Two players on a soccer pitch in a 1v1 situation.

How to get better at soccer (fast)

updated on September 5th 2023

6 mins read

Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappe - all the best soccer players in the world have one thing in common:

At one point in their life they all had the desire to become better at soccer - just like you do right now! And the same way they managed to do so - you can too!

You just gotta know what to do. And that’s exactly what we will tell you, summarised in the following 5 tips on how to get better at soccer:

Step 1) Understand Soccer

To actually become better at soccer, we should first of all look at what that actually means:

What can players like Messi or Ronaldo do better than other players?

Well, generally, you can divide a player's abilities into the following 4 pillars:

A. Technique

Your skills with the ball, such as dribbling, passing, finishing, first touch, ball control, 1v1, crossing, headers, and set pieces.

B. Tactics

Your scanning, understanding of the game and how clever your decision-making on the pitch is, especially your movement on and off the ball.

C. Fitness

Everything physical and how your body performs.

For example stamina, speed, explosiveness, strength and co-ordination.

D. Mentality

Your attitude and mindset, particularly your work ethic, discipline, confidence, motivation, resilience and how you deal with setbacks & negative thoughts.

So becoming a better soccer player actually just means improving in each of those 4 areas!

And becoming better in each area, comes from training and improving all the skills that make up their respective pillar.

Step 2) Analyse Yourself

But every player is different and has their own sets of strengths & weaknesses. And that’s why it’s so important that you first analyse yourself and honestly evaluate your abilities in all 4 pillars.

Based on that you then select the abilities that you think make the biggest difference when it comes to improving as a player.

And please keep your primary position in mind while doing this: if you’re for example a striker and you’re bad at finishing and defending, definitely focus on improving your finishing first!

Step 3) Set Goals

So let’s stick with the example of the striker and finishing.

Becoming better at finishing would mean that you score more goals. Let’s say you have scored 5 goals last season. With this information you can now define a SMART goal. S-M-A-R-T stands for

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time-Bound

So in our example, a SMART goal could be:

“I want to score at least 10 goals next season.”

Let’s check again why that's a SMART goal:

Specific: Yes, scoring a goal is a very clearly defined action ✅

Measurable: Yes, you can 100% measure if you scored 10 goals or not ✅

Achievable: Depends on your league & teammates, but for the average team this is a very achievable goal after a bit of practice ✅

Relevant: 100%, scoring more goals is very relevant to any striker ✅

Time-Bound: Check, a season is a very exact time frame ✅

So YES, we have found our SMART goal! 🙌

Step 4) Train with Consistency and the right Intensity

Now it’s time to actually work on improving the ability you chose to focus on.

But be warned: you won’t just become better at something overnight but by training consistently and with the right intensity for days, weeks, and months!

Again, back to our example: going to the park and taking a few shots on goal every once in a while at training won’t make a massive difference when it comes to the next chance in your next match.

Training deliberately and practicing your finishing from various positions and in different scenarios is what can optimally prepare you for the next match, simply because you have trained the exact same scenario already dozens of times in training.

Because in the end, this is the biggest factor that will make you a better player:

repetition, repetition, repetition!

Step 5) Do Individual Training on your own

But it’s not enough (anymore), to just rely on team training for that.

If you really need to master all required abilities, you need to put in the extra work and train on your own or with a friend outside of team training!

Especially also because individual training is normally the only place that allows you to focus on your individual situation so you can practice exactly what YOU need, not what the coach thinks the majority of the team needs.

And we’ve been in the exact same situation as you’ve been!

Finding the right drills & exercises and staying motivated all the time is difficult for every player!

And that’s why the Train Effective App was created. A soccer training app that solves specifically all the problems soccer players normally run into:

Picture of a phone with the Train Effective app on top of a stadium background

Get access to 200+ drills & exercises to master your technique
Fitness & gym programmes designed for soccer players
Boost your confidence & build the mentality of a professional soccer player
Create a personalised training plan to focus on your individual strengths and weaknesses
Stay motivated by emerging yourself in a community of like-minded players

… and many other features that you will help you become a better soccer player in the fastest way possible!

Download the Train Effective app now and try it yourself!