Chip: Soccer technique, drills and fixes

A chip is a short, stabbing strike under the ball that makes it rise steeply with backspin, so it clears a defender or a keeper who has come off their line and tends to slow or stop when it lands. You snap your lower leg down, wedge your toes under the ball and stop your foot dead, with almost no follow-through. We read your body for it: the short stabbing approach, your plant foot and the cut-off follow-through, not the ball's flight.

Set up

Take a short run-up and arrive with your hips facing the target. A chip is a quick stab, not a long swing.

Plant your standing foot about 6 in (15 cm) beside the ball, toes pointing at the target, standing knee bent.

a firm, planted standing foot. A weak or misplaced plant costs you accuracy and distance.

Keep your head down and your eyes on the ball, with your upper body over it. Don't lean back.

Jab under it

Bend your kicking knee sharply so your heel rises toward your backside.

Snap your lower leg down hard. The power comes from the leg below the knee.

Wedge your toes under the ball at about 45° between the ground and the bottom of the ball, front of the foot angled slightly down. Hit below the ball's middle: your instep meets the part of the ball touching the ground.

you squeeze the ball between your foot and the ground.

Finish

Stop your foot flat under where the ball was, close enough to graze the turf. No further follow-through: cutting it off is what puts the backspin on the ball.

stab and stop. Your kicking foot stays where it hit.

Keep your head down and steady until the ball has gone. Looking up early is a common reason chips miss.

For a chip shot, use the same technique with a sharper rise, enough to get over the keeper. If the keeper's hands are low, go over them; if their hands are up, chipping beside them is an option.

Feel it

A short, hard stab that stops dead, with the ball squeezed against the ground. The ball climbs steeply with backspin and checks up when it lands instead of running on. If it runs on, you probably lifted it with an upward flick or swung through it; a flick puts little or no backspin on the ball.

Fix-its

Ball skims low instead of rising You hit it at or above its middle. Wedge your toes under it and hit the part of the ball touching the ground.
Ball runs on after it lands Too little backspin: you followed through or flicked it up. Snap down and stop your foot flat under the ball.
Ball sails too high or over the bar You leaned back. Keep your upper body over the ball and your head down.
Ball barely gets off the ground The snap was soft. Bring your heel up sharply first, then drive the lower leg down hard.
Ball goes off target Check the plant: about 6 in beside the ball, toes at the target. Watch the ball until it has gone.

Drill

Solo: in a space about 15 yards long, set a cone or disc as a defender and stab-chip a stationary ball over it. When that works, tap the ball forward first and chip it on the move.
Pairs about 10 yards apart: your partner rolls the ball slowly to your chipping foot and you chip it back to them with backspin. Swap after about a dozen, then switch feet.
Raise the obstacle: chip over a cone, then a flag or mannequin, then a teammate standing still between you and your partner. Use both feet and rotate roles.
Make it live: a receiver runs toward goal from beside the defender while you chip over to them. Then dribble in first, slowly at the start, and chip on the run.
Small-sided game: 2v2 up to 4v4 in a 15 x 20 or 25 x 40 yard grid with four small goals outside it. Score with a pass or shot from inside the grid, chips included.

By position

Strikers: the chip is one of the finishing techniques coaches teach, and it takes a lot of skill. Use it 1v1 when the keeper has come off their line. Everyone: the chip pass lifts the ball over a defender to a teammate, and a stab chip can pop the ball over a defender's outstretched leg so you can run round them and collect it.

Sources

Last checked 2026-10-30.