Drag to heel is two touches with the same foot: a sole drag back, then a short heel pop that sends the ball behind your standing leg into a new lane. The name comes from the EA FC video game; coaching sites teach the real version as a heel drag back, used when you're shielding with a defender on your back or side and the way forward is shut. It builds on the Drag Back and Heel Flick lessons, and we read your drag-and-redirect motion and your balance on the standing leg.
Set up
Pick the moment: a defender is on your back or coming at you diagonally from the side, and there's space behind you. Glance first so you know the heel touch is going somewhere free.
Look before you hide it.
Get low with your knees bent and your arms out for balance. Keep your body between the defender and the ball, and do the move with the foot farthest from the defender.
Ball on the far side.
Drag-heel
Put your sole on top of the ball and drag it back until it rolls past the heel of your standing foot.
Drag it past your standing heel.
Keep the same foot moving: bring it over or around the ball so your heel sits ahead of the ball's centre. Lock your ankle with your toe up.
One foot, two touches.
Pop the ball with the middle of your heel through the middle of the ball, at an angle behind your standing leg and along the ground. Use no wind-up and almost no follow-through; the power comes from the knee down.
A little pop, not a kick.
Push off your standing leg, turn and go around the defender to collect the ball on their other side, then accelerate away.
Gone before it stops rolling.
Feel it
The drag and the heel pop feel like one movement of the same foot, with your weight staying on a bent standing leg. The heel touch is small and soft, just enough to put the ball into the space behind you, and you're already pushing off to chase it.
Fix-its
- The ball stops under your feet and the heel has nothing to hit Drag it far enough to roll past the heel of your standing foot before the heel touch.
- You catch the top of the ball with your studs and it dribbles a short way Get your heel ahead of the ball's centre, lock your ankle toe up, and hit the middle of the ball with the middle of your heel.
- A big swing sends the ball too far and straight to the defender No wind-up. Make it a short pop from the knee down.
- You use the foot nearest the defender and they poke it away Turn so your body is between them and the ball, and use the foot farthest from them.
- You watch the ball after the heel touch and the defender recovers Push off the standing leg straight away and accelerate out of the move.
Drill
- Walk-through: do the drag and heel motion slowly with no ball, then with a still ball. Repeat with your weaker foot.
- Three cones: dribble to the top cone, drag back and heel the ball between the two lower cones behind you, then turn and collect it.
- Pairs about 10 yards apart: dribble away from your partner, drag to heel back to them, swap. Add a standing defender, then a live one.
- Shield and escape: a partner leans on your back as a passive defender; drag to heel past them and collect on their other side. Make them active once it's clean.
- 4v4 on about 30 x 20 m with a goal at each end; look for a chance to use it when you're trapped on a sideline. Keep it out of your own defensive third.
Sources
- We Make Footballers (WMF Coaching Team) — Top three Neymar skills and how to do them: the heel drag back (2022)
- Innovative Player Cards: Skill Moves, Drag Back Flick and Flick Behind Standing Leg (club coaching cards, n.d.)
- England Football Learning — How using the sole of the foot can benefit players (2023)
- Soccer Coach Weekly — Back-heel passing (Smart Sessions: Core Skills 067)
- John C. Harves, CoachingAmericanSoccer.com — Advanced Passing: The Back Heel
- Online Soccer Academy — How to do a Back Heel Soccer Kick
- FIFPlay — FC 26 Skill Moves (Drag to Heel listed as a 4-star game move)
Last checked 2026-10-31.