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Why Does a Football Swerve?
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A spinning soccer ball is shown with curved blue airflow lines around it, illustrating the Magnus effect. Text reads: spinning ball equals spinning air.
A man wearing glasses and a blue turtleneck holds a globe patterned like a soccer ball, with stadium and physics equations in the background and text above stating Science of Soccer.
Photo and labeled diagram of the Trionda soccer ball used in FIFA 2026, featuring red, blue, and green panels for host countries, four aerodynamic panels, a motion sensor chip, and counterweights for balance. Diagram of a football penalty kick showing a ball on the penalty spot, a yellow aiming line toward the center of the goal, and a simplified goalkeeper standing in front of the net. English footballer David Beckham Football star Lionel Messi, December 2022 Magnus effect
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Why Does a Football Swerve?

Written by
Kara Rogers
Kara Rogers is the senior editor of biomedical sciences at Encyclopædia Britannica, where she oversees a range of content from medicine and genetics to microorganisms. She joined Britannica in 2006 and...
Kara Rogers
Fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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...

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