A body feint fakes a direction with a step and your body, with no touch on the ball. You lunge one way, the defender shifts to cover it, and you take the ball the other way with the outside of your other foot. Coaching sources also call this the lunge; it's close to the shoulder drop, but here the long fake step does most of the selling. We read the weight shift and body drop to one side and the push-off the other way; the ball and the defender aren't visible to the camera.
Approach
Dribble straight at the defender with the ball close, head up, so you have room to go past on either side.
Eyes on the defender, ball under control.
Start the feint in good time, before the defender can reach the ball, so they have time to react and you have room to get past.
Close enough to make them move, not close enough to be tackled.
Sell the fake
Lunge with the foot on your fake side: a long step forward and out past the ball, foot planted firmly, knee bent. Don't touch the ball; it keeps rolling.
A real step, as if you're starting a run that way.
Shift your weight onto that leg and let your head and shoulders go with it, dropping the shoulder on that side. Keep your hips over the lunge foot, not past it, so you can still push back.
Big step, big shoulders, hips over the foot.
Burst the other way
As the defender shifts, push off the lunge leg and play the ball the other way with the outside of your other foot. The ball is still moving, so do it quickly.
One sharp touch away from their weight.
Bring your chest back upright as you push off, with the lunge knee bent and pointing over your toes, not caving inward.
Tall chest, knee over toes.
Accelerate into the space straight away with a short, sharp burst, keeping the ball close.
Go the moment the gap opens.
Feel it
The lunge should look like the first step of a real run. Your weight lands on it, but your hips stay over the foot, so the push back is quick. Because the ball keeps rolling, the fake and the touch away happen fast. Then it's a burst of speed, not a pause.
Fix-its
- The defender doesn't react Make the fake real: a long lunge with the foot planted, your weight on it, and your head and shoulders going the same way. A twitch of the upper body alone won't move anyone.
- You lean so far you can't come back Keep your hips over the lunge foot. Sell it with the step, head and shoulders, not by throwing your whole weight past the foot.
- The ball runs away or gets poked off you Keep the ball close on the approach and start the feint earlier. The ball is still rolling during the lunge, so make the touch away straight after the fake.
- You stop after the move Don't leave the ball dead at your feet. Make the outside-foot touch and the first sprint steps one action, and drive into the space.
- Your lunge knee caves in or your chest falls sideways on the push-off Bend the knee, keep it over your toes, and bring your chest upright as you push off. Shorten the lunge until you can do this every time.
Drill
- Warm up first. Line drill: two cones 15 m apart. Dribble at a partner or cone in the middle, lunge one way and take the ball past with the outside of the other foot. Start slowly, then build speed. 4 times with each foot.
- Two-cone course: lunge left at the first cone and push the ball past with the outside of your right foot, then lunge right at the second cone and use the outside of your left foot, then pass into a mini goal. Keep your head up and burst after each feint.
- Defender progression: a defender who stands still, then one who takes one step, then two or three steps, then fully live. Finish each rep with a pass or shot. Do each stage at least twice, once to each side.
- Dribbling game: in a 15x15 m area, everyone with a ball, dribble for 1 minute using body feints, turns and changes of direction to keep your ball while trying to win other players' balls. Shrink the area to make it harder.
- Great escape: 35x35 yd area with four gates and two defenders inside. Dribble in and use a body feint to escape through a gate for a point. Rotate defenders every few minutes.
By position
Any player who carries the ball at a defender can use it: feints help you get past an opponent and move the ball forward. It's most useful when you're running at a defender 1v1 with space on both sides.
Sources
- The Soccer Handbook (Bryan Coe) — How to do a basic body feint in soccer
- John C. Harves, Coaching American Soccer — Intermediate dribbling: first fakes and feints
- easy2coach — Body Feint (soccer drill)
- FIFA Training Centre — Branimir Ujevic: Mastering ball control (2024)
- England Football Learning — Moving with the ball and turning session: moving with deception (2025)
- Brault, Bideau, Kulpa & Craig — Detecting deception in movement: the case of the side-step in rugby, PLOS ONE (2012)
- Dos'Santos, Thomas, Comfort & Jones — Training interventions on change of direction biomechanics and ACL loading: a scoping review, Sports Medicine (2019)
Last checked 2026-10-31.