7 Best At-Home Football Drills to Improve Skills for Beginners

Every world-class footballer has one thing in common: they mastered the fundamentals alone with just a ball and relentless dedication. High-level soccer players never rely on team training and games alone but instead on extra hours of solo training to improve fundamental skills of the game, which they can then use during team trainings and matches.

As a footballer, by far the best way to improve your skills is being in a team environment, playing games, and learning from experience. However, you can't always rely on scheduled practices and game day to improve because extra training and recovery are just as important.

When it comes to training, the best setup to have is a high-quality field with a full-sized goal, but you might not always be able to find these open fields. Sometimes you might not even have access to transportation to a field, or the weather is not playable.

This is why it is important to do the best with what you have when it comes to finding ways to get extra training in. In this training guide, I will be going over seven of the best drills you can do at home anytime if you're a complete soccer beginner.

What are the best at-home football drills for beginners?

Depending on different factors like the amount of space you have, the playing surface (grass, turf, or concrete), your training gear and equipment, training indoors, such as in a garage, or outdoors, such as in your backyard, each of these drills can be modified to work in virtually any environment. All you really need is a ball and the commitment to improve.

To do these drills, you can do them for either a certain amount of time or repetitions. You can also do these drills barefoot to get more benefits, such as a better connection with the ball, increased foot strength, and grounding therapy if you're training on natural surfaces.

It is also important to know that although these drills can improve endurance, they're primarily designed to build technical skills, coordination, and confidence with the ball.

Juggling

One of the most fundamental drills that all beginner players need to master can be done anywhere. Juggling improves ball control, your touch with different body parts, and develops coordination that translates into other football skills.

Start by dropping the ball and hitting it back up with your foot, then progress to keeping it in the air using your feet, thighs, chest, and head. Focus on keeping your body relaxed, your eyes on the ball, and alternate between different body parts and your left foot and right foot to improve both sides.

Wall Passing Variations

When it comes to passing drills, a wall or rebounder becomes your perfect training partner because it is one that never complains, never misses practice, and matches your intensity every single time. Use this setup to practice ground passes, driven balls, air passes, one-touch returns, and two-touch sequences.

The key here is variety and intensity: alternate between your left and right foot, control returns with different surfaces (inside, outside, laces), take different types of directional touches left and right, and mix up your passing speed and power. If you have two or more walls available, position yourself in a corner to practice passing at different angles and create different combination patterns.

Wall Passing with Turns

Once you're comfortable with stationary wall passing, add the element that makes this drill game-realistic: turning under pressure. Pass against the wall several times, then receive the ball and immediately execute a turn as if a defender is closing you down, before exploding into space with controlled dribbling.

If you're training without a wall, you can kick the ball ahead, chase it down at full speed, perform your turn, and drive forward past your starting position.

Wall Passing With Turns + Dribbling

You can also take the previous drill one step further by adding dribbling after your turn. After passing against the wall and executing your turn, you can do any of the cone dribbling or shadow dribbling drills in the next two sections.

You can also practice running at pace towards cones, or other objects, and performing a skill move such as a body feint, step over, etc.

Cone Dribbling

As a beginner, it is important to practice cone dribbling drills with both feet to develop close ball control, improve your change of direction, and build the muscle memory of common moves you will use during a game. If you don't have cones, you can literally use any other object.

Some of the best dribbling drills you can do at home include:

• Straight line weave – Weave through a set amount of cones (5-10) alternating feet or one foot only.
• Zig-zag cuts – Sharp directional changes through staggered cones, spread the cones out from a straight line weave
• Figure-eight – Loop around two cones for tight turns
• Speed dribbling – Sprint between widely-spaced cones at pace
• Box pattern – Dribble around a square with four cones

Shadow Dribbling Drill

Once you've mastered the structured patterns of cone dribbling above, shadow dribbling takes your skills to the next level by removing the cones and forcing you to react to imaginary defenders in open space. Dribble at game speed around your training area while visualizing opponents pressuring you from different angles, then use skill moves, cuts, and changes of pace to evade them. Make this drill as close as you can to real game by going at a high intensity.

Shadow Dribbling to Passing or Shooting

Depending on the space you have and whether you have a goal or mini goal available, you can add another element to shadow dribbling by striking the ball at a target—whether that's a full-sized goal, a mini goal, a marked spot on a wall, or cones set up as goalposts. This progression simulates the complete attacking sequence: beating defenders, creating space, and executing a pass or shot under pressure.

Focus on taking your shot with proper technique while still at pace, just as you would after a real run at the goal. If you don't have a goal, use the wall passing drills from earlier—dribble, evade imaginary pressure, then deliver a pass to the wall as if finding a teammate making a run.