Some would say that art and sports aren’t associated at all – art is very niche oriented and calm, while professional sports are meant for the masses and involve noise and hecticness. Others would fiercely disagree and say these cultural opposites are being brought together in different sports like ballet, acrobatics and even… football.

At Bet Builder we agree that football can in fact produce artwork. Not only does football make it possible to speak across barriers, it also involves different complex manoeuvres that some would refer to as art. The move that directly comes into mind when touching this discussion is the bicycle kick which makes the sport turn into acrobatics on a football field.

The beauty of the bicycle kick
In football, a bicycle kick is a rather acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward while in midair. The move is achieved by throwing the upper body backward up into the air and, before falling back to the ground, making a cutting back movement with the lower limbs meant to get the ball-striking leg in front of the other. In most languages, the move is called after either the resembling scissor or cycling. Its difficulty and it's rather uncommon performance in competitive football matches, makes it one of the sports most celebrated moves. For a lot of players, scoring a goal with a bicycle kick is considered the highest achievable manoeuvre one can make as it involves speed, force, boldness, and precision.

Everlasting debates about its origin
Popular opinion has never ended to debate the exact origin of the bicycle kick, especially in regions where the manoeuvre was allegedly created, which would be Brazil, Chile or Peru. Although the specific country remains arguable amongst football experts, it does seem undeniable that the move first occurred in South America. What is clear as well is that Brazilian football players Leônidas and world famous Pelé popularised the move during the 20th century after which it reached Europe. The kick has since earned worldwide recognition that, in 2016, FIFA named the bicycle kick as "the most spectacular sight in football".

Where football and art meet
The bicycle kick is known in English by 3 different names: bicycle kick, scissors kick, and overhead kick, of which the first term is most widely used in English-speaking countries. In other languages, its name also reflects the action it resembles. The Chilean sports journalist Alejandro Cisternas gave the skill the name “Chilena" which referred to its alleged Chilean origin. In most cases, also in Spanish, people either point out to the kick's scissor-like move, including the French ciseaux retourné (returned scissor in English) and the Greek word psalidaki, or to its bicycle-like action, such as (chute de) bicicleta in Brazilian-Portuguese. Whatever name you give the motion, there is one thing most football fans will all agree on: if sports and arts are related, the bicycle kick would be the intersection of football and art.