of all involved, players need to master finishing alongside running into space, dribbling and shooting.
All of these can only be achieved through great practice, and these ten soccer finishing drills above are a great place to start.
