Why Does a Football Swerve?

Written by

Kara Rogers

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

History

A football, or soccer ball, swerves because of the Magnus effect, in which air moving around the ball creates an imbalance in pressure that pushes the ball sideways. This phenomenon explains why a player can curl a shot around a defensive wall or bend a shot into the goal before the keeper can react—what looks like magic on the pitch is really a finely controlled interaction between motion, air pressure, surface texture, and spin. A...