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Football (Soccer) vocabulary · Match Actions & Skills

Knuckleball

Meaning in football (soccer), with examples

nounAdvanced term

In football (soccer), knuckleball means: A shot struck with very little spin, so its flight may move unpredictably.

In Turkish: az dönüşlü dalgalanan şut

How it is used

Used for a striking technique; not every powerful or swerving shot is a knuckleball.

Example sentences

  1. The goalkeeper struggled to judge the knuckleball as it moved late.

    Limited spin can make the final part of the flight difficult to read.

  2. His knuckleball free kick went over the wall but also over the goal.

    Naming the technique does not imply that the shot was accurate.

Common collocations

  • knuckleball free kick
  • strike a knuckleball
  • knuckleball technique
  • shotAn attempt to score by kicking or heading the ball towards the opponents' goal.
  • free kickA kick awarded after a foul or another offence by the opponents, taken from where the offence happened while opponents stand at least 9.15 metres (10 yards) away.

More terms: Match Actions & Skills

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