Freestyle
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
is the art of
juggling
Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object o ...
a
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
using any part of the body, excluding the elbows to the hands. It combines football tricks, dance, acrobatics and music to entertain onlookers and compete with opponents. The official governing body for this sport is known as the
World Freestyle Football Association
The World Freestyle Football Association (WFFA) is the international Sport governing body, governing body of Freestyle Football, freestyle football.
Freestyle football is defined as an art and sport, which involves participants creatively jugg ...
(WFFA).
History
The art of freestyle football can be traced to games of Southeast Asia such as
chinlone
Chinlone ( my, ခြင်းလုံး, ), also known as caneball, is the traditional, national sport of Myanmar (Burma). It is non-competitive, with typically six people playing together as one team. The ball used is normally made from handw ...
,
jianzi
Jianzi (), tī jianzi (踢毽子), tī jian (踢毽) or jianqiú (毽球), is a traditional Chinese national sport in which players aim to keep a heavily weighted shuttlecock in the air by using their bodies, apart from the hands, unlike in si ...
and
sepak takraw
Sepak takraw, or Sepaktakraw, also called kick volleyball, is a team sport played with a ball made of rattan or synthetic plastic between two teams of two to four players on a court resembling a badminton court. It is similar to volleyball and ...
, which have been practised for 2,000 years. Fundamental freestyle tricks such as the 'Neck Stall' and 'Around The World' were first popularly performed in the West by circus performers, notably including
Enrico Rastelli
Enrico Rastelli (19 December 1896 – 13 December 1931) was an Italian juggler, acrobat and performer.
Biography
Rastelli was born in Samara, Russia into a circus family. Both his parents were performers and it did not take long before the you ...
and
Francis Brunn Francis Brunn (15 November 1922 in Aschaffenburg, Germany – 28 May 2004 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany) was a German juggler.
Brunn took up juggling in 1939, joining a traveling show that played all over Europe. He moved to America to join the Rin ...
.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Argentine footballer
Diego Maradona
Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...
famously brought his freestyle 'Life is Life' warm-up to international attention while playing for
SSC Napoli. The ability to freestyle, however, was widely criticized at the time as not having direct relevance to playing the game of
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
.
At the beginning of the 21st century, several significant events helped elevate freestyle football with broader recognition. Brazilian footballer
Ronaldinho
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who played mostly as an attacking midfielder, but was also deployed as a winger. Wide ...
starred in
Nike
Nike often refers to:
* Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory
* Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment
Nike may also refer to:
People
* Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...
advertising campaigns such as 'Joga Bonito' (English: The Beautiful Game), which popularized the ability to practice alone with a ball and develop new moves and tricks.
Inspired by Maradona, South Korean footballer
Mr Woo sought to become a football entertainer. He established
Guinness world records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
and performed at the
1988 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, and the FIFA World Cups in 1990 and 1994.
Soufiane Touzani[http://www.touzaniproductions.nl/ Touzani Productions] from the Netherlands introduced a new style of lower tricks, which were popularized through
viral videos
A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...
.
Footballer Sandy Levittas ( Bambiball) was among the first women to share videos of her freestyle skills, which inspired more girls to take up the sport. Different styles were then developed such as lowers, uppers, sit-downs, grounds and blocking.
In 2015, Ronaldinho was recognized by the
World Freestyle Football Association
The World Freestyle Football Association (WFFA) is the international Sport governing body, governing body of Freestyle Football, freestyle football.
Freestyle football is defined as an art and sport, which involves participants creatively jugg ...
(WFFA) as ambassador for the sport.
Competitions have been organized across the globe and videos have been shared by over 80 million of people on a monthly basis.
In recent years, some of the top football players in the world have credited freestyle and street football cultures for helping to develop their talents. These athletes have included
Neymar Jr
Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (born 5 February 1992), known as Neymar, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Brazil national team. A prolific goalscorer and renowned pla ...
,
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...
,
Lionel Messi
Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...
and
Zlatan Ibrahimović
Zlatan Ibrahimović (, ; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the Sweden national team. Ibrahimović is renowned for his acrobatic strikes and volleys, powerful long-range sho ...
.
Tricks
Tricks or moves in freestyle football are categorized into different disciplines or styles:
* Lower body or air move tricks are performed while standing, and use the feet or legs. (lowers)
* Upper body tricks are performed with the head, chest and shoulders. (uppers)
* Sitting tricks are performed while seated, often with the legs elevated. (sit-downs)
* Ground move tricks are performed while standing with the ball on the floor. Skillful players can make the performance of ground moves seem like a choreographed dance.
* Blocking tricks are performed by holding the ball with various parts of the lower body. It is a style inspired by
breakdancing
Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in ...
.
* Acrobatic tricks are inspired by
circus skills
Circus skills are a group of disciplines that have been performed as entertainment in circus, sideshow, busking, or variety, vaudeville, or music hall shows. Most circus skills are still being performed today. Many are also practiced by non-perfo ...
, breakdancing and gymnastics.
* Transitions are intermediate moves used to bridge tricks in different styles, ideally in a fluid motion.
Within the above disciplines, the following individual moves are among the most popular:
* Around the World (ATW), a move in which the freestyler plays the ball off of one foot, which then circles up and over the ball before returning underneath to play the ball again. An inside ATW makes the initial movement toward the opposite leg, while an outside ATW makes the initial movement away from the opposite leg.
* Crossover, a move in which the ball is kicked into the air with one leg, and the opposite leg goes around the ball while it is in the air.
* Toe Bounce (TB) a move like a crossover but with the ball bouncing on the foot.
* Hop the World (HTW), a move in which the ball is kicked up with one foot and circled with the opposite foot.
** Touzani around the World (TATW), a variation of an outside ATW and a crossover. Created by Soufiane Touzani from the Netherlands.
** Mitchy around the World (MATW), as with the TATW except with an inside ATW. Created by Mitchell James Penn from the UK.
** Lemmens Around the World (LATW), a double ATW, circling the foot twice around the airborne ball without a middle touch between revolutions.
** Palle Around the World (PATW), a triple ATW. Created by Rickard "Palle" Sjolander of Sweden.
* Stalls, moves which involve catching the ball in a stationary position. This is commonly on the back of the neck but also includes balancing on the forehead or wedged between the heel and thigh.
*Clipper, a move that originated from
freestyle footbag
Freestyle Footbag is a footbag sport where players demonstrate their abilities by performing sequences of acrobatic tricks. The ending position of the bag on one trick becomes the starting position of the bag on the next trick. Tricks are created ...
in which the freestyler catches the ball midair with the inside of the foot on the side of the body.
* Combos, moves which directly connect tricks without juggling the ball.
* No-touch combos, tricks performed in one motion without any intermediate ball touch. For example, the LATW is a two ATW no-touch combo.
Competitive freestyle
The first major competition for freestyle football was Red Bull Street Style (RBSS) in 2008, which was hosted in São Paulo, Brazil.
Séan Garnier won this competition with a style that had not been seen in the public eye before.
Super Ball, the first open world championship (where anyone could compete) catered to freestylers with ranging styles, recognizing the many ways to judge a freestyler. Hosted in the Czech Republic, Super Ball became the premiere annual international event for freestylers.
Tournaments
The following tournaments are recognized by the official governing body of the
World Freestyle Football Association
The World Freestyle Football Association (WFFA) is the international Sport governing body, governing body of Freestyle Football, freestyle football.
Freestyle football is defined as an art and sport, which involves participants creatively jugg ...
:
* Red Bull Street Style (RBSS) World Finals
* World Freestyle Masters
* Super Ball World Open Championships
* Panther Ball World Open Championships
* European Freestyle Football Championships (EFFC)
* Asia-Pacific Freestyle Football Championships (APFFC)
* African Freestyle Football Championships (AFFC)
* Latin American Freestyle Football Championships (LAFFC)
* North American Freestyle Football Championships (NAFFC)
* National Championships (all countries)
Events
Typical events in competitive freestyle football include:
* Battles
* Doubles (team battles)
* Routines
* Doubles routines
* Sick 3
* Challenge
* Iron man
* Show flow
* Kill the beat
* Max 1
* 3vs3
Ranked freestylers
The WFFA uses results from the official national championships, continental championships, international opens and world open competitions to assign a point ranking to competitors.
*
Ricardo Chahini
Ricardo Fabiano Chahini de Araujo (born 16 February 1998), also known as Ricardinho, is a Brazilian freestyle footballer from Belém do Pará, who was the 2019 Red Bull Street Freestyle world champion.
Career
Ricardinho started Freestyle Fo ...
(Brazil)
*
Boyka Ortiz (Colombia)
*
Groundmazter Colombo (Colombia)
*
Leandro Crasso (Colombia)
*
Andrew Henderson (UK)
* Melody Donchet (France)
* Michal "Michryc" Rycaj (Poland)
* Kitti Szasz (Hungary)
* Erlend Fagerli (Norway)
* Aguska Mnich (Poland)
WFFA Committee
Other key names that brought their own touch to the art of freestyle football over the years include:
* Aarish Ansari (India)
* Nam the Man (Ireland/Vietnam)
* Palle (Sweden)
*
Steve Elias (Canada)
*
Daniel Rooseboom de Vries (The Netherlands)
*
John Farnworth (UK)
* Jeon Kwon (South Korea)
* Cero (Mexico)
*Angelo Storms (USA)
* Abdullah (Netherlands)
* Iya Traore (France)
* Abbas Farid (UK)
* Yosuke Yokota (Japan)
*
Ash Randall (UK)
Media
In January 2019, freestyle football has received over 80 million video views per month on social media channels. There are over 70 related events every year, the largest being the Red Bull Street Style World Final. The sport is enjoyed mainly by a demographic of 12–25 year-olds, with 85% male.
Major markets in terms of consumption of freestyle football content include the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
UK,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and South East Asia, with a direct audience of 1.47 billion football fans around the globe.
References
External links
WFFA official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freestyle Football
Association football terminology
Association football variants