I practiced knuckle balls for ages and then when it came to game time all my long passes were knuckles and I couldn't stop doing it. Cross field switches were moving all over the place and it got tough to switch between the technique
I grew up in Peru (playing of course). I never was able to master this one. I did have a few friends who were good at it, but one of them in particular, had the nastiest knuckle ball I've ever seen. Looking at it coming towards you, the stupid ball seemed to constantly shift direction, up, down, side to side, added to the fact he had one hell of a leg, the speed at which the ball would close in on one, left its fair share of goalies rooted in place, indecisive where it was headed. He also had a wicked free kick from around 20 outside the penalty. When he nailed it right, he could get it over the wall, and then down, bouncing it off the ground about 13 to 18 ft in front of the goal, with a skip off the ground much higher than what most expected. It was always fun to see the eyes of a goalie that was caught off guard by the bounce, the second they realized the ball was headed above their dive, just a few inches out of reach. The same look one gets the moment the goalie realizes the error they just made, as you the perfect hat trick, the one you pitch over the goalie, with just enough on it to enjoy the cat like acrobatics, as the ball stays inches from their finger tips, no matter how much they back peddle, clawing at air.
What helped me when I was in high school was thinking about hitting the ball slightly to the left of center. As a right footer its natural to want to wrap your foot around the ball to the right, so deliberately trying to go too far the other way can help find that sweet spot.
Was like the only shot I hit. I hit it off the laces dead center of the ball full force. If you put the needle where you air it up dead center where you kick it, it helps the ball compress more to knuckle. My goalkeepers at practice loved blocking shots from me because they said the ball always moved so much. When it’s whistling, you know it’s a good one.
Once, I was just practicing random free kicks, and one of my shots, I thought it was weird. The ball wasn't spinning and it was going all over the place. I came home and looked it up and realized I've just performed a knuckleball, one of the hardest freekicks in all of football, and as legend has it, I've never done it ever again.
Laces down - clean strike down the middle- who knows wtf happens. idk why this is so hard for people. Sizew 11.5 US was maybe ideal bc I can do it on command and I'm 42.
@@Baileyjwh7 yeah it is I know how to do it I’m pretty good at it I score most my free kicks for my club with them but it’s really hard to learn it it’s easy when you know it but not when your learning it
Not only is technique important, but also the type of ball and it's aerodynamic performance. The Adidas Jabulani was notorious for producing knuckle balls and baffling goalkeepers during the 2010 World Cup. Did you notice what ball Buduiza was using in all those clips? m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pSmegeHpvoM.html
The main thing with knuckleballs is focusing on as little follow through as possible! If you watch your best ones you’ll notice how little follow through you actually have! Some nice ones tho mate well done
That’s exactly right. In essence, follow through is imparting spin, therefore the least amount of follow through produces the least amount of spin. Ronaldo has described his technique for denying spin in interviews as “almost punching the ball with his foot” and added how he “pulls back just upon impact”.
I'm not much of a soccer player outside of high school, but I am a volleyball player. And if anyone knows how to abuse spin like no tomorrow its us. And I think some of the things I learned while playing volleyball can help with trying to do knuckleballs. its as much of the follow through as it is the kick itself. for the ball to knuckle you need to hit it dead on center and have the follow through also be pretty much straight if there is any at all. I know he said something about how someone will like step across 6:33 for reference. We do something similar in volleyball, where if you see someone do a "float serve" you may do something similar with your hand, where you either hit the ball with a firm hand and then stop immediately or will do a short and straight follow through. Now, this is definitely harder to do with your feet as hands are naturally more dexterous than feet, but even though he said it feels wrong, it can work quite well if done right. that's how I do most of my knuckleballs. It will cause the least interference with a knuckleball, because this is basically stopping your follow through. Now, keep in mind this kind of mindset can also be used to put massive spin on the ball, though topspin and backspin I can imagine are really hard, especially topspin. But sidespin is quite easy to do if you know the idea behind it. So, i hope this helps someone learn how to take their shots to the next level.
@@garrettlong1273 in volleyball it's called "float serve" when you serve without spin and sometimes it's very hard to receive this type of serves, especially when the ball just goes down fast
the shot at 6:33 that "felt weird" was the one. it felt weird because you dont have the muscle memory formed for that shot yet. you keep reverting to your comfort zone w the side foots. if u kept practicing that shot at 6:33 it wouldnt feel weird after a while @kieran
it felt so relaxing seeing your progress and on the 6th and 7th day you were amazing literally it takes people years to master this but you did it in only seven days that is too good and awesome .
I was an All-State goalie in High School. Never got to see this shot in a game but in practice it drove me nuts. We had a Semi-Pro player helping out and he would take shots on me that were like this. Now I know why Catchers in baseball hate the Knuckleball.
I learned how to do it, one of the most important things is to follow the ball with your feet. You need to go from 5 to 7 steps backwards and if you are right footed go 2 steps to your left, the opposite for left footers!!!
To not get backspin don’t lean back and don’t hit under the ball, set a marker like the valve or the logo to visualize where to hit it. Put the marker a little bit under the middle so you can get some height
Congrats to all the effort and result. I think the problem was in the beginning you were kicking with the inside and then later with the top part of the foot. I find it easier to knuckleball by trying to kick it using more of the outside part of the foot and kicking from left to right (since your right footed). The ball tends to move easier this way and almost feels like a chip with the outer sole. Maybe that help you more in the future! Cheers!
I learned how to do this from an Iraqi soccer coach when I was 14. Everyone here is describing this completely wrong. You don't even practice this moving, you walk through the technique portion as a warm up, in a dribbling warm up you practice doing the walk up and contact without actually applying power, kind of like practicing a Cruyff when you first learn it. You slowly build into practicing on free kicks from about 5 yards out. You listen and watch how the ball comes off your foot and just from listening start to tell which ball knuckles. Then you start backing up, you wanna start at the penalty spot. Again focus on technique and apply power until you hear what you heard kicking into the net. It produces a low bellow and a slight whistle. After you get accurate from the penalty spot, you pretty much can use it from anywhere. My senior year was when I finally learned how to apply it while moving, while focusing on the sound, while honing in on accuracy.
@@burnpittsburgh7036 seeing as this specific shot creates a distinct reverberating sound effect when you actually hit it right. Yes. And seeing as 76 other people liked my comment, it would seem others know what I am talking about
One game this dude had a free kick from about 30-35 yards away and managed to knuckle it top bins (plus some wind) as the goalkeeper it was so hard to predict
Loving the Parma top on the first day man 👌 Buduiza will always be one of our inspirations 🔥 The Nike Pitch Team footballs are sick for Knuckleballs 🙌 You can see the improvement which is so sick! Loved the video as a whole - This is why we love the Knuckleball technique! 💪 #Knuckleit 👊
I could knuckle it sometimes when attempting outbends. I would strike it hard on the laces but leave my ankle wide open all the way through. In my attempt to strike across the back of the ball sometimes I would not cut it enough and it would end up going straight. It always seemed easier trying to push the shot away rather than pull it across the body.
this is the only legit response in the comments so far after a year after posting. So many fake bullshit guru's. you just slap your foot laces down, and try to get the most pop off you can. Then it just moves all over the pace unpredictably. Thats it, Mystery solved.
Early on you were hitting the ball way too much on the side. You have to kick the ball on the exact opposite side of the direction you want to kick it. You got a slight one with shot 202 :)
this was the first thing I became master at when I was a kid I grew up watching Ronaldo when he was 18 and I was 9 I was obsessed with this skill and it helped me to score a lot of goals when I was a bad dribbler as I never needed to dribble and we didn't have casillas like gks in india back then so it was really easy to score nowadays I see kids doing good at every position maybe in future India becomes a good football team
Such a well done video mate🤘 just watching ur progression thru that vid was super satisfying i was pumped when you were getting it at the end, it goes to show get out there and practice ur butt off you will see results! Nice work man❤🇭🇲
Didi, a brazilian player from the 50's and 60's, said he fortified his toes by kicking the ball for hours. Then, when he wanted to do the "folha seca"/"knuckl ball", he said he would "cut the ball in the half". Watching some video footage, it seems he would kick with some part of the inside of his foot or using the three toes on the "outside part" (the smallest to the middle one), all technichies depending on how he wanted the ball to travel to the net. Sources (all in portuguese): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ghVo_U--qj4.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-59NVDeITL40.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HKKuSkhoivQ.html
First thing u need to do to do a knuckle is: 1. Step five steps away from ball for ur runup 2. When u run up run on tippy toes 3. Hit the ball wit laces
Back in the day, I was the only one on my team who could reliably hit knuckleballs, and I got really good at it. I think the reason there isn't any consistent "technique" is that the normal variables (lean forward or back, lean to side or keep straight, open foot or straight lace, etc.) don't matter as much, or at least, can vary more. The critical part is really getting a clean hit with no sweep. The sweep is mostly follow-through times misalignment. The easiest way to learn, IMHO, is to start by kicking as you normally would in terms of position and run-up, but reduce the follow-through to a minimum. Then, just keep kicking and kicking while making small adjustments to reduce the spin, until you no longer get any spin (but you probably won't get "knuckles" yet, due to a lack of power). And finally, start adding back more follow-through so that you can put more power into the kick, while making sure that as you add follow-through you don't reintroduce the spin. In other words, first learn to make a clean hit, and then, learn to align your follow-through with it. (it's also a really good warm up exercise: hit gently with no follow-through, aiming for clean no-spin hits, and then ramp up the power and follow-through as you get more warmed up) My own technique ended up roughly as follows. Almost straight run-up. On tip-toes, or even completely off the ground. Standing straight, not leaning to the side. Leaning a little more forward (or less back) than I normally would. Hitting straight on the laces with a very up-straight foot. And bend the knee immediately after the hit to sort of keep my shinbone straight during the follow-through. This resulted in relatively low knuckleball kicks (at most 1.5 meters high) that were very powerful. In my own experience, goalies cannot stop this, they are either fooled by the knuckle effect or simply beat by the speed and power, or both. Unfortunately, opportunities to use and pull off this technique in a game are pretty rare (e.g., free kicks with no wall, or really perfect situations mid-play), compared to the more usual kicks and spins aimed at centering, long passes (dipping or hanging) or getting around walls. But, I think mastering the knuckleball is still useful (and fun!) because it helps for plain straight ultra-powerful kicks, which are formidable on their own, with or without a knuckle effect, and it's basically the same technique (at least for me) but without needing the "perfect" set-up.
Gracias por hacer este tipo de vídeos , haces que la gente sepa que no es tan difícil , y me di cuenta de que cada vez que te salia un tiro hermoso tenias el pie orisontal - Mientras que en los primeros tiros le petias el pie vertical / Saludos desde México✌✌
When you knuckle ball the ball will either dip or curve unexpectedly you are not to use the inside of your foot but between the toe and laces. If you want a curve hit in the same spot but follow throw to the left side.
I learned how to do them consistently pretty recently after a month of good practice hit two insane ones top right with good movement. One was dead ball post and In and the other swiveled and hit side netting
@@kairemnet1949 hit with hard bone, lean over ball, I run with high knees, last step big to generate power, hit center of ball, kicking foot should cancel follow through(land on floor as quick as possible but not like a complete cancel like a chip shot) and most of all practice
This is how I like to hit my knuckleballs. Firstly align myself with where I am aiming, 4-5 steps run up, hit the ball dead in the centre with my instep. When hitting the ball I make sure that I bend my knee rather than swinging my whole leg which is kinda hard to get used to at first. Lean over the ball so I dont end up sending it to row Z. After the shot I make sure not to have any follow through with my foot. This will end up decreasing the chance of putting any spin on the ball, just like hitting a cue ball in pool and the cue ball stops dead after contact.
I don't even play in a club and never did. Somehow i keep shooting knuckleballs almost every shot. The sound it's making is so satisfying. I tried my own technique tho, instead copying others.
You have to hit it with your laces to get it to knuckle. Toe down and lift your knee just a little as you go through. Also, tee the ball up on your cone to help you get used to the feel of hitting through your laces. Take 20 or 30 like that, then back to the ground.
For me I use my direct top part of the boot or the lace a bit down, Ankle locked and for the run-up, I do like 80 or 70 degree angle because you want the ball to be in a non spinning motion and too much angle will create curve shoot directly at the centre. Sometimes I will do my follow through, I Swing my leg to more up to gain height if there wall
Proper knuckleball has to be hit pretty hard to have much movement. For example the kid hitting knuckles at 4:30 you see the ball moving like maybe 6 inches. The reason is wind resistance causes the knuckle effect that you’re looking for and the way you get that resistance is by striking the ball hard. For me I would strike the ball similar to how I normally shoot but open my ankle a little to come from the side. Gotta strike through centrally and not pull across it
Dude, you should just disconsider all the knuckleballs did with Jabulani, the ball from the 2010 South Africa world cup. At that time, every goalkeeper used to complain about the ball cause every shot was turned into a knuckleball because of the ball itself.
Hey kieran dont know if youll see this but what you should do is kinda go straight at the ball and try and like scoop the ball but like hit it with power and dont put your foot sideways like a curve shot cause like that youll never get a nuckle on the ball
The technique of kicking with power, curl and dip is the hardest of all techniques.. which is why so few are able to do it. The reason why the knuckleball became so popular is players lacking powerful shots could compensate it for a slower moving ball. Players like Mihajlovic and Carlos could learn to knuckleball.. but knuckleballers like Pirlo are never gonna be able to shoot with power and curl
When you're from a small country like Sweden, you always get suprised when you see anything swedish in other countries. So when i saw your swedish nationalteam's clothing my jaw dropped, im actually very curious to the story behind where and why you got that?
Using a match play ball helps 100% with this technique. You can't get the ball to react to proper foot technique unless it's a high performance latex bladder. You'll get a little bit of "knuckle" with cheaper balls, but nothing like with a match play ball.
oh man, get over it (the ball), reverse-thread the spin. basically hit it like you are using the top of the foot to slide/slice it away but use the instep and cut across it. Small follow-through, knee over it. It will neutralise the spin and then allow the airflow to bring it back with a vengeance.
I learned knuckleball when I was 12 I only also take one week to do that simply that centre and lift up your upper body so let’s pull up because you hit the sand might go down forces going straight if you lift your body up the ball can have some height and then Stop when you hit the ball and use most of the power by hitting the ball with the laces
I must admit that you can achieve a knuckleball techniques by various ways. There are however, some things that add up to the knuckleball. 1. Is the preferred foot and power ( you can even kick a line straight knuckleball) 2. Is the ball, cause it can help or deny shooting in such a way 3. Is your mentality. You need to turn off and do not focus at all - it helps me when trying to shoot like that. 4 WORK HARD GET THE RESULT!
The trick is to stand next to the ball not in front when you kick, make sure your leg is almost stretched when you hit the ball (toes hit the ball) The reason the ball knuckles is because you hit the balls at a small portion of the ball, the ball gets dis formed and wants to go back to lowest energy state.
Interestingly it took me around the same time of self learning to understand the technique. Funny how once the penny drops it’s pretty easy to do consistently with muscle memory!
It's much easier to do on astroturf and 3G pitches. Just pretty much stop the swing of your leg as soon as you strike the ball. The follow-through adds spin. Hit it with the top of your foot, slightly to the inside and fairly close to the ankle.
