1 to 24 December

The Skills Advent Calendar

A new football skill behind every door, from 1 to 24 December. Watch it, practise it, log it, and help your club climb the league.

Starts 1 December

How it works

1. Open today's door

A new door opens every day. Each one has a short video showing the skill, plus the coaching points that matter.

2. Practise it

Garden, park, hallway: most skills need a ball and a bit of space. A few need nothing at all.

3. Log it for your club

Once you've done it, a parent or coach logs it. Every skill counts towards your club's place in the league.

What's behind the doors

24 TopTekkers skills, each with a short video and three or four coaching points. No spoilers on which day is which, but you'll find:

  • Footwork and ball mastery: quick-feet skills like ball boxing, toe taps, sole pushes and sole drags, plus juggling.
  • Dribbling: weaving through cones at speed and keeping the ball close.
  • Turns and moves: the Cruyff turn, the Maradona, the outside hook turn and the sidestep.
  • Control and passing: one-touch and two-touch passing, and controlling the ball with your foot and chest.
  • Finishing: striking a moving ball and one-touch finishing.
  • Strength, balance and power: push-ups, bear crawls, jumps and hops that need no ball at all.

The club league

Clubs are ranked by the total number of skills their players complete. The table is updated every couple of days.

The league opens on 1 December. Get your club's players involved early.

Prizes and rules

  • The prize: players spending the Christmas break working on their skills. The top club also gets its story told on our blog in January.
  • Who logs it: a parent, guardian or coach, not the player. We don't ask for any details about the player.
  • Honesty: scores are on trust. We trust you. Your coach might not.
  • When it counts: skills logged between 1 and 31 December count towards the league. Missed a day? Earlier doors stay open, so you can catch up.

Questions

Who is the Skills Advent Calendar for?

Young footballers and their parents and coaches. The skills range from footwork and turns to passing, finishing and simple strength and balance exercises, and most need nothing more than a ball and some space.

Does it cost anything?

No. Every skill video is free to watch, and logging skills for your club is free too.

Why does a parent or coach log the skill and not the player?

Because many players are under 13, so we don't collect any details about them. We just need the adult's email and the club so we can run the league.

How is the club league scored?

Each skill logged between 1 and 31 December counts as one point for the player's club. Clubs are ranked by total points, and the table is updated every couple of days. The club in first place on 31 December gets featured on our blog. There's no cash prize: the point is the practice.

Where do the skills come from?

They're from TopTekkers, our player technique content, which sits inside The Coaching Manual alongside 6,000+ pieces of coaching content for coaches and clubs.

More than 24 skills

The Coaching Manual has 6,000+ pieces of coaching content, including 2,000+ full sessions filmed being coached, for every age from U5 to elite.

Coaching points

Done it? Log it for your club

To be filled in by a parent, guardian or coach. One entry per player, per skill.

Logged. That's a point for your club. Same time tomorrow?

This one's a taster. Logging opens on 1 December, when every skill starts counting for your club.