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

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.

If anyone wants to learn knuckleball but is struggling. The fastest way I found technique-wise is put your standing foot about 4 inches further back than normal, hit just below the centre of the ball, and drive as much power as you can but stop your leg on connection. You want to almost slap the ball with your foot rather than kick through it.

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.

Roberto Carlos would've destroyed the football goal if he did this.

One of the hardest techniques to learn in modern football

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.

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

Noticed plenty of the guys you were watching were using the Jabulani, that definitely helps.

Watching this with my 5year old boy. I always tell him practice makes perfect. You done double well from day one to the end. Good on you

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.

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.

I’m a catcher in baseball and one of the pitchers on my team was a knuckleballer. I cannot catch it without a bigger glove it’s insane. The movement is too unpredictable

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

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.

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❤🇭🇲

This is going to be a learning 'curve'. Not a great start Kieran.

Fun fact:when a knuckleball hits the crossbar the ball go so far away

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.kzfaq.info/get/bejne/prmdmMqWrdban4E.html

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 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!!!

I remember when playing for my high school team 6 years ago, I was just practicing knuckles because I became the main guy for free-kicks, and during practices, for the life of me, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t knuckle the ball at all. It got to the point to where I didn’t really do it anymore. But then during one of our games, we played one of the top teams in my province, and it was tied 1-1. And towards the end of the game, we got a free kick, and I didn’t even mean to knuckle it, but then it did knuckle. Got the goal and we eliminated one of the top teams. And we went on to play for 3rd place. We lost that game, but of all the years my old high school had a football program, no team has ever made it as far as we did in a tournament. And the players of the previous year, one of the old players who had already graduated came up to us during practice and said that we’re going to get absolutely battered in the tournament. But we proved them wrong by going 3 wins and 2 losses. Where they went 0-3 the previous year.

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 .

Your not leaning over the ball

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 👊

Brilliant mate! Some of those knuckleballs at the end were insane! Imagine they went top bin! 🤤🤩

I think you made excellent progress in just one week! Achieving the desired result may become easier if you look deeper into the physics involved. I have actually heard Ronaldo describe his technique for imparting zero spin as “almost punching the ball with his foot”. Where you make impact and how long your foot stays in contact with the ball will also effect not only the force imparted, but also the spin. I don’t want to bore anyone with a long drawn out explanation of the “physics of football”, but I will say that having a solid understanding of how the world works makes the mastery of certain tasks more attainable.

He did a knuckle ball on shot #202 at 5:23

that Parma shirt 🤩

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.

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✌✌

This motivated me to practice more techniques. Thank you

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

Man absolutely love this guys content. Issa treat to watch.

With knuckleball it might help not to pull the foot through, but to stop after the shot. More strength might also be helpful.

Shot #202 was a knuckle ball it was taken at 5:23

What should i try and learn next??

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.

The progress made in that one week was impressive. Top work, good content 👏

I’ve been watching you do these videos for about 2 years now, you never get old. Keep up the great work👌 -from Australia

I’ve been subbed to Kieran since he was on 600k. Mate your growth has actually been incredible GGs

Love your video. Most young players don't truly understand how much work goes into learning a new technique. Your video shows it take A LOT of work. Good Job!!

The type of balls used plays a huge role in movement

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 :)

some of the videos kieran showed they were using the jabulani ball its known for crazy movement

I personally prefer curve because you can aim properly because if you analyze cr7's Fred kicks if he shoots knuckle them there is a lower probability for him to score but when he shoots curve he is way more likely to score

7:05 knuckle ball 😱

Kieran is a very motivated and dedicated man to these skills, wonder how much effort this took

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

Amazing video love this channel!

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!

Luv your videos

Respect for these awesome video ideas

Loved seeing the gradual progression. Makes it a lot more realistic.

For my knuckleball technique is like do a power shot like as in shooting it in the middle of my foot on top part of the shoe lases but in the middle so i do that and i get into an angle and hit it a little low but hit it where the show lases are at so low hit mid foot part and power shoot it.

I love the knuckle ball technique it’s one of my favourites to use, also if ur trying to hit knuckle balls I suggest not to use the Nike flight ball, it’s impossible to hit a knuckle ball with it, also thanks for this great vid 🙏

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.

Ove been watching u for a long time and i didnt realise i haven subscribed lol😂 im subbed now😂

Your videos are really entertaining thank you

practiced 5 days a week for 3 months straight a couple years ago, now I can hit top bins somewhat consistently 🤣

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

Been here since 300k, keep up the great work kieran!!

More power if you drive through it on laces. Same effect if you hit it right (no ball spin).

what a guy! I cant imagine how long Kieran has to walk to get the balls everytime

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): kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nc6GosKGkpPVmmg.html kzfaq.info/get/bejne/a59-iaeWrrqwZGQ.html kzfaq.info/get/bejne/frF7qLaczdXNpoU.html

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.

well done mate! keep trying and you will be better and better!📈

As a goalie I can confirm I did my finger in trying to save this. Advice is to kind of throw yourself into the ball to act as a sort of cushion.

Can someone tell me what song is at 8:30 I’ve been looking for it for like an hour now with no luck

Your determination 👏 💪 🙌

just wanna say that it is noticeable how much kieran's cinematography has improved

his vids always relive my stress from school, just keep doing what ur doing

Video Suggestion: Try replicating one of Messi's best goals in contribution to his time in Barca

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

Ki you were banging them by the end lad! well in👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Buduiza was using the Jabulani which is known for the unpredictable movement.

the amount of commitment Kieran has is incredible

Loved the title of the video lol

I remember when I was in year 6-8 the knuckleball is the only shooting technique I knew and only shot like that but as I got older I had to change it because I started playing higher level of football and now I can’t do it anymore but I’m trying to learn it again

I hit a knuckle ball on accident while doing a physics project😂 wasn’t able to to it again

Yeah as a keeper I can confirm I hate being on the receiving end of knuckleballs.

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.

Hit it like a straight shot from a driver from a tee nearer the centre (as oppose to a iron or wedge) Use the part of your foot below the laces. (You want the smallest area of contact) Punch, do not follow through.

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.

Easy technique hit with laces , stop foot from going through the ball after hit , lean frontward a tiny bit when hitting it for dip and swerve , simple man

Great to see your improvement

Got any tips to add height and accuracy. For me they go wide and end up hitting the ground before goal

No one's gonna talk about how he hit the knuckle ball on day 3

Le me who was a keeper and just worked on speed and instincts: 😆 🤣 😂 😹

Amazin' video man

Kieran you have inspired me so much in starting a KZfaq channel dedicated to soccer

Juninho will always be the king of knuckleballs.

❤️❤️❤️

Great vid!!!

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

Who else practicing this during the World Cup

The real question here is...Does having more balls allow for more shots in an hour? Remember more balls means you will be out gathering more balls. If you had fewer balls you would not gather as many balls thus giving you more practice time

Hey great vid keep it up

Marcelo carioca from Brazil was the father of crazy free kick balls. There's a video where he explains how he does it. It's all about where the pivot of the ball is located when you kick

The best free kick taker of all time leo messi