How to coach players on intercepting in football

Designing your training sessions to work on intercepting

With so much going on, how can you help your players develop their intercepting skills without overwhelming them?

Try these strategies to build the skill, one step at a time.

Strip it back

Don’t try to work on everything at once. Instead, focus on one or two key areas at a time. For example, if you’re working on movement, just concentrate on changing speed or direction. Want to develop scanning? Start by using small-sided practices, where players have fewer things to scan for. Make it more complex by increasing player numbers or even use overloads to challenge their scanning further.

Provide realism

Even in the simplest practices, introduce elements of the real game. Make activities directional by providing a goal or target player to aim at. For lots of ball-stealing chances, use small-sided games, like 2v2 or 3v3, and set simple challenges like: “Can you steal the ball before your opponent receives it?”

Celebrate the skill

It might seem obvious, but don’t forget to praise intercepting. It’s a skilful move and players should feel proud when they pull it off. If you spot someone trying to be deceptive or making an attempt to intercept, call it out with positive feedback. It’s a simple way to encourage your players to do it more often.

Get creative

Think of small-sided activities to introduce the skill to your players. The ‘Cat and mouse’ arrival activity is a good one for young players. And build in other core football skills to your practices, like passing and receiving, as this will encourage intercepting to take place. But intercepting isn’t just limited to football. You can try basketball or other ‘ball-in-hand’ games to explore how the skill is used elsewhere.

Create a safe space

To master intercepting, players need to try – and fail – many times over. Embrace it. Let them know mistakes are part of learning. Praise the intention, not just the outcome. And help them reflect when things go wrong. Remember, if your sessions feel safe and supportive, players will be more willing to try new things.

Adapting to the age and stage of your team

It takes time to build the capabilities behind a successful interception. Younger players might struggle with the basics, like scanning, timing, and movement. And if one piece is missing, the whole skill can break down.

So don’t expect too much too soon. Meet players where they’re at.

With younger or less experienced teams, focus on the building blocks of the skill. You can even provide them with activities to develop timing and movement without the pressure of ball control. Or get players thinking a few steps ahead by asking what they think the opposition might do next.

As players get used to the skill, try challenging them to only intercept during a small-sided game rather than tackling. And widen their thinking by getting them to consider what they can do to help if a teammate goes to intercept. Here, they’ll need to move to cover the space left to maintain the balance in the team’s defensive shape. After all, if effective cover isn’t provided and their teammate doesn’t intercept the ball, the opposition can take advantage of that.