15 football terms every fan should know

#10 Tiki-Taka

Barcelona used the tiki-taka tactics very successfully

Tiki-Taka football, which could be loosely translated to touch-touch football, is a playing style which involves short passing and movement, maintaining possession and working the ball through the channels. The style of play has been associated with Barcelona for a very long time after being introduced by Johan Cruyff during his tenure as the manager of the club, and also has been used by the Spanish national team under Luis Aragones and Vicente del Bosque.

The key idea behind tiki-taka is to ensure that the opponent does not get the ball – and while in possession, to deliver a killer pass from which a goal can be scored. The team looks to keep possession with quick passes and movement, suddenly surprising the opposition with a pass in behind their defence which results in a goal.

Football coach Jed C. Davies, author of Coaching the tiki-taka style of play, believes that these tactics are “among other things, a conceptual revolution based on the idea that the size of any football field is flexible and can be altered by the team playing on it.

“In possession, the formation should intend on creating space and therefore making the pitch as big as possible.”