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9 Tips to Skyrocket your Confidence

updated on September 29th 2023

6 mins read

Confidence is key, everyone knows it but so many players struggle with it!


It does not only make you enjoy the game more. If confidence is decreasing it also makes even the best players perform worse because they stop taking the necessary risks needed to actually shape and control a game.

But don’t worry - players like Ibrahimovic, Haaland or CR7 simply have developed a way to build up their confidence over time! And you can do so too, with the following 9 tips on how to build unshakable confidence!

1) Build REAL confidence

There are many tips in this list that can help you boost your confidence and for many of you this can already make all the difference!

But they are not a substitution for building REAL confidence.

What do we mean by that?

Confidence, or to be more exact self-confidence, is defined as a “feeling of trust in one's abilities, qualities, and judgement”.

And the best way to know that you can perform the necessary abilities and skills for your position and role in the match is to actually have trained & executed those things hundreds and thousands of times before.

And once you’re in the match you know you can do it - simply because you've already done it so often in training!

2) Train as match-realistic as possible

But it doesn’t help you if what you do in training is nothing like the real scenarios in a match. So when training, always make sure to perform the exercise/movement in the same tempo and intensity as in a match.

So let’s say you want to train your ball control. Don’t just pass the ball against a wall and control the incoming pass.

To make this drill as effective as possible, make sure that

  • the speed of the incoming pass is as fast as it should be in a match
  • you do some countermovement and scanning before receiving the ball
  • you simulate having an opponent in your back (ideally a friend/teammate)

3) Know your strengths & weaknesses

Analyzing yourself and being aware of your strengths and weaknesses is essential in many aspects of football, and it can also help you increase your confidence:


Advantage A: You can play to your strengths in a match, which allows you to have small moments of success that boost your confidence during the game.


Advantage B: You can also work on those weaknesses so they won't affect your game and confidence as much as they used to.

If you follow those 3 tips you’ll for sure see your confidence consistently increase over the next couple of weeks & months.

Additionally there are many things you can do, to boost your confidence already in your next couple of matches:

4) Don't worry about opinions from outsiders!

Always remember:

The only opinion about you that really matters is your own and your coaches.

Or to quote Santiago Munez: “The only person who can tell me I’m not good enough is you [coach]. And even then, I might now agree with you [coach].”

5) Develop a prematch routine

Another trick to develop tunnel vision that allows you to become less affected by things happening around you is to establish a strict routine of habits that you perform before a match.