If you want to become an elite soccer player, it helps to look at those who have achieved success at an elite level. Every player has their own unique technical, physical, and cognitive attributes, but what are some key areas of the game that they have in common? In the past two decades, increasing amounts of research have found a direct correlation between scanning and technical execution in elite soccer. 

What Is Scanning?

According to Professor Geir Jordet, the leading researcher in the role of visual perception in soccer, scanning can be defined as: “head movement where a player’s face is temporarily directed away from the ball to gather information in preparation for subsequently engaging with the ball”(1). When coaches instruct players to “check their shoulder” before receiving a pass, they are effectively telling them to “scan.” 

Why Is Scanning Important?

By scanning, a player is able to survey their options before they receive a pass. They can collect split-second information on the movement of their teammates, and the positioning of their defenders. This will improve the speed of their decision-making and execution. 

In Jordet’s research, the primary metric collected is scans per second or “scanning frequency.” In the past two decades, he has collected data on 250 professional players, and 200 elite youth players on the number of times they scan in the ten seconds before they receive a pass. Some of the highest-scoring players in the data set included Xavi (0.83 scans/second), Cesc Fábregas (0.76 scans/second), Ilkay Gündoğan (0.66 scans/second), and Frank Lampard (0.62 scans/second). What does scanning at the elite level look like? Check out this video of Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich:

Scanning more frequently opens up more options for a player once they are on the ball. McGuckian et al. found that higher scanning frequency “resulted in a higher likelihood of turning with the ball, playing a pass in the attacking direction, and playing a pass to an area that is opposite to which it was received from”(2). Better decision-making often leads to better execution. Jordet, Bloomfield, and Heijmerkx found that scanning frequency was positively correlated with passing percentage, and forward passing percentage in elite soccer players (3).

How To Train Scanning?

Jordet found that scanning could be effectively trained in both professional and academy level players to improve not only scanning frequency, but actual perception and execution capabilities (4).  The question then becomes, how can a player work on scanning?

Step 1 - Reverse engineer game scenarios

As the great Johann Cruyff said:  “Training is practicing scenarios that will occur often in the game.” Begin by thinking of moments or actions that you perform during a game, and reverse engineer your drills from there. 

Key things to think about include:

• Positioning on the field

• The direction you would be scanning

• The options/decisions you would make in the situation (passing, dribbling, shooting, etc.)

Step 2 - Combine perception, cognition, and action

Scanning is not just looking in a certain direction, you have to process information. To replicate this, incorporate randomized external cues to the area you should be scanning, and associate each cue with a decision you would make. You can do this with the SwitchedOn Training App. When using the app, it is best to use colors as your cues for two reasons. 

1. Colors are context-specific to what you scan for in live play (jerseys, shorts, socks, etc.)

2. When training scanning, it’s best to use cues that you can identify from quick glances or “microscans” rather than “fixations.” For instance, identifying a number would more likely require a “fixation,” which is not the type of scanning you’ll perform in live play. 

Step 3 - Progress to game speed and intensity

Progress the speed and intensity of your drills to prepare yourself for live games. Remember that how you train is how you play.

Here are four examples of drills you can use with the SwitchedOn Training App. If you click “Tap to try” while on your mobile device, you will get taken directly to the drill in the app.

Midfielder Scanning Drill #1

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Midfielder Scanning Drill #2

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Outside Back Scanning Drill

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Winger/Striker Scanning Drill

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Drills like these will help build good scanning habits that will transfer effectively over to live play. Improving this area of your game could immediately lead to improvements in your passing accuracy, and your ability to make more progressive, decisive plays during a match.

Download the SwitchedOn Training App for FREE using the buttons below. Go to the Soccer drills and filter by “Cognitive Skill” ➡ “Awareness” to find more scanning drills.

References

1. Jordet, Geir, et al. "Scanning, contextual factors and association with performance in English Premier League Footballers: An investigation across a season." Frontiers in Psychology 11 (2020).

2. McGuckian, Thomas B., et al. "Don’t turn blind! The relationship between exploration before ball possession and on-ball performance in association football." Frontiers in psychology (2018)

3. Jordet, Geir, Jonathan Bloomfield, and Johan Heijmerikx. "The hidden foundation of field vision in English Premier League (EPL) soccer players." Proceedings of the MIT sloan sports analytics conference. 2013.

4. Jordet, Geir. "Perceptual training in soccer: An imagery intervention study with elite players." Journal of applied sport psychology 17.2 (2005)