Types of Passes

Short pass

The most simple type of pass. Generally it is most often aimed at the nearest teammate. It’s a basic pass and most often performed with the inside of the foot.

Long pass

The aim is to pass the ball to a teammate in a different part of the field. An example of this is switching the play from one side of the field to the other side where a player may have more space.

Through pass 

A forward pass into free space behind the opposition’s defensive line. The receiver of this type of pass will be arriving from another area of the field.

Back pass 

The direction of this pass is backward, as the name suggests. This is a defensive play when there are no options to play an attacking ball or teammates are well-covered by the opposition. It allows to keep possession.

Side pass 

Similar to back pass, the aim is to control the ball and keep possession.

Forward pass

Used to gain a more attacking field position and get closer to an opponent’s goal.

Chip pass

Similar to the through pass – is played into free space, but over a defender’s heads.

CONTROLING THE BALL EFFECTIVELY BY PASSING

The truth is – the longer you have the ball, the shorter your opponent has it. But how to keep the ball most efficiently? Dribble? For sure, no! The longer a player is on the ball, the more he or she is exposed to encounters, losing the ball, injuries and what’s more, this causes fatigue.

The most effective form of keeping the ball is passing. 

Following this method, the longer the passes are, the risk of losing the ball or a pass being inaccurate is bigger. The advantage is on the shorter passes. However, always and everywhere? For sure not. If the ball is played in one zone, it becomes more of a pressured area and losing the ball is more probably. 

So it would require the ball to be played faster and change zones at the same time. It is not always possible to get into an open space in your opponent’s half by using short passes, and you have to surprise them with some different passes. Don’t be “Predictable”.

So in conclusion, differentiating passes allows more team possession and control of the ball. Generally speaking, this is the best recipe for effective control and possession.