Principles of Defense in Soccer

I remember first learning the Principles of Defense in soccer when I was 14 years old. When my coach taught us these concepts, soccer started to make more sense – my connection to the game grew deeper. Suddenly, I was aware of the chess match playing out on the field and I was excited about the increased connection my team had as we began to think about defending and communicating more as a group.

I survey each parent who joins SoccerParentResourceCenter.com and when I ask about their soccer knowledge I often receive “I understand the game but am sometimes confused.” Having a general idea of the basic Principles of Defense in soccer will hopefully open up the game to you, make you feel a bit more connected to it – just as it did for me as a young player.

Of course, different countries have different terminology for these defensive principles, but the general ideas remain the same:

When your team is defending, you want to take away the options and space from the other team. Simply put, when your team is defending, you want to make the field small and the options of the other team limited.

There are five principles of defense in soccer:

1. PRESSURE

This is the role of the first defender. The first defender is generally the person who is closest to the ball. Their primary role is to deny and control the penetration of the other team (they don’t want the ball to get behind them). The role of the first defender is further broken down into four steps: approach, delay, control and tackle.

A. Approach – The first defender must engage with the attacker quickly – running towards them with pace, but then slowing down as to not allow the ball to get in behind them. Once they engage with the attacker, they need to get into an athletic position, legs bent, body balanced, feet ready to move.