Soccer free kick routines: three set plays, animated

What Law 13 gives you

Every free kick starts from the same rules, and the routines below are built on them. Under Law 13 of the IFAB Laws of the Game:

• Opponents stand 9.15 metres from the ball until it is in play, unless they are on their own goal line between the posts.
• The ball is in play when it is kicked and clearly moves. A short touch sideways counts, and the kicker may not touch it again until another player has.
• When three or more defenders form a wall, attackers must stay at least a metre from it until the ball is in play. Standing in the wall to block the goalkeeper's view is an indirect free kick to the other side.
• A free kick may be taken quickly. If a defender closer than 9.15 metres then intercepts it, play goes on. If the referee has stopped play to set the distance, wait for the whistle.

And one rule that catches teams out: offside applies at a free kick. It does not apply at a corner, a throw-in or a goal kick, but a runner who is beyond the second-last defender when a free kick is taken is offside. So every runner in these routines is level or behind when the ball is struck. For corners, read the soccer corner kick plays guide.

Routine one: the lay-off that takes the wall out of the shot

A central free kick, 22 metres out and three metres left of centre. The wall of four lines up to cover the near post, and the goalkeeper stands to cover the rest. From where the ball is, the wall is in the way.

The taker rolls the ball two and a half metres to his right, which puts it in play. The shooter, who started behind and to the right, runs onto it and shoots first time. Two and a half metres does not sound like much, but it changes the angle so that the wall is no longer between the ball and the right side of the goal, and the goalkeeper has to move across while the ball is already travelling.

Coach the timing. The shooter starts his run before the lay-off, so the ball rolls into his stride. If he waits for the touch and then runs, the wall has charged by the time he arrives, and the wall may do that the moment the ball moves.

Routine two: wide free kick, drag the posts and arrive late

A free kick on the right, wide of the penalty area and 19 metres from the goal line. The near post is the right-hand post, the one nearer the ball. The defending team marks three runners man for man and keeps two players zonally inside the six-yard box.

Two runners go first: one to the near post, one to the far post. Their markers have to follow them, and the space in the middle of the box, around the penalty spot, empties. The third runner starts deeper than the rest and arrives late into that space, where the delivery is going. From this side a left-footer's delivery curls in towards goal and a right-footer's curls away from it, so pick the taker for the ball you want.

Watch the offside line. The two zonal defenders in the six-yard box are the deepest outfield players, so they are the line, and every runner stays in front of them. A runner who goes past them to the goal line before the kick is offside, however good the header is.

Routine three: the quick free kick

A foul 26 metres out on the left. The defenders turn and jog back towards the wall they are about to make, and for two or three seconds nobody is set.

The taker puts the ball down and plays it straight away, across to the striker who has come to the edge of the box in front of the retreating defenders. He is not beyond the second-last defender, so he is onside, and he shoots before the goalkeeper has finished organising a wall that is now in the wrong place.

This only works if your players expect it. Agree one word that means “quick”, and practise placing the ball and passing in one movement. If the referee has asked for the distance or shown the spray, the quick free kick is off, and you go back to routine one or two.

Practising them

The lay-off and shoot drill is routine one without the wall, and the crossing and finishing drill works on the late run for routine two. Start from the attacking corner template and move the taker out of the corner to draw your own wide free kick.

Sending it to your players

All three routines are live. Open any of them in the soccer play designer, put your own players' names on them, and send the link to the squad before training. Players who have watched the run once arrive at the right time far more often than players who were told.