The outside cut is a turn: you plant one foot beside or just past the ball, pivot on it, and cut the ball back with the outside of your other foot, then accelerate away the other way. It is the partner of the inside cut and lets you escape pressure or change the direction of play in one touch. We read the body movement of the cut, not the ball.
Set up
Dribble with the ball close. Near a defender, take smaller touches so the ball is always in reach.
Small touches, ball under control.
Start slowing down a step or two before the turn. Brake over the last couple of steps, not all on the final plant.
Slow down early, not all at once.
Bend your knees and lower your body as you reach the ball, so you have a base to turn and push off from.
Low and ready to spring.
Cut
Plant first: take a longer step and put your non-cutting foot down beside or just past the ball. Keep that knee bent and pointing the same way as your toes, not caving inward.
Plant past the ball, knee over toes.
Pivot on the planted foot and start turning your hips back the way you came.
Hook the ball back with the outside of your other foot, around the little-toe area. Keep the touch short so the ball stays with you.
Little-toe side, short hook.
Finish the hip turn, keep your trunk upright or leaning into the new direction, not falling sideways away from it, lift your head, and accelerate away. If there is space, push the next touch further and drive into it.
Head up, then go.
Feel it
A good outside cut feels like braking into a low, balanced plant past the ball, turning on that foot, and leaving with the ball still close. The plant comes before the touch. If you touch the ball first and then try to stop, you will overrun it.
Fix-its
- You touch the ball before you plant Walk it first: plant beside or past the ball, pivot, and only then cut. Speed up once the order is automatic.
- You arrive tall and drift through the turn Slow down over the last two steps and bend your knees before you plant. A low body gives you a base to turn and accelerate.
- Your plant knee caves inward Keep the knee pointing over your toes on the plant. Slow the move down until you can hold that alignment, then build speed.
- The ball runs away after the cut Use the little-toe side of the foot and a short touch. Plant close to the ball, not a long way past it.
- You turn but don't get away Lift your head after the turn and accelerate straight away. The change of speed is what creates the space.
Drill
- Walk-through: with the ball still, plant beside or just past it, pivot, and cut it back with the outside of the other foot. Do both feet until the plant feels stable.
- Cone lines: in a 20 x 30 yard area, dribble to a cone, outside-cut back, and dribble away. Alternate feet; keep the plant knee over your toes.
- Inside then outside: dribble to the middle, outside-cut, then inside-cut straight away, and dribble back. Work the right foot, then the left.
- Add a defender: in a small game (for example 2 minutes on, 30 seconds rest), use the outside cut to turn away from pressure and head up to the goal. Start with a passive defender, then make them active.
Sources
- Premier Users' Club (Jamie Edwards profile) — Turning (Soccer Camp), Coaches' Voice Session Planner
- Mass City Coaches — U8 Turning Session, Coaches' Voice Session Planner
- Edgemont Jaguars (Premier Users' Club) — Outside cut technique, Coaches' Voice Session Planner (2017)
- Premier Users' Club — Inside/outside cut, Drag back, Turning, Coaches' Voice Session Planner
- Premier Users' Club — Turn Outside cut, Coaches' Voice Session Planner
- England Football Learning — Moving with the ball and turning: turning to play forward (2025)
- Dos'Santos, Thomas, Comfort & Jones — Training interventions on change of direction biomechanics and ACL loading: a scoping review, Sports Medicine (2019)
- Donelon, Dos'Santos, Pitchers, Brown & Jones — Biomechanical determinants of knee joint loads during cutting: systematic review and technical framework, Sports Medicine - Open (2020)
Last checked 2026-10-26.