Freestyle football

Freestyle football, also known as freestyle soccer in North America, is the art of juggling with a football using feet, knees, lower legs, chest, shoulders, and head while simultaneously performing creative, skillful moves and keeping the ball airborne. Similar in style to keepie uppie and kemari, it has become a widespread sport across the world and is played by many people.

Freestyle football has existed for some time, but it has seen a surge in popularity as a result of global advertising campaigns and digital media sharing. In the early 21st century, Nike began an advertising campaign which relied heavily on the freestyle form of football, including video clips of freestyle performances. These advertisements featured famous players such as Ronaldinho and Edgar Davids. Many link such mass media attention to the start of the freestyle craze. In the YouTube era, however, many previously non-famous players have risen to prominence, and internet searches easily yield thousands of videos by amateur "freestylers" around the world.

Some of the more notable freestylers include; Hee Young Woo (Mr. Woo) of South Korea, Craig Dobson, Abbas Farid and John Farnworth all from the United Kingdom. Shortly after, Nike launched a freestyle football competition on the internet "Nike Football", in which participants could submit their own clips and receive feedback from a worldwide audience.

In December 2006 the "Masters of The Game" competition, held in Amsterdam and was won by John Farnworth. Nutmeg or Panna and other street football competitions have been held featuring street soccer players such as Edward Van Gils 'Edje', Issy Hitman, Jermaine Vanenburg 'Vaantje'. In 2007 there was a competition in Latin America called Red Bull Reaccion. Also in 2007 Redbull futbol de calle was held in NYC's Webster Hall.
The French Arnaud "Séan" Garnier is the first world champion of Street Style Soccer, with an impeccable performance. The final of the Red Bull Street Style competition was held in Brazil In November 2008. Arnaud Garnier "Séan" beat out the other 42 competitors to win the competition.