Key Takeaways
Table of Contents
How to Be a Professional Soccer Player
How to become a footballer
Learn the 3 steps to follow to become Pro.
Included, how to improve, get seen and impress.
How do I become a pro footballer?
If you’ve landed here, we’re sure you’re ready to start your journey to become a footballer.
Your journey will be divided into 3 very important steps:
- Improve and become a better player day by day.
- Get scouted and join a professional football academy.
- Impress and go through the ranks of the academy until you reach the first team.
We’re going to explain what to do in each part of your journey so you can have the greatest chance of becoming a soccer pro!
How to become a better football player fast
To become a better football player you need to improve every aspect of your game, this way, you will be a complete player that can be reliable and produce results when the team most needs it.
There are many aspects of your game to improve, but the main ones are:
- Weak foot
- Defending
- Technique
- Speed
- Finishing
You need to practise these parts of your game consistently and smartly.
By smartly, we mean creating an objective system, where you identify your goal, for example, to improve your weak foot, and you put all your energies into practising this alone and with other players in your team.
You need to track the progress on this goal, and once you’ve achieved it, you can move on to the next goal. A way to do this efficiently is to know how to train correctly and perform under pressure, which we’ll explain later.
The best soccer drills and exercises to improve your game
There are many exercises and drills out there, but these are the ones we always practise in our academy and can help you improve the fastest to become a footballer.
Weak foot exercise
This exercise improves your weak foot’s ability by requiring lots of small movements with the ball under control when you kick it.
Doing this exercise improves your weak-foot technique by requiring you to make lots of small movements with the ball under control, which helps strengthen it. After going around once,  go around the square again, sprinting with the football as fast as possible, but this time dribbling with your weaker foot.
This exercise mimics two types of situations you will encounter in a game: short, sharp ball control and fast, powerful sprints.
When planting your strong foot in front of you, push off it with explosiveness and keep the ball under control with your weak foot.
Defending drill
The most efficient way to train your positioning in the field as a defender is to do screenage game-like situations.
This is something that many clubs do, and it works very well. The trick? Make sure you do it with a real-game intensity and don’t stop every few passes.
You need a coach or a knowledgeable friend to check how you’re moving in the field, and once the action is finished, talk to your coach or friend and correct your positioning.
Make sure you listen and implement the information they’re giving you!
Technique exercise
If you want to play in Europe, you need a good technique, so the first exercise works on your touch and technique. It’s so simple to do that you can do it completely by yourself and with no gear.
Bounce the ball on the floor as hard as possible, and as it comes down, try to take it in its stride with an oriented control. To do it as fast as possible, it’s better if you let the ball bounce slightly and then take it in your stride. Similar to the small bounce you do with a half volley. Practise this control going forward, left, right, and backwards. Also, don’t forget to do it with your weak foot!
The objective of this exercise is to master your control of the ball when it comes in an unwanted way. You won’t always get the perfect pass on the floor. Sometimes, the ball might come in the air, knee level, bouncing, and more, so the more prepared you are to do this in a game, the better!
Speed drill
Put 3 cones in a line 10 meters from each other, then, sprint forward and reach a cone, and track backwards five meters, then do it again 3 more times with 3 more cones in front of you, until you reach the end.
Perform this exercise with a ball, and make sure you don’t lose control when you sprint, stop, and step backwards. These drills will be a killer for your legs, but totally worth it!
You’re not only working on forward acceleration, but also backwards!
How to train soccer to become a better player
It’s crucial that you learn how to learn. This might sound confusing, but listen up!
Firstly, you need to identify your goal and visualize it. For example, if you want to improve your weak foot, what does that look like? Perhaps being able to clear the ball from the box to the striker in your role as a defender, or making a shot on goal with your weak side if you’re a winger.
You need to be able to do this goal consistently. That’s what success looks like.
Now that you’ve identified your goal, think of what makes it difficult to do this at the moment. Is it your foot positioning? Your balance? Your power with the weak leg? Perform these thinking exercises and work precisely on the things that are taking you back, with your team and alone.
Little by little, you will see that inspecting the issue bit by bit and working in each aspect, will improve the overall goal and reach the objective fast!
We work with this methodology in the Alicante Football Academy, and many players have been able to improve and join the academy fast:
Finishing drill
Do 1v1’s with the keeper, but start your sprint from the center of the field.
This way, by the time you get to the keeper, you will be a bit fatigued, and it will test your decision-making and composure in a more game-like, realistic way.
This is also trying to mimic a counterattack situation.
The objective is not to dribble around the keeper, but rather to try to shoot and finish around him (or between the legs).
How to show your abilities in a game
If you want to become a footballer, you’re going to have to deal with pressure and make the right decisions at the right time.
You need to work on your mental state and identify your emotions in a game. Are you nervous? Is the game too quick? Perhaps you don’t know where to be in the field?
As with the point before, explore the issues you’re experiencing in-game and why they’re stopping you from performing your abilities and game.
The goal is that you’re able to feel as close as possible to how you feel in a real football game, as you do when you train alone or with your team. This way, you will have a clear mind and be able to make the right decisions.
Also, you need to have a fish memory. What’s this?
Once something happens in a game, like a mistake or a missed chance, forget about it instantly!
If you don’t, you will not have a clear mind, and once another chance comes, you will fail again, and get in a loop. Ask your coaches for advice on this! We always provide mental support to our academy players.
How to find an academy to become a footballer
You have many possibilities to get scouted and join a football academy. We have compiled a few of the actions you can do, but we’ve also made 2 full guides about this, so you can check them out too:
Impress football scouts
Football scouts are people who work for clubs that are trying to improve their teams and academies.
Therefore, they’re looking for great players in games and training. If you’re already improving your game, learning how to train better, and having a clear mind and performing in games, like we’ve explained before, your chances of getting scouted will be great.
However, is not as easy as it sounds.
Make sure you listen to your coach and have a strong tactical game. Your coach has the same desire that a scout has, they want to win and improve their team, therefore, if you listen and perform the things that your coach asks you, you will show scouts that you are a reliable player, and you understand the tactical side of the game.
Learn when to play easy, and when to do an actions that stand out. This is difficult to do, but with experience, you will realise when the best times are for each thing. A perfect mix of simple, reliable actions and ‘different’ and ‘game-changing’ ones is the best way to impress scouts.
How to get a football agent
Football agents are similar to scouts; they work for an agency that helps teams sign players.
They also look at the same stuff that scouts look at, so the advice is very similar.
One note: be careful, speak to your parents, and consult with the agent before you sign any contract with him/her. At the end of the day, they’re looking to get a profit out of you, so identify if the agent is real, and it’s looking at your best interest.
Should you get an agent to become a soccer pro?
Is it absolutely not needed? In fact, if you work on your game, you won’t need to find one, as clubs will come directly to you. Agents are only needed when you’re already a pro, and you need help and advice with other football matters like contracts, sponsorships, and more.
How to contact football clubs directly
You can also contact clubs directly for a trial. We strongly recommend having a good highlight video of you, with shots from a real game as well as training.
This way, the club can have a look at you first and decide if they want to give you a trial.
This will also show the club that your desire to be a footballer is unmatched, and you’ll already be ticking a box in their mind!
In the video, you can see some advice on how to contact football clubs.
To shoot correctly at the goal and do a good finish, you have to make sure your steps towards the ball are performed in a coordinated way, and that you’re not too close or too far from the ball when making contact.
Also, it is important that you make contact with the ball with the correct part of your foot, depending on the type of shot you’ve chosen.
You also need to learn the different types of shots there are and master them.
Finally, you need to follow through with the swing of your left foot towards the goal so the ball can follow the correct trajectory.
How to join a specialised football academy that finds teams for you
A specialised academy like ours will improve you as a player and do the hard work of finding a team for you.
Opposite to the last point, this is the most likely way you can succeed in joining an actual Pro Football Club Academy in Spain.
Check our Inside Alicante Football Academy video to see how football academies work.
One day in Alicante Football Academy in Spain
You can see the success stories from some of the players in our academy, Alicante Football Academy, who have managed to join a soccer club in Spain in just a month!
How to become pro in a football academy
Once you’ve attended a football trial and you’ve impressed the team, you will be invited to sign and join the football academy. Great news!
We’ve helped many players sign in teams in Europe and Spain, and firsthand, we know that this is only the beginning of your journey!
Know you’re going to be surrounded by better players, as well as playing against them. This will make it harder for you to impress; however, don’t worry, because it will also make you improve faster!
You need to do these things:
1. Work on your confidence
You’re going to make more mistakes simply because you’re exposed to better competition. Remember that when academies sign players, they’re looking at a long-term investment.
Remember that you have time to improve, and that coaches are looking at how you react to mistakes, whether it’s a bad pass or a bad month of football! Go back to the fish-memory mentality; look at mistakes as opportunities to show coaches you can come back stronger.
If you look closely at the top games in the world, like the Champions League, there are constant mistakes! This is because one team is attacking and another defending, so it’s completely normal and part of the game for the defending team to win the action and force a mistake out of you.
2. Work on your mindset
Learn how to deal with pressure, with other players, and with intense physical actions. how to learn, how to make mistakes and forget about them, how to listen and perform what they say.
These are big mental tasks that not even adults can do many times! Understand that you’re in a hard challenge, that football isn’t easy, and that you can fail, but understand that you have been given a chance and that you are good enough to learn and perform consistently under all this pressure!
Remember: To become a footballer, you need to perform consistently, be reliable, make the right decisions, and in some instances, produce extraordinary actions.
So your whole mindset should be geared toward achieving this balance and goal.
Finally, remember that you can’t always control what happens, but you can absolutely control how you feel about it. Learn to feel about things in a way that won’t hurt your performance or mindset. For example, if your coach has benched you, there’s nothing you can do about it anymore; it’s passed. You can feel sad for a bit; it’s normal, but as quickly as possible, change your feelings from sadness to motivation to show your coach that he is wrong.
This is because if you felt sad, it would be harder to impress your coach in training, which would mean that you would stay benched. However, if you feel motivated to show him he’s wrong, you’re in a much better headspace to perform that exact action! You can control your mind.
3. Listen to your coaches and perform exactly what they ask from you.
We’ve mentioned this throughout the article; you need to take the advice and instructions your coaches tell you as pure gold!
They’re literally telling you what you have to do to become a better player and impress them. Is like a roadmap to becoming a footballer!
Always have this as your top priority in your goal to become a professional soccer player. This way, you’ll be a reliable player who can improve the team and win games.
4. Learn to execute efficiently and take risks
Finally, be ruthless with your execution. Have a clear mindset and a clear process for performing different tasks, and do this consistently.
This will help you become colder mentally and execute the actions the team needs to win in every circumstance, whether you’re under pressure because you’re playing with older players or in a final of a tournament!
At what age can you become a footballer?
Normally, football players make their debut at around 20 years old. However, academies are improving their ability to teach young kids how to play football, which means players are making their debuts younger.
However, keep in mind that you can become a footballer at any age. If you follow the steps to becoming the best version of a player you can be, you will have the highest chance of becoming good enough to be a pro, as soon as possible. But don’t get down if you’re already over 20 years old.
There are countless examples of players who have had a successful career starting late!
How do you become a footballer in Europe, UK AND SPAIN?
Europe follows a strict academy-centric system, where talented players are found at an early age and developed in academies to one day make their debut in the first team.
Therefore, your main goal should be to come to Europe and play football here to get scouted and join an academy.
We are an academy in Spain that improves you as a player, and at the same time, finds you real Pro football academies in Spain and Europe so you can go on trial and join them. So, join us today!
How do you become a footballer in the US?
The US has a draft system in which players go to college and join their school’s teams. These teams play in a league where scouts come and look for talent to sign into their MLS clubs.
Is it easy to become a footballer?
It is not easy to become a footballer. In fact, it is very hard, as only around 2% of players in soccer academies make their debut in the first team.
However, you need to remember that you’re doing what you love, which is playing football, and that you’re on a journey to achieving your goal! This is already a blessing for you.
For this reason, it is crucial to stay on top of your studies if you don’t reach your goal. In our academy, we offer our players a full course about football coaching, as well as study time for players who are already studying remotely.
Should I create a football CV?
Yes, in the CV, explain your strong points, areas for improvement, position, physical information, past teams, and, most importantly, a video of you playing in football games.
This way, you’ll be able to contact clubs yourself and send them this CV to impress them!
Do I need to go on trials to become a footballer?
Football trials are just a way for teams to see if you’re good enough and how you blend with the team before they invest in you and sign you.
Trials are a natural part of football that, at some point or another, you’re going ot be exposed to if you want to become a footballer. Therefore, yes, you need to go on trials to be a pro!
We have a full guide on how to go on trials, so check it out!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT BECOMING A FOOTBALL PLAYER
How can I become a footballer fast?
You need to improve the different parts of your games, learn how to identify your shortcomings and critically think of them and how to improve, then find a football academy to join, and finally, have a strong mindset and become a reliable and consistent player once you’ve joined an academy.
Can you become a footballer for free?
Yes, infact if you become a player that is good, reliable and consistent, and football scouts find you, you will get paid for this!
Is it easy to become a footballer?
It is not easy to become a footballer. In fact, is very hard as only around 2% of players in soccer academies make their debut in the first team.
However, you need to remember that you’re doing what you love, which is playing football, and that you’re in a journey to achieving your goal! This is already a blessing for you.
For this reason, is crucial to keep on top your studies in case you don’t reach your goal. In our academy we offer our players a full course about football coaches, as well as study time for players who are already studying remotely.
FOOTBALL ACADEMY GUIDES
Have you ever felt lost trying to understand how to get into a football team?
Do you want to join a football academy?
In this guide we explain the most common ways to get into a team in Spain fast and how we help you in the process in Alicante Football Academy.
Have you ever been in a football trial?
Do you want to attend one and get signed for a football academy?
In this guide we explain all there is to know about about this and how we help you in the process in Alicante Football Academy.
Do you know what you have to do to get scouted?
How can you make scouts come to watch you play?
In this guide we explain how you can get scouted and how we help you in the process in Alicante Football Academy.
Have you ever felt you need to train better to become a good footballer?
Do you want to bring your training sessions to another level?
In this guide we explain the best exercises, used by the best academies in the world, that we do in our morning trainings.
Have you ever wanted to get even faster?
Do you want to be the difference in every game and go past all your opponents?
In this guide we explain how we train speed in the academy and how you can score more football goals every game!
Have you ever wanted to become a better defender?
Do you want to be a strong, imposing defender that can lead a game?
In this guide we explain how we train defending in the academy and the best defending soccer drills to do alone and with your team!
Have you ever felt you need learn hot to train better by yourself?
Do you want to bring your individual training sessions to another level?
In this guide we explain the best individual exercises to do by yourself, used by the best academies in the world, that we encourage our players to do in their trainings.
Have you ever felt lost trying to understand how to become a footballer?
Do you want to become a footballer fast?
In this guide we explain the most common ways to get into a team in fast and how we help you become a pro footballer.
Have you ever felt lost trying to understand how to train a possession?
The possession exercise is undoubtedly one of the most efficient football exercises to become good in the modern game. Why?
