The Stepover: Football Skills It’s Worth Learning

We know that there are countless different skills that you should learn if you want to become a better footballer, so we’ve had a look at them all on these pages to give you a sense of the ones that you should look to target first. There aren’t many that tick that particular box as much as the stepover, which may be one of football’s most common tricks to perform. Here is a look at how to do it:

What is It?

On its surface, the stepover is an easy trick to perform. Yet the reason players opt to do it is that it can send the opposition in completely the wrong direction or distract them enough to open up some space for you to move into. It is also one of the skills that you can perform that looks the best, making your opponent think that you’ve got some amazing ability that might not actually be all that true. The skill itself can also be referred to as the pedalada, the Roedker Shuffle or ever the Denilson, depending on who it is that you’re thinking about when you look into who is best known for performing it.

In order to perform it, you need to pull off a feint that sees you shift your body one way whilst circling your kicking foot around the ball quickly. After that, you can look to do the same thing with your other foot, or else you can choose to knock the ball in the opposite direction and put on a burst of ice, disappearing off and leaving your opponent behind. It is all about misdirection, making the player that you’re up against think that you’re going to do one thing before doing something else entirely. This then opens up the space and gives you more time to do what’s next.

@the_jwl 🚨STEPOVERS🚨 Probably THE most simple yet effective skill in football. If you can effectively do a stepover, with diaguise – then you’re most the way there. Start to implement multiple step overs with the same level of disguise. While doing them can you have your eyes up to react to what the defender does and push the ball away from them. #football #soccer #futbol #footballtiktok #soccertiktok #footballdrills #soccerdrills #footballcoach #soccercoach #footballcoaching #soccercoaching ♬ Carti Wave Beat – Staysee

Because of that, you would be well-placed to add some disguise to what you’re doing with movement in your hips and shoulders, but that isn’t as important as what you’re doing with your feet. You need to make sure that your standing foot is far away from the ball enough to allow you to move your other one through, else you might end up in a situation where you accidentally kick the ball away. Mainly, though, it’s all about quick movement to confuse the opposition when it comes to working out what your plan is to move the ball forward from that point onwards