Welcome to The Panenka. A blog dedicated to European Football, World Soccer, and the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Feel free to comment, share, follow us on Twitter and subscribe.

The Panenka: a technique used in penalty taking in where a player, instead striking or placing the ball at the target, he or she gives decides to chip it, deceiving the goalkeeper in the process.

The technique was created by Czech player Antonín Panenka who first used the technique in the 1976 UEFA European Championship finals. He beat German goalkeeper Sepp Maier during a penalty shootout in the tournament’s final with a new, audacious, ice cool swagger to give the title to the Czechoslovakian national team, creating a brand new penalty taking phenomenon in the process and one which is copied the world over today.

After its sensational debut in the tournament, the Panenka kick has been used on rare occasions and mostly by highly respected players who can deal with the consequences of missing a penalty kick that way. Totti (pictured above), Pirlo and Messi are a select few who possess the nerve and skill to pull off such a trick.