Last updated: August 2026
Key Takeaways
- Decide before you start your run-up, and don’t change. Almost every missed penalty at amateur level is a decision changed mid-stride.
- Two valid approaches: placement (side-foot into a corner) or power (laces, hit hard). Both work. Alternating between them halfway through your run-up does not.
- Aim for the side netting about a metre inside the post, at roughly hip height or below. High corners are harder to save and much harder to hit.
- The technique is the easy part. The wait, the walk and the noise are what actually make penalties difficult.
A penalty kick is the easiest shot in soccer and the one players miss most. Twelve yards, no defenders, a stationary ball, and a goalkeeper covering a goal too big to cover. The mechanics of a penalty kick are simpler than any other strike in soccer.
What makes it hard is that you have time to think, and thinking is exactly what ruins it.
This guide is about the technique and the decision. For when a penalty is awarded, where the players must stand and what happens on a retake, our guide to the rules around penalties covers the laws.
«I’ve never seen anyone miss because their technique failed. They miss because they picked a corner, walked up, saw the keeper lean, and changed their mind two steps out. The body can’t switch that late.» — Anthony Molina, FOOTBOLNO.COM
The Two Ways to Take One
There are exactly two ways to take a penalty kick that reliably work. Pick one and own it.
Placement
Side-foot the ball into a corner using the inside of your foot, the same surface you’d use for a firm pass. Accuracy is high, the ball is slower, and it relies on the keeper going the wrong way or being unable to reach.
Suits: players with a reliable passing technique and steady nerves. Risk: a keeper who guesses right will save a well-placed but slow penalty.
Power
Strike through the ball with the laces, aimed just inside a post at a height the keeper can’t reach quickly. Even a keeper diving correctly can’t get there.
Suits: players with a clean striking technique who trust it under pressure. Risk: less accurate. A power penalty that misses the target misses badly.
Most professionals use placement most of the time, because the margin between “saved” and “scored” on a well-placed shot is smaller than the margin between “scored” and “over the bar” on a blasted one.
Where to Aim
The goal is bigger than it feels from the penalty spot. Here’s how the areas of the goal actually compare.
| Target area | Difficulty to hit | Difficulty to save |
|---|---|---|
| Top corners | Hard | Nearly impossible |
| Bottom corners | Moderate | Hard |
| Halfway up, inside the post | Moderate | Hard |
| Middle, low | Easy | Easy if the keeper stands still |
| Middle, high | Easy | Hard, but risks going over |
The practical answer for most players: a metre inside the post, at or below hip height, hit firmly. It’s reachable technically and unreachable for most keepers. The top corners are better on paper and worse in reality, because the miss when you get it slightly wrong is over the bar rather than saved.
Down the middle is a genuine option that gets unfairly mocked. Keepers commit early and dive; a firm shot at chest height where they were standing goes in surprisingly often. It requires nerve, because if the keeper stays, you look foolish.
The Technique, Step by Step
1. Place the ball deliberately. Set it on the spot yourself. Take a second doing it. This is the first moment of routine and it settles you.
2. Decide now. Side and height, chosen before you step back. Written in stone from this point.
3. Step back the same distance every time. Four or five paces, at a slight angle if you’re placing, straighter if you’re striking with power. Same every penalty, in training and in matches.
4. Look at the ball, not the keeper. Look at your target once as you set up, then at nothing but the ball. Watching the keeper is how you end up changing your mind.
5. Run up at a controlled speed. Not a stroll, not a sprint. The run-up exists to give you rhythm, not power — power comes from the strike.
6. Plant your foot beside the ball, pointing at your target. Same plant-foot rule as any strike: alongside the ball, roughly a foot’s width away, toes toward where you’re aiming.
7. Strike through it and follow through. Lock the ankle, contact clean, leg finishing toward the target. Stopping the follow-through is the classic cause of a weak, saveable penalty.
8. Follow the rebound. You’re allowed to play the ball again once another player touches it — including off a save or the post. Amateur takers routinely stand still and watch the goal instead of following in.
The Part That Actually Decides It
Technique is maybe twenty percent of a penalty. The rest is what happens in the ninety seconds beforehand.
Have a routine and repeat it exactly. Same walk, same ball placement, same number of steps back, same breath. The routine’s purpose isn’t superstition — it occupies the part of your mind that would otherwise be calculating.
Don’t watch the keeper’s antics. Wandering off their line, waving arms, talking to you — all of it is designed to make you think. Look at the ball.
Breathe out before you run. Players hold their breath under pressure, and a held breath tightens everything, including the ankle.
Accept that you might miss. Trying not to miss produces a tentative strike. Deciding to score produces a committed one. The difference is visible from the stands.
If you change your mind, you will miss. This is the one absolute rule of penalty taking, and it’s why the decision must come before the run-up.
Practising Them Properly
Most penalty kick practice is worthless because it’s taken into an empty goal with no consequence and no fatigue.
Practise with a keeper. Even a bad one changes everything, because there’s now something to react to and resist reacting to.
Practise tired. Take them at the end of a session, when your legs are heavy. That’s when they happen in real matches.
Practise the routine, not just the kick. Walk up from twenty metres away every time. The walk is part of the skill.
Take five, then stop. Twenty in a row teaches you nothing except a groove. Penalties are one-shot events, and the pressure of “this is the only one” is the thing you’re training.
Alternate corners deliberately. If you always hit the same side in training, you’ll hit it in a match, and any keeper who’s watched you will know.
For younger players especially, this last point matters — the penalty rules guide explains why keepers are allowed to move along their line, which is exactly what makes predictability expensive.
Shootouts Are a Different Problem
A penalty during a match arrives unexpectedly. A shootout gives you twenty minutes to think about it, and that changes what you should do.
Volunteer early or not at all. The fifth penalty in a shootout carries far more pressure than the first. If you’re confident, take an early one.
Keep the same routine. Everything above applies more strongly, not less.
Watch nothing. Don’t study the keeper’s previous saves during the shootout. You’ve already decided.
Expect the walk to feel long. From the halfway line to the spot is the longest walk in soccer, and knowing that in advance takes some of its power away.
Common Questions
Where is the best place to aim a penalty kick? About a metre inside the post at hip height or below, struck firmly. Top corners are less saveable but far more likely to miss the target entirely.
Should I use power or placement? Whichever you can repeat reliably. Placement is more accurate and more common at professional level; power removes the keeper’s reach entirely if you hit the target. Both fail if you switch between them mid-run-up.
Should I look at the goalkeeper? Glance at your target when you set up, then look only at the ball. Watching the keeper during your run-up is the single most common cause of a changed mind.
What happens if the goalkeeper moves early? The keeper must keep at least part of one foot on or in line with the goal line until the ball is kicked. If they move early and save it, the penalty is retaken — the full detail is in our penalty rules guide.
Can I stop during my run-up? You can slow down, but you cannot complete the run-up and then stop — feinting after finishing the run-up is an offence and gets the kick disallowed. Stutter steps during the approach are legal.
How far is a penalty kick? Twelve yards, which is about eleven metres, from the goal line to the penalty spot.
Can I score directly from a penalty rebound? Only after another player touches the ball. If it comes back off the post or crossbar without anyone touching it, you cannot play it again — someone else must.
Why do professionals miss so many? Because pressure affects technique, and because keepers at that level study takers. The mechanics are easy at every level; the situation isn’t.
Anthony Molina writes about soccer technique, gear and coaching at FOOTBOLNO.
