So what are the basic skills you need to know as a soccer player? Well, I would say that there are 10 basic skills you need to know to start playing soccer.

However, I think that the 10 presented skills below are the most essential ones if you are new to soccer.

But if you are serious with your soccer playing you will need to learn many other things that are not presented below.

If you are just interested in chilling with your friends the most important ones you should concentrate on to learn are 1, 2, 6 and 9.

Now, let’s take a look at fundamental soccer skills that you should have in your soccer arsenal:

1. Passing

Knowing this one is a must whether you are playing with your friends or participating in a regular soccer team. If you don’t know how to pass the ball then no one will either pass it to you.

2. Receiving

You need to know how to receive and control the soccer ball when someone passes it to you. If you don’t know how to receive it, then the same scenario like what I just mentioned will occur and no one will pass it to you.

3. Rules

Understanding the rules of the game is important. This is something that many new soccer players have problems with. The number one rule that cause the biggest problems is to understand what that offside thing is about.

I can admit that it took me a while to understand what the offside rule actually was and that I was feeling pretty dumb.

What I am trying to say is that you should let it take time and don’t try to learn all soccer rules in one day.

4. Heading

Soon or later you will be forced to head a ball. And if you don’t know how to do that, I can ensure you that your head will hurt!

5. Communicating

If you can’t understand what your teammates are talking about on the field then you will not perform as well as you know you can!

Of course, this can be difficult especially in the beginning of your soccer career. But when you don’t understand, ask your coach instead of running around and feeling dumb.

6. Shooting

If you don’t know how to shoot, then scoring will be pretty hard, don’t you agree? 🙂

Of course, your shots must be enough hard to beat the goalkeeper. However, sometimes it will be enough to just kick the ball smoothly.

7. Juggling

This is a skill that you must practice quite often. The reason is that juggling is the key for increasing your overall skills. Try to use every part of your body to juggle and you will notice an improvement of your skills pretty fast.

8. Learning tactics

Tactics are a subject that could form its very own book – but I’ll leave you with just two of the most common soccer tactics: attacking and defending. If you learn nothing else as a beginner, start here.

9. Dribbling

Getting into the true art of dribbling will allow you to not only improve your soccer skills when it comes to getting past your opponents, but you’ll be able to score more goals. Need another benefit? No problem – you will provide your teammates with better passing as well.

10. Tackling

This is a super critical skill that you have to master if you really want to play as a defender. Unless you know how to tackle, your opponents will be able to get around you like a knife slicing through butter – just too easy!