What Should a New Football Coach Teach First? | Coach Soti

Sep 8

3 min read

One of the hardest questions for a new football coach is also one of the most basic:

What Should a New Football Coach Teach First?

What am I supposed to teach first? Passing? Dribbling? Positions? Fitness? Defending? A formation? Playing out from the back?

The problem is that football gives you hundreds of things you could coach. Your players don't need all of them at once.

The better question is: what does this group need first?

Don't start with a formation

A formation can help organise players on matchday, but it isn't a development plan.If players can't receive the ball under pressure, recognise space, defend an opponent or make simple decisions, spending an entire session teaching where the left midfielder stands won't solve the bigger problem. You can give players simple positional reference points. But early coaching should usually focus more heavily on transferable football actions and decisions.

Start by observing the game

Your first few sessions and matches should tell you what to prioritise.

Can players control the ball and keep it close?
Do they look before receiving?
Can they pass with enough accuracy to keep a simple game moving?
Do they spread out or all chase the ball?
Can they recognise when to dribble?
Do they immediately switch off after losing possession?
Can they defend 1v1?
Do they understand which goal they're attacking and how to support the player on the ball?

Three useful early priorities

1. Comfort with the ball

At younger ages and with inexperienced players, confidence on the ball matters.That doesn't mean endless cone dribbling. It means creating lots of situations where players receive, move, turn, pass, protect and carry the ball.If players barely touch the ball in training, they'll struggle to become comfortable using it in matches.

2. Simple decisions around space and support

Players need to begin recognising that football isn't only about the ball.Can they move to help a teammate? Can they create an angle? Can they make the pitch bigger when their team has possession? Can they move closer when support is needed?You can teach these ideas through small games rather than long tactical talks.

3. What happens when the ball changes teams

Transitions happen constantly.Even very young teams can learn simple behaviours such as reacting when possession is lost, trying to win it back, recovering toward goal and looking forward quickly when the ball is regained.You don't need advanced tactical language. You need simple football cues that match what players can understand.

Age matters, but don't make age groups

rigid

An U10 player who's been in organised football for four years may need a different challenge from an U10 player who started three weeks ago. Age gives you context. It doesn't tell you everything. Use age-appropriate expectations, then adjust for experience, confidence, physical development and understanding. That matters in community football because mixed experience is normal.

Teach less, revisit more

New coaches often change topics every week because they think repeating a theme will bore players. In reality, learning needs time. England Football recommends linked learning over short blocks, often three to six weeks, so players can revisit outcomes and build complexity. You can keep the theme while changing the activity. For example, three weeks on creating space doesn't mean running the same drill three times. It can mean:

Week 1: moving away from pressure to receive.

Week 2: supporting the player on the ball.

Week 3: using width and depth in a small game.

The learning connects even though the practices change.

Don't confuse difficulty with quality

A session doesn't become better because the exercise looks advanced.If your players don't understand the problem, simplify it.Remove a defender. Increase the area. Reduce the rules. Use smaller numbers. Let the players experience success, then add difficulty.Good coaching is finding the challenge point where players have to think and work without being completely lost.

A useful first-month approach

If you're completely new and need somewhere to start, your first month could look something like this:Week 1: observe and assess through lots of game play.Week 2: ball confidence and simple support.Week 3: 1v1 attacking and defending.Week 4: reacting when possession changes.That isn't a universal curriculum. It's a simple way to gather information and cover behaviours that appear in almost every football match.Your actual players should determine what comes next.

Final thought

The first job of a new football coach isn't to teach everything. It's to identify what matters most. Watch the players. Find the problem that's limiting them. Build a session around it. Revisit it long enough for learning to appear in the game.Then move forward.

The free Grassroots Football Coaching Starter Pack is designed for exactly this stage: coaches who need a clearer starting point without pretending there's one perfect way to coach every team.