4 footballing terms which were named after players

Football is undoubtedly the most popular sport in the world, and therefore quite understandably, various footballing terms are also quite well-known. Every genuine football lover knows the meaning of dribbling, shooting, or passing. He/She also unerringly knows what is meant by a free-kick, a corner-kick, or a spot-kick. Those terms are used so frequently that we do not even bother to know where they originated from.

However, there are some other terms in football as well, moves which are named after football players. They are typically footballing moves or playing positions which were started or made famous by those footballers.

Here we take a look at 4 such nomenclatures.

#1 The Cruyff Turn

Johan Cruyff was a unique footballer in more ways than one, and not surprisingly, one of football’s most difficult maneuvers has been named after him.

Cruyff was the pioneer of “total football”, a style of football inherently dependent on short passes and off-the-ball positioning. Cruyff was the captain of the all-conquering Ajax Amsterdam side, which won the European Cup thrice in a row in the 1970s.

He was also captain of the Dutch national team at the 1974 World Cup, and was the best player in the tournament as his team finished runners-up. Cruyff demonstrated his turn while playing for both his club and country.

This is something he used while dribbling past defenders. When one or more opposition players tried to block his way when he was moving forward with the ball at his feet, Cruyff used to turn back to the opposite side very quickly with the ball still at his feet. His rapid turn used to flummox his markers, and they could only helplessly see Cruyff passing the ball to one of his teammates.

This is still possibly the best move to evade one’s markers with minimum effort. However, very few players have been able to replicate the Cruyff Turn on the football pitch as beautifully as the man himself since he retired.

#2 The Panenka Penalty

If any footballing move underlines sheer chutzpah, it is the Panenka penalty kick, named after Czech footballer, Antonin Panenka.

Usually penalty-kicks are golden opportunities for scoring goals, and players want to score off them without much fuss. They usually tend to blast the ball past the goalkeeper to the top-corner of the net to ensure safety.

However, Panenka dared to think differently and chipped it over the diving goalkeeper to score a goal in Euro 1976. The goalkeeper was prepared for a more forceful shot, and could only watch helplessly as the ball floated over him and into goal.

In terms of sheer nerve and confidence, the Panenka penalty beats everything else. It might not be advisable for footballers, but is fun for spectators undoubtedly. Players like Zinedine Zidane, Andrea Pirlo, and Memphis Depay have scored from penalties by replicating the Panenka kick.

#3 The Blanco Hop

Blanco was a Mexican footballer who earned more than 100 caps for his national team, and he also played for a number of clubs in his illustrious career. Blanco devised a unique strategy to beat the opposition defenders.

He used to have the ball between his feet and leap forward through the space between two defenders. It might have seemed easy, but was actually very difficult to implement.

Blanco played as a forward and usually employed this trick on the flanks, or near the opposition goal line. He used this strategy to beat the opposition full-backs and penetrate into the penalty box via the wings.

More importantly, no other player has been able to replicate this move on a football pitch, which goes to show just how difficult it was.

#4 The Makelele Role

Defensive midfielders are of paramount importance to a football team these days. In fact, some teams prefer to play two of them in a 4-2-3-1 formation. However, this role was popularised in the late 1990s and early 2000s by French midfielder, Claude Makelele.

Makelele was a destroyer who thwarted opposition attacks repeatedly in the midfield. He also gave cover to the advancing fullbacks, and acted as a 5th defender for his team.

Makelele's dominant performances for Real Madrid, Chelsea, and the French national team made him indispensable for any team he played for, and therefore the playing position itself was named after him.

However, there are different types of defensive midfielders, and not all of them perform the same function. Still, we do not have the scope to discuss all those intricacies in this article, and would rather prefer to celebrate Makelele’s impact on the game by looking at some of his exploits.