How To Use Tiki-Taka In Soccer Practice

Tiki Taka Drill“Tiki-Taka” is the latest phrase used to describe how the game is played by the Spanish national soccer team and FC Barcelona.
“Tiki-Taka” is the Spanish term for clackers, a pair of balls on a string which swung up and down so they banded together, making click-clacking noises or, as the Spanish say, “tiki-taka.” Andrés Montes, the Spanish commentator for the 2006 World Cup 2006, is attributed with having been the first to use this phrase for soccer players to describe his enthusiasm for the Spanish passing game.
Tiki-taka is easy to describe: it’s a fast passing game, started if at all possible upon the first contact with the ball, and then straight into the goal. The opposing team finds itself running after the ball constantly and gets worn down by the action.

Training Tiki-Taka

In Germany, this style of playing has also become familiar and has been promoted as the “small game.” This “small game” is the cornerstone of Tiki-Taka and there have been calls to add 4-on-4 tournaments to the official game schedules. The Dutch have also placed a lot of emphasis on 4-on-4 play in their practice training since the mid-1980’s.

In Spain, Tiki-Taka is seen as a new game with origins in five-a-side soccer. Iniesta, Xavi, and many other players had their first official competitive experiences as children playing five-a-side.
to–all of these have been brought to the field by five-a-side soccer.


Training Exercise for Tiki-Taka

We don’t want to close this article without giving you a practice formation typically used by Barcelona:
It’s quite easy: play 2 against 2, 3 against 3, or 4 against 4 without goals. What you’ll find is that not just one game will be played, but three, four, or even more. Everybody plays in a single, limited field and it’s not only the opponent but also the players in other pairings who cause interference in Tiki-Taka.