How to Score a Header in Soccer

Heading at goal is different from every other type of header. The contact point is the same — flat forehead, locked neck, eyes open. But the intent changes: instead of clearing distance or laying the ball off, you are directing a moving ball at a target roughly 24 ft (7.3m) wide and 8 ft (2.44m) tall, under pressure, usually while moving.

The players who score headers consistently do three things that most players do not: they start their run before the cross leaves the server's foot, they head down rather than level, and they arrive at the ball rather than waiting underneath it.

The contact point for a headed finish

To score, the ball needs to travel downward. A header that stays level or rises gives a goalkeeper time to adjust. A header that dips forces a save at the goalkeeper's feet — the hardest position to save from.

To head downward: contact the upper half of the ball. When the forehead connects above the ball's centre, the ball deflects downward. The harder you strike with this contact point, the more it dips.

This is the opposite of a defensive clearance, where you contact the lower half to generate height.

The two finishing runs

Near-post diagonal run

Start outside the six-yard box, time your run to arrive at the near post just before the ball. You have two options on contact:

• Flick-on: brush the ball with a glancing header across the face of goal. Redirects pace and angle — a goalkeeper positioned for a direct shot is now wrong-footed.
• Near-post finish: snap the torso and direct the ball inside the near post, low. Requires precise timing but is almost unsaveable when executed under the crossbar.

The near-post run must begin before the cross is played. If you start moving when the ball leaves the server's foot, you are too late.

Back-post run from deep

Hold your run until the defensive line has committed to the near post. Then attack the back post from outside the penalty area arriving on the move. You make contact while the ball is still travelling — this is where the most powerful headed finishes come from, because you add your body's momentum to the ball's.

Back-post headers are aimed across goal — contact the far side of the ball and snap the torso in the direction of the near post. Goalkeepers are almost never set correctly for a back-post headed finish across goal.

Timing the cross

The single variable that kills most headed finishing attempts is timing the jump.

Jump too early: you are on the way down when the ball arrives, making contact below your maximum height and with less trunk snap available.

Jump too late: you miss the ball entirely or make weak contact rising through the flight path.

The correct sequence: watch the ball leave the server's foot, calculate where it will arrive at your head height, start the jump so you reach peak height in that window. For a near-post run the jump is usually off one foot at stride; for a back-post run it is usually off two feet for maximum height.

The diving header

Low, driven crosses — cut-backs, driven crosses into the six-yard area — require a diving header when the ball is below waist height and there is no time to get the body underneath it.

The mechanics:

1. Read the cross early — diving headers only work when you have committed to the ball's path before it arrives.
2. Get body angle ahead of the ball — launch forward and down along the ball's line of travel.
3. Contact is forehead-first, with the body horizontal or angled downward. The dive provides the power.
4. Arms absorb the landing after contact. Do not brace early — it pulls the head up before contact.

The diving header is the most technically demanding finish in the game. Practice it from gentle services before progressing to driven crosses.

Scoring from corners

Set pieces account for a significant share of professional goals. The headed finish from a corner is won or lost in the two seconds before the ball arrives:

• Identify your defender early and get contact on them before the ball is in flight.
• Hold your run until the ball has been struck — early runners are tracked; late runners create separation.
• Attack the ball at its peak. A player who arrives under the ball and heads up into it generates more power than one who jumps too late and heads across.

Near-post flick-ons, back-post attacks, and second-ball positioning all start in the same session: practice corner routines with a designated server, two attacking runners, and a goalkeeper. See the full routine breakdown in our set piece heading guide.

Power vs. placement

Most amateur headed goals are poor because the striker tries to head the ball as hard as possible. This is wrong.

Power in heading comes from the trunk snap — the torso driving through the ball — not from a thrown head. A controlled, well-directed header on target beats a powerful header that misses by a metre. Placement matters more than pace at heading distances.

The drill: set a target cone inside each post at the near post and back post. Practice heading to the cones, not just at goal. Accuracy becomes the measure, not force.

The drill that builds goal-scoring headers fastest

Crossing and finishing from both flanks

Two servers on opposite touchlines alternate crosses. One attacker makes near-post runs for right-flank crosses, back-post runs for left-flank crosses. Rotate every six crosses.

Focus: head down, head across, arrive at the ball rather than under it. Count headers on target, not headers that score.

Build to two attackers, a defender, and a goalkeeper. The defender forces a decision — attack or leave. This is the most game-realistic headed finishing environment available in training.

For the underlying technique every drill here depends on, start with how to head a soccer ball. For the full heading drills library, see heading drills.