Tiki-taka (also
Tika-Taka and commonly spelled
tiqui-taca in Spanish;
Spanish pronunciation: [ˈtiki ˈtaka]) is a style of play in association football, characterised by short passing and movement, working the ball through various channels, and maintaining possession. The style is primarily associated with La Liga club FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team under managers Luis Aragonés and Vicente del Bosque.
Origins
Spanish midfield position. Spain-Switzerland, FIFA World Cup 2010. Midfield is one of the keys of tiki-taka.
The late Spanish broadcaster Andrés Montes is generally credited with coining and popularizing the phrase
tiki-taka during his television commentary on LaSexta for the 2006 FIFA World Cup,
[although the term was already in colloquial use in Spanish football
and may originate with Javier Clemente.
In his live commentary of the Spain vs Tunisia match, Montes used the phrase to describe Spain's precise, elegant passing style: "
Estamos tocando tiki-taka tiki-taka."
The phrase's origin may be onomatopoei
or derived from a juggling toy named
tiki-taka in Spanish (clackers in English).
The tika-taka style of play originates with Johan Cruyff's tenure as manager of Barcelona. It continued under Barcelona's Dutch coaches Louis van Gaal and Frank Rijkaard and was adopted by other La Liga teams.
Barcelona's tiki-taka tradition has been credited with producing a generation of technically talented, often physically small players such as Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, Cesc Fàbregas and Lionel Messi;
players with excellent touch, vision and passing, who excel at maintaining possession.
Raphael Honigstein describes the tiki-taka played by the Spanish national team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup as "a radical style that only evolved over the course of four years", arising from Spain's decision in 2006 that "they weren't physical and tough enough to outmuscle opponents, so instead wanted to concentrate on monopolising the ball."
