Kicking is the defining action of soccer, so it is appropriate to review the scientific work that provides a basis of our understanding of this skill. The focus of this review is biomechanical in nature and builds on and extends previous reviews and overviews. While much is known about the biomechanics of the kicking leg, there are several other aspects of the kick that have been the subject of recent exploration. Researchers have widened their interest to consider the kick beginning from the way a player approaches the ball to the end of ball flight, the point that determines the success of the kick. This interest has encapsulated characteristics of overall technique and the influences of the upper body, support leg and pelvis on the kicking action, foot-ball impact and the influences of footwear and soccer balls, ball launch characteristics and corresponding flight of the ball. This review evaluates these and attempts to provide direction for future research.

These results indicated that to hit the ball with the medial side of the foot, a complicated series of rotational motions are required for the side-foot kick. The hip external rotation torque dominantly exhibited in the side-foot kick caused the clockwise rotation of the thigh-shank plane at the later stage of kicking. This may allow the hip external rotation motion to increase directly the forward velocity of the side foot, with which players can squarely impact the ball.

Detailed time-series of the resultant joint moments and segmental interactions during soccer instep kicking were compared between the preferred and non-preferred kicking leg. The kicking motions of both legs were captured for five highly skilled players using a three-dimensional cinematographic technique at 200 Hz. The resultant joint moment (muscle moment) and moment due to segmental interactions (interaction moment) were computed using a two-link kinetic chain model composed of the thigh and lower leg (including shank and foot). The mechanical functioning of the muscle and interaction moments during kicking were clearly illustrated. Significantly greater ball velocity (32.1 vs. 27.1 m . s(-1)), shank angular velocity (39.4 vs. 31.8 rad . s(-1)) and final foot velocity (22.7 vs. 19.6 m . s(-1)) were observed for the preferred leg. The preferred leg showed a significantly greater knee muscle moment (129.9 N . m) than the non-preferred leg (93.5 N . m), while no substantial differences were found for the interaction moment between the two legs (79.3 vs. 55.7 N . m). These results indicate that the highly skilled soccer players achieved a well-coordinated inter-segmental motion for both the preferred and non-preferred leg. The faster leg swing observed for the preferred leg was most likely the result of the larger muscle moment.

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of leg muscle fatigue on the kinetics and kinematics of the instep football kick. Fatigue was induced by repeated, loaded knee extension (40% body weight) and flexion (50% body weight) motions on a weight-training machine until exhaustion. The kicking motions of seven male players were captured three-dimensionally at 500 Hz before and immediately after the fatigue protocol. The significantly slower ball velocity observed in the fatigue condition was due to both reduced lower leg swing speed and poorer ball contact. The reduced leg swing speed, represented by a slower toe linear velocity immediately before ball impact and slower peak lower leg angular velocity, was most likely due to a significantly reduced resultant joint moment and motion-dependent interactive moment during kicking. These results suggest that the specific muscle fatigue induced in the present study not only diminished the ability to generate force, but also disturbed the effective action of the interactive moment leading to poorer inter-segmental coordination during kicking. Moreover, fatigue obscured the eccentric action of the knee flexors immediately before ball impact. This might increase the susceptibility to injury.