Freestyle football

Known in North America as freestyle soccer, freestyle football is the art of expressing oneself by juggling the football with any part of the body, except the elbows and hands, in order to create a unique and artistic display. In order to amuse bystanders and compete with opponents, it blends football feats with dance, acrobatics, and music.. Affectionately known as World Freestyle Football Association, it is the recognised regulating organisation for this sport (WFFA).

Traditional Southeast Asian sports such as chinlone, jianzi, and sepak takraw have been played for more than 2,000 years, and the skill of freestyle football may be traced back to them. Enrico Rastelli and Francis Brunn, among other circus artists, were the first to popularise fundamental freestyle techniques like as the 'Neck Stall' and the 'Around The World' in the Western world.

Whilst playing with SSC Napoli in the 1970s and 1980s, the Argentine footballer Diego Maradona made headlines across the world with his freestyle "Life is Life" warm-up routine. Although greatly praised at the time, the ability to freestyle was frequently condemned as having no clear connection to the sport of football.

Phenomenal occurrences occurred during the start of the twenty-first century that contributed to the widespread acceptance of freestyle football. In Nike commercial campaigns such as "Joga Bonito" (English: The Beautiful Game), Brazilian player Ronaldinho appeared as a model, promoting the opportunity to train alone with a ball in order to learn new manoeuvres and tricks.