Last updated: August 2026
Key Takeaways
- Your first touch doesn’t just stop the ball — it decides what you can do next. A touch that sets the ball two metres away removes every option you had.
- Control is cushioning, not blocking. The receiving surface withdraws slightly as the ball arrives, absorbing pace instead of bouncing it off.
- Take your first touch away from pressure and into space, not straight down at your feet. This one habit separates comfortable players from busy ones.
- Almost all touch problems are tension problems. A rigid ankle bounces the ball; a relaxed one absorbs it.
Most players who think they’re bad at soccer are actually just bad at receiving the ball. Their first touch is the problem, not their ability. The ball arrives, it bounces off them, and everything afterwards is recovery — chasing, panicking, giving it away. It looks like a lack of talent and it’s a fixable technical fault.
The drills below need a ball and either a wall or one other person. None of them require a coach.
«Ask a beginner what went wrong and they’ll tell you about the pass they misplaced. Watch the replay and the problem happened a second earlier — the ball bounced three metres off their shin and the pass was never going to work.» — Anthony Molina, FOOTBOLNO.COM
What a Good First Touch Actually Does
A good first touch does three things, in order of importance.
It keeps the ball. The minimum requirement — the ball stays within playing distance instead of running to an opponent.
It buys time. A controlled ball at your feet gives you the half-second to look up. An uncontrolled one costs you that half-second and usually more.
It creates the next action. This is the part beginners miss entirely. A good touch doesn’t stop the ball dead — it puts the ball exactly where your next pass, turn or shot needs it to be.
That third point is why “trapping” is a slightly outdated word. You’re not trapping the ball, you’re redirecting it into a better position while taking the speed off it.
The Technique: Cushioning
The mechanics of a clean first touch are the same whichever body part you use.
Get in line with the ball early. Most bad touches are positioning failures, not technique failures — the player arrived late and had to stretch.
Present the surface. Foot, thigh or chest turned toward the ball, relaxed rather than braced.
Withdraw on contact. As the ball arrives, the surface gives slightly, like catching an egg. This is the whole skill in one movement.
Direct it, don’t stop it. Angle the surface so the ball drops where you want it — usually half a metre to the side, away from where the defender is.
If your touches keep bouncing away, you’re bracing instead of withdrawing. Tension is the single most common cause.
The Four Receiving Surfaces
| Surface | Il migliore per | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Inside of the foot | Ground passes, most situations | The default. Biggest, most reliable surface |
| Outside of the foot | Taking the ball across your body in one movement | Advanced but fast — moves the ball away from a defender instantly |
| Thigh | Balls dropping from waist to chest height | Flat thigh, drop it slightly on contact |
| Chest | High balls | Lean back, relax, let it drop to your feet — don’t puff the chest out |
The sole gets used too, mostly on artificial surfaces and for stopping a ball rolling straight at you, but it’s the least useful of them because it leaves the ball under your body rather than in front of it.
Ten Drills
Alone, with a Wall
1. Two-touch wall work. Pass against the wall, control with one touch, pass back with the second. Fifty repetitions. The whole drill is the first of those two touches.
2. One-touch return. Same, but return it first time. Forces you to angle the receiving surface rather than stop the ball.
3. Alternate feet. Control with the right, pass with the left, and reverse. Harder than it sounds and it’s the fastest route to a usable weak foot.
4. Directional touch. Mark two spots a metre either side of you. Control the rebound so the ball ends on a spot — left, then right, alternating. Trains the touch that creates space rather than the one that just stops.
5. Throw and cushion. Throw the ball up, control it out of the air with the thigh or chest, then settle it with the foot. Twenty each surface.
With One Partner
6. Feed and receive. They serve, you control and return. Simple, and worth more than any solo drill because the ball arrives with pace you didn’t choose.
7. Serve to a side. They tell you which way to take your touch as the ball arrives. Adds the decision, which is what makes it match-like.
8. Back to goal. Receive with your back to them, control and turn in one movement. This is the hardest receiving situation in soccer and the one beginners avoid practising.
9. Pressure receiving. They apply light pressure as the ball arrives — no tackling, just presence. Touch quality collapses under pressure, which is exactly why you train it.
10. Scan and control. Before serving, they hold up a number of fingers. You must call it out, then control. Forces you to look up before the ball arrives rather than after.
That last one is the closest thing to a magic drill in this article. Players who scan before receiving look like they have more time, because they do.
A rebounder replaces the partner for most of these — I’ve covered the rebounders worth owning separately. For a broader session, the essential soccer ball drills guide sets out a full routine.
Why Touch Falls Apart Under Pressure
Everyone’s control is fine in the garden. It stops being fine in a game of soccer when someone is closing you down, and the reason isn’t technique.
You rush. Rushing produces a stiff ankle, and a stiff ankle bounces the ball.
You watch the defender instead of the ball. Understandable, and it’s the direct cause of the miscontrol.
You haven’t decided what happens next. A player who knows where they’re going takes a touch in that direction. A player who hasn’t decided takes a touch straight down and then has to think, by which point the defender has arrived.
The fix isn’t more solo repetitions. It’s drill 9 and drill 10 above, plus small-sided games where pressure is constant.
Teaching Control to a Child
Serve underarm and gently. A soccer ball arriving too fast means failure, and failure at this stage means they stop trying.
Let it bounce first. A bouncing ball is easier to time than a driven one. Remove the bounce later.
Praise the second touch, not the first. “Where did the ball end up?” is a better question than “did you stop it?” — it builds the habit of directing rather than blocking.
Use a lighter or smaller ball. A size 3 or 4 makes cushioning genuinely easier, as covered in our guide to soccer ball sizes and weight.
Ten minutes, not forty. Receiving is a concentration skill, and concentration in young players runs out long before enthusiasm does.
How Long This Takes
Wall work produces a noticeable difference in your first touch after about two weeks of ten-minute sessions. The technique is simple; it’s the repetition that builds the feel.
Control under pressure takes months, and it improves through playing rather than drilling. That’s not a reason to skip the drills — the drills build the movement that pressure then tests.
Juggling accelerates all of it, because it’s a hundred repetitions of cushioning a falling ball in a single session. If your control is genuinely poor, learning to juggle is the fastest route to fixing it.
Common Questions
What is the best drill to improve ball control? Two-touch wall work, because the volume is high and you can do it alone. Add drill 10 — scanning before receiving — as soon as you have a partner.
Why does the ball bounce off my foot? You’re bracing rather than cushioning. Relax the ankle and let the surface give slightly as the ball arrives, instead of holding it rigid.
Should I stop the ball dead or push it into space? Into space, almost always. Stopping it dead is only right when nobody is near you. A touch that moves the ball half a metre away from the defender buys you the time the dead touch doesn’t.
How do I control a ball that’s dropping from a height? Thigh or chest, and let the surface drop with the ball on contact. Trying to control a falling ball with your foot is much harder and rarely necessary.
Do I need a rebounder or a wall? A wall works fine and is free. A rebounder returns the ball at a more realistic angle and height, which matters once your basic control is solid.
How many touches should I take when receiving? One, if the pass allows it and you’re under pressure. Two is fine in space. Three means you’ve lost the advantage the pass gave you.
Is ball control the same as dribbling? No. Control is what you do when the ball arrives; dribbling is what you do once you have it. They’re related — both depend on soft contact — but they’re separate skills, and the types of dribbling come after control is reliable.
Anthony Molina writes about soccer technique, gear and coaching at FOOTBOLNO.
