Why Footskills are Overrated in Soccer

Futsal Provides a Solution on why footskills and how you can develop other crucial soccer components.

Why footskills in soccer/futsal is not the most important component. My goal is to display why footskills are not the most important component in soccer and how futsal can be beneficial to overall soccer play. An alternative perspective of footskills.

Whether footskills is the most important component in soccer or not depends on what you mean by footskills. There are many components that contribute to being a total soccer player and these components may be more important than having great footskills. The primary components include game read and IQ, decision making, communication, leadership, physical fitness, nutrition, personality, mind, spirit, and moral strength. For example, the game read ability is so important it can quickly establish a player as a dominate force on the playing field.  

Footskills are important in soccer but is it most important? I will let a player answer that: "Coach, what do you think is the most important element of soccer?" "Well, what do you think? Are footskills very important." "No coach, that's not it." Player goes on to explain the importance of teamwork, strategy, positional ability, and tactics in soccer. He then explains why having a quality coach who understands the game and knows how to read it, manage it, and adjust as the game demands are important components. Notice he never mentions individual ball footskills. Yet we seem to put so much emphasis on ball skills.

The game of soccer/futsal involves all the players on the field or court. If a team has players that look like Messi, but cannot read the game, make the right decisions at the right moments in the game, do not pass the ball, play as a team, have no strategy then that team will not be successful in the long run.

The best example I can give is a game between two teams. Both teams have some incredible athletes on their side, but one team is much better at reading the game, more organized, plays as a unit and follows a certain strategy and style of play than the other. The team playing with a strategy won the match.

A coach does not care about flashy moves or dribbling skills as much as they care about a player who knows when to play simple and make intelligent decisions on the soccer field or futsal court.

Let’s face it, a quality coach will man mark or double team a high skilled individual player, frustrate him, force him under constant pressure, leading to player making mistakes and eventually being out of sync and mentally exhausted.

Let me be clear and not misunderstood.

Sound footskills and passing skills are important as a player will not be able to use other elements of the game if they can not control or pass the ball.

Why footskills in soccer/futsal are not the most important component? Because there are many other components that are much more important than footskills. This is why we need to spend more time on our training away from individual footskills in soccer/futsal as much as we do on them, because we will never develop soccer players with those skills alone.

There are other crucial components of soccer more important than individual footskills such as game read and IQ, decision making, teamwork, tactics, and fitness.

If you're a soccer player, you've probably heard that footskills are the most important component.

But is it true?

I think not.

While footskills are important, they're only one part of a much bigger picture. And I believe that focusing on your footskills too much can actually be detrimental to your overall development as a player.

Here's why: Futsal is an indoor version of soccer that's played with five players per team on a small court with lines on either side (like basketball). While it doesn't have all the same rules as outdoor soccer, it does have one major similarity: The ball never leaves your feet! This means that futsal forces players to develop other crucial components more important than footskills—things like quickness, agility, and spatial awareness. It also gives players an opportunity to work on their mental game by learning how to make quick decisions under pressure.

These abilities translate well into outdoor play because they can help you perform better when things aren't going smoothly on the field and help you stay calm under pressure during games where things aren't going well for your team.