The hook tackle (coaching books call it the side block tackle) is for an attacker who is moving past you diagonally or is already past. You get alongside, turn in, and hook the inside of your nearer foot around the ball, then stay on your feet to keep the pressure on. We read your reach and your balance on the standing leg; the foot's contact with the ball isn't visible to the camera.
Set up
Run hard to get alongside the attacker. If they have gone past you, this is your recovery run.
Level with them first.
Run side by side on the goal side, staying between the ball and your goal.
Goal-side, shoulder to shoulder.
Keep your eyes on the ball, not the attacker, and keep your near arm down by your side.
Wait for your moment: just after they touch the ball and it runs slightly ahead of them, or when they take a heavy touch.
Go on their touch.
Hook
Turn in toward the attacker, turning your hips and shoulders that way. You tackle with the foot nearer the attacker.
Crouch and keep your standing leg firmly planted and working, so it carries your weight while the tackling leg reaches.
Low, strong standing leg.
Hook the inside of your tackling foot around the ball.
Wrap the ball.
Keep turning as you hook until the ball breaks clear of the attacker's foot.
Finish upright. Take the ball if you have it. Often it just bounces free, so keep pressuring and stay in the duel.
Still on my feet.
Play it safe and fair
Play the ball, not the legs. Under Law 12, tripping or trying to trip an opponent is a foul, and so is a tackle that is careless (lack of attention or consideration: free kick), reckless (disregard for the danger to the opponent: yellow card) or uses excessive force (endangers the opponent: red card).
Go in with one foot and stay on your feet. Lunging at an opponent from the side with excessive force or endangering them is serious foul play. Referees weigh speed, distance travelled, whether you were airborne and out of control, your foot position and whether your studs were showing. In a video study of FIFA tournaments, two-footed tackles, jumping in and tackles from the side carried the highest injury risk for the tackling player.
If you can't get the inside of your foot around the ball without stretching past your balance, don't stab at it. Keep running alongside, goal-side, and wait for the next touch.
Feel it
You are level with the attacker and goal-side, low, with your weight on a strong standing leg. Your hips and shoulders turn in as the inside of your near foot wraps the ball, and you finish upright and ready to keep pressing. If you are falling or toppling as you reach, you went too early or from too far away.
Fix-its
- You tackle before you're alongside Keep running until you are level with the attacker, goal-side, before you turn in and hook.
- You reach across with the far foot Use the foot nearer the attacker and turn your hips and shoulders in toward them as you hook.
- You miss the ball or mistime it Watch the ball, not the player. Go just after their touch, when the ball runs slightly ahead of them, or on a heavy touch.
- You fall over or go to ground Crouch and keep your weight on a firmly planted standing leg. Finish upright so you can keep pressuring if the ball bounces free.
- You catch their legs or use your arm Get the inside of your foot around the ball itself and keep your near arm down by your side. If you can't reach the ball, stay alongside and wait for the next touch.
Drill
- Walking-pace hook: a partner of similar size dribbles slowly in a straight line. Walk alongside on the goal side, turn in and hook the ball away with your nearer foot. Swap sides so you practise with both feet.
- Recovery chase: the attacker starts slightly ahead and dribbles toward a line. Run to get alongside, goal-side, then hook on one of their touches. Build up from jogging to running speed.
- 1v1 battles (England Football): the defender passes to the attacker, who tries to beat them to the end line. Use the long, wide area so attackers get past and you have to recover alongside. Stay in the duel even if they get past you.
- Leave It (US Youth Soccer): everyone dribbles a ball in a grid. On the coach's call "leave it", everyone leaves their ball and takes another. Then remove two balls so the players without one must win a ball by tackling.
- Safety: pair players by size and ability, start at walking speed, and only speed up once you finish every hook on your feet. Stop if you feel pain.
Sources
- Hargreaves & Bate — Skills & Strategies for Coaching Soccer, 2nd ed. (Human Kinetics excerpt: Soccer has three basic tackles)
- US Youth Soccer — Skills School Manual (2017), tackling pp. 47–48
- FIFA Training Centre — Irene Paredes: Timing the tackle (2024)
- England Football Learning — Session programme: press and cover to defend (2025)
- IFAB — Laws of the Game, Law 12: Fouls and Misconduct (latest edition)
- The FA — Regulatory Commission written reasons, claim of wrongful dismissal (28 January 2025)
- Fuller, Smith, Junge & Dvorak — The influence of tackle parameters on the propensity for injury in international football, Am J Sports Med (2004)
Last checked 2026-10-26.