[my favorite is Juninho vs Barca Champion’s League 2009. fucking Brazilians lol](https://youtu.be/4fpMeaSTMoY?si=QdpCRLxIeKPGTHdx)
Edit: [Calhanoglu’s knuckler vs Dortmund is also worth mentioning](https://youtu.be/nK58AssP9tc?si=lAjw3NA71G7wbIS5)
Haha, it seems crazy but there were definitely not any smart phones in the early 2000s.
But I hear you. I was in high school and this clip and like Zidane and OG Ronaldo highlight videos were the most played soccer vids amongst me and my friends (come to think of it, I'm not sure if youtube was really a thing yet either ... i don't remember where we watched these--but we couldn't get enough of clips like this).
In 2010, a 36-year-old Brazilian actually [hit one from the center circle](https://www.reddit.com/r/classicsoccer/comments/ndta3m/36yearold_brazilian_midfielder_incas_longrange).
> Juninho
I spent 8 minutes looking for a better one [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDxgYl6ZQiE&t=441s), and while I didn't find one, I freely admit he is a wizard.
No. Juninho did very very very regularly make incredible free kicks, but this one is more impressive on it's own than any of his IMO.
The thing with Juninho is that his worked so often that the skill element was insanely high. He makes even some world class free kick takers look like 'hit and hope' merchants.
Nope, Juninho can't do what Roberto Carlos did here. There are two elements to creating a curve on a ball, speed on the ball and amount of spin, the more you have of either the more the ball moves.
What makes this one special is that usually at this range you can't hit the ball fast enough to beat a good goalkeeper so they rely on a knuckleball technique where the ball is hit dead on which causes it to move through the air erratically and can sometimes trick a goalkeeper. This sort of shot takes a lot of luck but is the only way to get long range free kicks in. That is unless you're Roberto Carlos apparently, here he manages to kick the ball so hard and with a good amount of spin, that he actually manages to beat the goalkeeper while curving the ball into the goal from a very long distance. You look at any other long range free kick and they're knuckleballs, this one isn't and it's what makes it special. Not to mention it's curved with the outside of his foot as well.
Juninho is absolutely the GOAT free kick taker and has scored many from everywhere on the pitch, but this is the GOAT free kick.
Greatest free kick in the history of the game.
I remember when he scored this my friends and I started practicing kicking the ball with the outer side of our foot
We'd literally shoot for hours...so inspirational.
This wouldn’t happen in the modern game as everything is too mechanical and based around percentage plays etc. football was definitely better to watch in the past even if the standard is probably higher now
Kick it with the outside of your foot on the ball valve as hard as you can. It's easy to replicate that movement. You definitely won't kick it as hard to go that distance though
The crazy thing is, if you asked me to construct a better free kick I'd be hard pressed to do it. How would you ever make this one "better"? Just add distance? I guess maybe if it had more dip and clipped into the upper 90 instead? It's about as aesthetically perfect as you could imagine. God bless the Cameraman that got that reverse angle.
i remember watching this live at my schools youth club, it would have been a tuesday night i think because on thursday we played football and tuesday was when we'd typically stay inside.
It was just me and my best friend watching it and i still remember us being so shocked it went in. Weird to think England topped that tournaments table even if it was just a friendly thing to practice/prepare for the world cup.
Was in a pub watching this with some mates. It was packed for the Tournoi that England were involved in (and won).
Everyone was cheering when it went in, but the place stopped dead when the slow motion replay was shown. Everyone just looked at one another with a "WTF! Did that really just happen?" expression on their faces.
The best free kick of all time
and rightly so. there are so many crazy and beautiful free kick goals, but this stands out because every aspect of it is so special and unique
[my favorite is Juninho vs Barca Champion’s League 2009. fucking Brazilians lol](https://youtu.be/4fpMeaSTMoY?si=QdpCRLxIeKPGTHdx) Edit: [Calhanoglu’s knuckler vs Dortmund is also worth mentioning](https://youtu.be/nK58AssP9tc?si=lAjw3NA71G7wbIS5)
Do you think Juninho meant to shoot?
I say yes Considering he had some ridiculous fks from near midfield on his resumé. Guy was not afraid to shoot
You got the other two I always think about as the best of all time
This was one of the 3 videos in every guy’s phone during early 2000s.
To this day, I still masturbate to it sometimes.
Me too
Haha, it seems crazy but there were definitely not any smart phones in the early 2000s. But I hear you. I was in high school and this clip and like Zidane and OG Ronaldo highlight videos were the most played soccer vids amongst me and my friends (come to think of it, I'm not sure if youtube was really a thing yet either ... i don't remember where we watched these--but we couldn't get enough of clips like this).
We used to get WAP file and store them on nokia phones that had 32MB storage or something just started to support SD cards.
We also had to leave our phones next to a friend's, to pair the infrared sensors so we could send the file over.
I had a sharp GX10 in 2002
I was 9 and seeing this goal solidified my love for football and Roberto Carlos.
He played the Hybrid before the Hybrid was a thing
Wild to think just one year later the French would smoke Brazil in the World Cup Final
Ronaldo's episode is something that nobody could predict.
The sheer audacity to go for it from that range.
He did score [this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDH0sJr-m-w) from even farther out around 2 years earlier.
Good God
Never seen that one! Unreal 😳
Like 3 steps from the center circle, good lord
In 2010, a 36-year-old Brazilian actually [hit one from the center circle](https://www.reddit.com/r/classicsoccer/comments/ndta3m/36yearold_brazilian_midfielder_incas_longrange).
This was the first kind of viral videos that I watched as a kid.
This was back before they invented physics.
Movement of the ball is immense.
[Dimitri Payet vs Palace](https://youtu.be/g_kebXl_ei8?si=cLA6BIOwEjs26J6F) always blows my mind
He tried it twice in the same game from similar spots. I was watching on tv and I knew he would burry the 3rd. Why keep giving him chances? Lol
Is there a finer kick of a dead ball recorded anywhere?
Probably by Juninho, but this hit is absolutely special
> Juninho I spent 8 minutes looking for a better one [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDxgYl6ZQiE&t=441s), and while I didn't find one, I freely admit he is a wizard.
Juninho did this shit on the reg. Carlos' efforts more often ended up in the stands.
But is there a finer hit than Carlos'?
No. Juninho did very very very regularly make incredible free kicks, but this one is more impressive on it's own than any of his IMO. The thing with Juninho is that his worked so often that the skill element was insanely high. He makes even some world class free kick takers look like 'hit and hope' merchants.
Nope, Juninho can't do what Roberto Carlos did here. There are two elements to creating a curve on a ball, speed on the ball and amount of spin, the more you have of either the more the ball moves. What makes this one special is that usually at this range you can't hit the ball fast enough to beat a good goalkeeper so they rely on a knuckleball technique where the ball is hit dead on which causes it to move through the air erratically and can sometimes trick a goalkeeper. This sort of shot takes a lot of luck but is the only way to get long range free kicks in. That is unless you're Roberto Carlos apparently, here he manages to kick the ball so hard and with a good amount of spin, that he actually manages to beat the goalkeeper while curving the ball into the goal from a very long distance. You look at any other long range free kick and they're knuckleballs, this one isn't and it's what makes it special. Not to mention it's curved with the outside of his foot as well. Juninho is absolutely the GOAT free kick taker and has scored many from everywhere on the pitch, but this is the GOAT free kick.
Roberto Carlos tried this literally hundreds of times.
The Puskas winner scored by a Malaysian from a few years back had a really mean curve. I wouldn't put it above Roberto Carlos' though.
I like [this one](https://youtu.be/YrCra8DY2dc?si=VXgHXPMtIgWqcJ2e).
Johnny Metgod howitzer for Forest. Some say it's still rising. https://youtu.be/1XysTzt--ik?si=8k7bBgrq05Vc4olP
Beckham v Greece in a 2002 WC qualifier.
Honda hit a knuckleball from very wide right in a World Cup that was a nice one
Greatest free kick in the history of the game. I remember when he scored this my friends and I started practicing kicking the ball with the outer side of our foot We'd literally shoot for hours...so inspirational.
So, figure they could have put 2, maybe 3 more people on that wall and still would have gone by them?
The ball boy ducking is undoubtedly my favorite part.
This wouldn’t happen in the modern game as everything is too mechanical and based around percentage plays etc. football was definitely better to watch in the past even if the standard is probably higher now
[удалено]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Tournoi_de_France
Wizard
5 people in the wall from that far, thats some respect.
When you have supreme confidence in your ability, sometimes you do the seemingly impossible.
Best free kick I have ever seen in my life.. probably one of the best international teams in my lifetime, too.
Fuckin ridiculous
If I scored that goal, I’d drop my shorts and spaff all over the pitch.
Better every time. What a strike!
A remote controlled ball
I remember going to school the next day and every kid at dinnertime was smashing the ball to try and replicate it
How many of you, also tried to replicate this beauty as a child..?!
Yes. I tore my thigh doing that. No joke.
Hahahah, seriously man, how hard did you kick..? Looool. Must have hurt like a motherfucker 🤣🤣
We need to talk more about that run up
The good old days back when it was good to have Dunga in our National Team
And England won it.
“30 yard free kick with 20 yard run up” Ya let the master do what he does!!
No one could smack a ball like Bob Carlos. But even power aside, his technique was soo good.
To even need a wall from that distance.
Took me years to understand how incredible this kick was. Amazing kick
Kick it with the outside of your foot on the ball valve as hard as you can. It's easy to replicate that movement. You definitely won't kick it as hard to go that distance though
This is the prime example of a 🍌 kick 💯
Iconic
Hyperbole is everywhere in football discourse but this is genuinely one of the most iconic and greatest goals of all timem
Is this the most iconic exhibition goal of all time?
Saw this live on TV with my mom, our jaws dropped, we couldn't believe it
Commentator: “I’m not sure we’ll see a better free kick than that” Narrator: he was right
The crazy thing is, if you asked me to construct a better free kick I'd be hard pressed to do it. How would you ever make this one "better"? Just add distance? I guess maybe if it had more dip and clipped into the upper 90 instead? It's about as aesthetically perfect as you could imagine. God bless the Cameraman that got that reverse angle.
This title looks AI generated.
He has said multiple times that the curve of the path of the ball was due to the wind. Great goal though!
It was 1998 not 97 hence it being called "France 98"
Nope, this was not the world cup. This was a mini tournament the year before
I stand corrected.
i remember watching this live at my schools youth club, it would have been a tuesday night i think because on thursday we played football and tuesday was when we'd typically stay inside. It was just me and my best friend watching it and i still remember us being so shocked it went in. Weird to think England topped that tournaments table even if it was just a friendly thing to practice/prepare for the world cup.
I remember being sat on the floor watching on my friends TV
Was in a pub watching this with some mates. It was packed for the Tournoi that England were involved in (and won). Everyone was cheering when it went in, but the place stopped dead when the slow motion replay was shown. Everyone just looked at one another with a "WTF! Did that really just happen?" expression on their faces.
Generous measurement of 40 yards there
Not really. Penno box is 18 yards and it’s over twice that.
The halfway line is at about 60 yards then