Indoor football training for kids works best in short bursts with a soft or small ball: passing up and down a hallway, quick games in the living room, keepy uppies and ball mastery on a mat. You do not need a garage or a sports hall. A few square metres, a ball that will not break anything, and a parent willing to be the other player are enough to give a child hundreds of touches on a dark winter evening.
What Indoor Training Is Good For
Indoors suits the parts of football that need a ball at your feet and very little space: first touch, passing with both feet, close control, and quick changes of direction. At a grassroots session shared across a whole squad, each child's touches on the ball are limited, so a few minutes at home adds repetitions they would not otherwise get.
It is not the place for shooting, sprinting or long passing. Those can wait for the garden, the park or training. Keeping indoor football to touches and short passes also keeps the furniture safe.
A common misconception is that indoor practice needs to look like a training session. For younger children especially, the most useful indoor football is play: a game with a point system, a challenge against a parent or a sibling, or kicking a ball around the house while doing something else.
The Right Ball for Indoors
The ball decides whether football in the house is allowed at all. A full-size outdoor ball at full pressure bounces off walls, marks paintwork and knocks things off shelves. Three types work better:
- A soft foam ball. Quiet, light and almost harmless. Good for younger children and for games in the living room.
- A size 1 or size 2 mini ball. Smaller than the match ball, so it demands a closer touch. It is also less likely to do damage.
- A low-bounce indoor or futsal-style ball. Stays on the floor, which suits passing and sole rolls.
We have different balls around the house. Sometimes we would use a size 2, or he had a Messi ball that was sponge, again about size 2. We would also mess about with a size 3, or his FPRO football that he only used inside.
A size 3 is still the right size for most primary-age footballers. In England it is the match ball right up to Under 11, so practising with one indoors keeps the feel of the ball they play with on a Saturday. Our guide to football sizes by age has the full breakdown. Letting a bit of air out of a size 3 is an easy way to make it quieter and less bouncy for the house.
Hallway Passing Drills
A hallway is the best indoor space in most houses. It is long, narrow and has fewer things to break, and the walls act as a natural channel that keeps the ball in play.
When he was younger we used to do passing in the hallway, taking a touch and passing back. I used to just mix it up, so it would be something like control with your left foot, pass with your right foot. Other times we would try and kick the ball as hard as possible along the ground and get a point for being able to return it in two touches.
A few ways to build on that:
- Call the feet. Before each pass, call which foot controls and which foot passes. "Left, right", then "right, left", then "left, left". It builds the weaker foot without turning it into a lesson.
- Two-touch, then one-touch. Start with a controlling touch and a pass. Once that is easy, go to one-touch passing back and forth and count how many in a row.
- Touch out of your feet. Ask for the first touch to go slightly to one side, as if moving away from a defender, before the pass back.
- The hard pass. Strike it firmly along the floor and score a point for controlling and returning it within two touches. Swap roles so the child gets to be the one firing the ball too.
Kneeling at the end of the hallway makes a parent a smaller, harder target and saves their back.
Indoor Football Games for the Living Room
Games tend to keep younger children coming back to the ball, and the living room suits small, close games well. Move anything breakable, use a soft ball, and keep it to the floor.
We would also play in the living room. We would do little things like nutmeg challenges, where we would just muck about with the ball and try to nutmeg each other. At times we would stand with our legs apart and then quickly close them, to try and fool the other one into losing the ball. Just easy ways to play around with the ball.
Other games that work in a small room:
- Sofa goals. A gap between two cushions or under a chair is the goal. Play 1v1, with each player defending their own.
- Keep ball. One player keeps the ball for as long as possible inside a small area while the other tries to touch it. Time each turn.
- Sole roll tag. Both players have to keep the ball moving with the sole of the foot while trying to tap the other's ball away.
- Target passing. Pass the ball through a gap, such as between two shoes or two table legs, from a set distance. Narrow the gap as they improve.
For younger children, a pair of small pop-up goals, about 2.5ft wide, turns any of these into a proper match. Our guide to football drills for 7 and 8 year olds has more small games that adapt to a room or a garden.
Keepy Uppy: A Progression That Works Indoors
Keepy uppies are one of the easiest things to practise indoors, and a personal record gives a child something to beat every evening. A soft ball is the safest option in the house.
A simple progression:
- Drop, kick, catch. Drop the ball, kick it up once, and catch it. Repeat with each foot.
- One bounce between touches. Let the ball bounce once on the floor between each kick.
- Two touches in a row, then three, without a bounce.
- Alternate feet. Left, right, left.
- Add the thighs. Foot, thigh, foot.
Keep a written record somewhere visible. Moving from 5 to 10 to 20 over a winter is a clear sign of better touch.
Ball Mastery on a Mat
Ball mastery means repeated, close touches with every part of both feet: sole rolls, toe taps, inside-outside touches and pull-backs. It features heavily in youth coaching and works well indoors because it needs almost no space.
Free videos on YouTube are a good way to start. A training mat adds structure, with marked zones to move the ball between and, on some mats, an app of follow-along sessions.
During the summer he would sometimes do 10 minute ball mastery videos on YouTube, but eventually he went for an FPRO mat, as a friend recommended it to him.
A mat is not essential. Two lines of tape on the floor, or a few cones, can mark out the same patterns. What a mat does well is make the practice feel like its own activity, with a fixed place in the room and a session to follow, which some children find easier to start on their own. Check the space it needs before buying: the FPRO mat asks for about 2m by 2m.
The FA's own England Football Learning sessions are written for coaches but include short, low-equipment activities for younger age groups that adapt to a room or a garden.
Trust the process. Track the progress.
Track their goals and assists, log their progress and keep coach feedback in one place, season after season.
Wall and Rebounder Drills
When a parent is busy, a wall can be the other player. A garage wall, a garden wall or an outside brick wall all work. Inside the house it is usually too loud and too hard on the paintwork.
Simple wall drills:
- Pass and control. Pass against the wall, control with one foot, pass with the other.
- One-touch rhythm. Pass back and forth with alternate feet, counting in a row.
- Move and receive. After each pass, take a step to the side so the return has to be controlled on the move.
A rebounder does the same job without needing a wall, and returns the ball at a more predictable angle. The FORZA Wave is a board that sits on the floor and returns passes along the ground, which suits a garage or a garden. Our guide to the best football rebounders for kids compares frame nets and boards.
Footwork With a Ladder or Cones
An agility ladder on a carpet or in a garage gives a child quick-feet patterns to work through: two feet in each square, in-in-out-out, sideways shuffles. Adding a ball at the end, so they finish the ladder and take a touch, links the footwork to football.
Cones do something similar for dribbling. Five or six cones in a line, a metre apart, make a slalom in a hallway or a garage. Ask for the inside of one foot only, then the outside, then the sole.
A ladder is cheap and rolls up small, but it is the least essential item here. If time is short, the ball comes first.
Indoor Football Training Equipment Worth Buying
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A few other buys that help:
- A size 2 ball. A size 2 mini football is a good middle ground between a foam ball and the size 3 they play with.
- Flat training cones. Flat disc markers lie on the floor, so they are less likely to roll away or trip a child than dome cones.
- A rebounder, if there is a garage or a garden to put it in. See the wall and rebounder section above.
Reaction lights, kick trainers and smart balls exist too. They can be fun extras once a child is already playing with a ball most days.
How Much Is Enough
Ten to fifteen minutes on most evenings is usually enough for a primary-age child, and many will do more without being asked. The best sign is that the child starts it themselves.
The risk with indoor training is that it turns into homework. If a child plays for their club twice a week and does a session on the mat every night as well, it is worth keeping an eye on how they feel about it, and on their overall load. Our guide on how much football training is too much covers the signs to watch for.
Parents often expect home practice to show up in matches straight away. Better touch tends to show up slowly, over a season, and confidence on the ball can arrive before anything shows on the scoresheet. Our guide on why a child may not seem to be improving at football explains why progress often looks flat for a while.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can my child learn football at home?
Start with lots of touches on the ball in a small space: passing with a parent in a hallway, keepy uppies, and ball mastery patterns from a video or a mat. Short sessions on most days tend to suit children better than one long session at the weekend.
How can a child practise football by themselves?
A wall or a rebounder for passing, a keepy uppy record to beat, and ball mastery on a mat all work without a second player. Follow-along videos give some structure if they are not sure what to practise.
What is the best ball for playing football indoors?
A soft foam ball or a small size 1 or 2 ball is safest in the house. A slightly underinflated size 3 is a good choice for older children, since it is the ball they use in matches until Under 11.
Can you do football training indoors without much space?
Yes. Ball mastery, sole rolls and toe taps need about 2m by 2m. A hallway is long enough for passing, and a cleared living room is enough for 1v1 games with a soft ball.
