bicycle kick

Forward Enzo Francescoli, from River Plate, executes a bicycle kick in a 1986 friendly against Poland national football team.

In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick and in Arabic regions known as a double kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before descending to the ground, making a shearing movement with the legs to get the ball-striking leg in front of the other. In most languages, the manoeuvre is named after either the cycling motion or the scissor motion that it resembles. Its complexity, and uncommon performance in competitive football matches, makes it one of association football's most celebrated skills.