Your first touch is how you control a ball that comes to you, and it decides what you can do next. Most of the work happens before the ball arrives: look around, open your body, then cushion the ball into the space you picked. We read the body shape you receive in, not the touch on the ball itself.
Before it gets to you
Scan before the ball arrives. Turn your head to check over your shoulders while the ball is still with someone else. Look for four things: the ball, opponents, teammates and space. Then you already know where your first touch should go.
quick looks away from the ball and back, more than once, not one long stare.
Open your body. Stand half side-on so you can see the passer and the rest of the pitch at the same time, instead of standing square with your back to the play.
Plan to take it on your back foot, the one farther from the passer. Receiving on that foot keeps your body open toward where you want to play next.
the ball travels across your body, so you are already facing your next pass.
Move onto the ball, don't wait for it. Stay on your toes and step toward or across the pass. Players who stand still find it harder to turn quickly without losing the ball.
The touch
Set your balance. Bend both knees a little, keep your arms slightly out, and point the toes of your standing foot forward.
Present the inside of your foot. Turn your receiving toes out so the arch faces the ball, keep the sole parallel to the ground, and reach the foot slightly forward. Watch the ball onto your foot.
Cushion it. As the ball touches the middle of the inside of your foot, gently pull your leg back to take the pace off it. Your foot finishes just behind your standing leg.
a soft foot that gives a little, not a wall the ball bounces off.
Send it somewhere
Direct the touch into the space you saw. Push the ball away from pressure, or toward the opponent's goal when you can, so your next touch can be a pass, a dribble or a shot. Under tight pressure with no space, a controlled stop and shielding the ball is fine.
your first touch is already the start of your next move.
Feel it
You already know your next move before the ball arrives. Your body is open, the ball sticks to a soft foot instead of bouncing off, and it lands where you can play it straight away.
Fix-its
- Ball bounces away from you Your foot was stiff. Relax it and pull the leg back gently as the ball arrives.
- You don't know what to do once you have it You didn't scan. Check over your shoulders before the pass comes, looking for opponents, teammates and space.
- You end up facing your own goal or the sideline Your body was square or closed. Stand half side-on and take the ball on your back foot.
- Your touch runs into a defender Pick the space before the ball arrives and touch it away from the nearest opponent.
- You get caught flat-footed You waited for the ball. Stay on your toes and move onto the pass.
Drill
- Stationary first: a partner or a wall plays ground passes to you. Cushion each one with the inside of your foot until it stays close. Use both feet.
- Redirect it: same passes, but let the first touch move the ball off to one side, then pass back with your second touch.
- Open up: a partner passes from your side. Stand half side-on, take it on your back foot and play it on to a third player or a target on the other side.
- Receive on the turn: in a circle about 10 m across, pass out to a partner on the edge, get the ball back and receive it on the turn, scanning before it arrives. Add a defender who presses the receiver.
- Add pressure: in a small-sided game (3v3 to 5v5), focus on scanning and opening your body before every touch. Shrink the area as it gets easier.
By position
Central midfielders and centre-backs often receive with play all around them, and in one Premier League study they scanned the most. Forwards and wide players often receive with less time and tighter pressure, so open up and choose your touch earlier.
Sources
- England Football Learning, Emily Senior — Passing and receiving session: around the clock (2025)
- England Football Learning — How to coach players on receiving in football (2021)
- England Football Learning, Pete Sturgess — Receiving session: take a picture (2021)
- FIFA Training Centre, Jacqueline Dünker — Directing the ball with the first touch (2023)
- US Youth Soccer Coaching Education Department — Skills School: Fundamental Ball Skills (Receiving, inside of foot)
- Jordet et al. — Scanning, contextual factors, and association with performance in English Premier League footballers, Frontiers in Psychology (2020)
- Jordet, Bloomfield & Heijmerikx — The hidden foundation of field vision in English Premier League soccer players, MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (2013)
Last checked 2026-10-26.