The fake pass is a dribbling feint. You show a defender an inside-foot pass, stop the foot before it touches the ball, then take the ball the other way and accelerate. It works because a real inside-foot pass means opening your body to the target, and defenders read that shape. We read the pass wind-up and the pull-out; whether the defender bites isn't something the camera can see.
Set up
Dribble with your head up and eyes forward. Pick a real teammate or gap to show the pass to, and know which way you'll go after the fake.
Exit planned before the fake.
Open your body toward that target the way you would for a real inside-foot pass. Turn your head and eyes there too.
Look like you mean it.
Plant your standing foot as you would for the pass, with the knee bent.
Soft knee, balanced.
Fake
Swing the passing foot back into an inside-foot wind-up. Sell it with your shoulders, head and eyes, and keep your hips over the standing foot instead of leaning your whole body.
Upper body sells, hips stay home.
Stop the kicking motion before the foot touches the ball. Either set it down beside the ball or let it pass around the front of the ball.
No contact.
The instant the defender reacts, take the ball the other way with the outside of the same foot or the inside of the other foot. Don't let it sit dead at your feet.
Fake and touch in one motion.
Accelerate into the space the defender left. Push off a bent knee with your chest fairly upright.
Then go.
Feel it
The fake should look so much like your real pass that you almost believe it yourself: body open, eyes on the target, foot drawn back. Your head and shoulders do the selling while your hips stay over your standing foot, so you can change direction straight away. The moment the defender shifts, the ball goes the other way and you burst after it.
Fix-its
- The defender doesn't move Only your foot is faking. Open your body, look at the target and draw the foot back as far as you would for the real pass.
- You lurch your whole body and can't get back Sell it with your head, shoulders and eyes, and keep your hips over the standing foot. Overdoing the fake also makes it less believable.
- The ball gets stuck under your feet Make the fake and the take-away one motion. Touch the ball away with the outside of the same foot or the inside of the other foot.
- You go before the defender reacts Hold the pass shape until the defender moves, then go at once. Practise against a defender who steps before a live one.
- No burst after the fake Accelerate into the space straight after the touch, pushing off a bent knee with your chest up.
Drill
- Still ball: show the pass, stop the foot, take the ball away with the outside of the same foot, then with the inside of the other foot. 3 sequences with each foot, building to 4.
- Dribble at a cone, show a pass to a target cone or teammate, take the ball the other way and accelerate. Work both sides.
- Dribble for 1 minute in a 15x15 m area with other players, head up, using fake passes to change direction and driving into space as it opens.
- 1v1 stations: a stationary defender, then a defender who takes one step, then two or three steps, then a live defender. Fake to both sides.
Sources
- John C. Harves, CoachingAmericanSoccer.com — Intermediate Dribbling: First Fakes and Feints (n.d.)
- 5-a-side.com — Essential 5-a-side Skill: The Dummy Pass / Shot (n.d.)
- MOJO Sports — 5 of the Best Trick Soccer Moves (2021)
- England Football Learning — Different passing techniques in football (2023)
- England Football Learning — Moving with the ball and turning session: moving with deception (2025)
- FIFA Training Centre — Ujevic, Mastering ball control (2024)
- Brault, Bideau, Kulpa & Craig — Detecting deception in movement: the side-step in rugby, PLOS ONE (2012)
- Dos'Santos, Thomas, Comfort & Jones — Training interventions on change of direction biomechanics and ACL loading, Sports Medicine (2019)
Last checked 2026-10-26.