Learn the football chip shot: instep under the ball, dose height and length, read the keeper and avoid collisions – with a DFB chip session and goalkeeper data.
The honest answer up front: A chip shot is a finish in which you pull the instep briefly and stabbingly under the ball so that it flies in a high arc over the advancing goalkeeper and drops into the goal behind him. It is a chip ball at the goal. The DFB describes the chip ball as a pass in which you try to pull the instep under the ball, and which should drop to the ground shortly behind the opponents [1].
The chip is not a safe trick, it is a bet: you bet that the goalkeeper is too far off his line or comes out too early. I found no study on that, and no success rate. What research offers on height comes from penalties: goalkeepers saved shots at middle height more often than low and high ones [2]. That means a high ball is harder to save than a mid-height one. Transferring from the penalty to the chip is a TRANSFER, not a study finding.
Realistically: expect several weeks until you hit height and length in most cases (experience value).
To set it apart: the chip shot is harder than the chip pass, because you are not hitting a zone but a window between the goalkeeper’s hands and the crossbar. Add the pressure: anyone running alone at the goalkeeper rarely has time. That is exactly why it pays to practise the chip so often that you no longer think about it in a match (practical experience).
Ball stationary in front of you. Pull the instep under the ball. The DFB gives this instruction for the chip ball [1]. I keep backswing and follow-through small (practice).
Milestone: 8 out of 10 balls fly over a 1.5 m high pole 3 m away.
Place a “goalkeeper” (pole) 5 m in front of a cone goal 8 m away. The ball must go over the pole and drop behind it. Your target is the gap between the goalkeeper’s hands and the crossbar. Too high and the ball goes over, too low and the keeper gets it (practice).
Milestone: 6 out of 10 balls end up in the goal.
Dribble towards the goal, set the ball one step ahead and chip. A chip on the run needs clear timing (practice).
Milestone: 5 out of 10 chips on the run in the goal.
A goalkeeper comes towards you. The chip only works if the goalkeeper is too far forward. In the penalty study the goalkeeper’s vertical decision began only about 245 ms after ball contact [2]. So only chip once the goalkeeper has committed (practice).
Milestone: 4 out of 10 chips against a real goalkeeper.
Play the chip with right and left. In a match you take the foot that is free (practice).
Milestone: 3 out of 10 with the weaker foot.
In the chip you run towards the goalkeeper. In an analysis of US emergency departments, goalkeepers had concussions twice as often as outfield players (12.8% versus 6.4%) and more hand and finger injuries [4]. Those are emergency department data and not a statement about the chip. Under the Laws of the Game, playing in a dangerous manner is any action that threatens injury to someone while trying to play the ball [5]. That means: do not jump into the goalkeeper’s hands and do not pull in when he throws himself down. FIFA 11+ reduced the injury rate by 39% in a meta-analysis (four trials) [6]. This guide explains and motivates; it does not replace supervised training.
The chip is a game of eyes. Do not look at the goal but at the goalkeeper’s feet and hips: you want to see the moment he shifts his weight forward (practical experience). In penalties, the horizontal direction could be predicted more clearly from the taker’s movements than the height [2]. Your opponent reads you too, so avoid giveaways before the chip.
A chip (lob) is a shot in a high arc over the goalkeeper into the goal. For it you pull the instep briefly under the ball [1].
When the goalkeeper is far off his line or comes out and you can no longer get past him low. I found no study on that; it is practical experience.
It must clear the goalkeeper’s hands and stay under the crossbar (2.44 m) [3]. In a penalty study, goalkeepers saved mid-height shots more often than low and high ones [2].
With a cone goal and a pole as the goalkeeper: play the ball in an arc over it. Then increase the distance and the pace.
The chip pass goes to a team-mate behind an opponent [1]; the chip shot is a finish over the goalkeeper. The technique is similar, the target sets them apart.
Punching as a Goalkeeper: Safely Clear High Balls You Cannot Catch Out of the Danger Zone