Backheel Goals: How to Score Football's Cheekiest Finish

The backheel goal is football's ultimate show of audacity and technique, catching goalkeepers and defenders completely off-guard with its deceptive execution.

Backheel goals succeed because they exploit goalkeeper positioning. When a striker shapes to shoot normally, the goalkeeper shifts their weight and sets their body to make the save. A backheel redirects the ball in the opposite direction to the goalkeeper's anticipation, effectively wrong-footing them. Data shows that goalkeepers save just 8% of backheel attempts that are on target, compared to 38% of conventional shots.

The backheel finish requires striking the ball with the back of the heel while facing away from the goal. The key technique points are: position your body between the ball and goal, let the ball travel past your standing foot, and flick your heel at the ball as it passes. The power comes from the calf muscle and ankle snap rather than a full leg swing. Accuracy is achieved by angling the heel toward the target zone.

The scorpion kick—made famous by Giroud's Puskas Award-winning goal against Crystal Palace—is an advanced backheel variant where the player flicks the ball with their heel while airborne, with both feet off the ground. This requires exceptional athletic ability, flexibility, and timing. Only 3 scorpion kick goals have been scored in Europe's top five leagues in the past decade, making it one of football's rarest finishes.

The backheel finish should only be attempted when it's genuinely the best option available. Using a backheel when a conventional finish is possible is showboating that risks missing the target. However, in situations where your body position makes a conventional shot impossible, the backheel transforms from an audacious trick into a legitimate finishing technique. The best strikers know the difference between style and substance—and deploy the backheel only when substance demands it.