In soccer, most shots and passes are struck with the inside of the foot. It is reliable, accurate, and predictable. Then there is the trivela.
The trivela — pronounced tree-VEH-la — is struck with the outside of the foot, generating a swerving, bending trajectory that curves away from where it appears to be heading. When it works, it is one of the most beautiful things in the sport. When it really works, it ends up on YouTube highlight reels forever.
The Technique
Unlike a conventional shot or cross, the trivela contacts the ball on the outside edge of the boot — roughly where the little toe is. The foot whips across the ball at an angle, generating sidespin that curves the trajectory in the opposite direction to an inside-of-foot cross.
A right-footed trivela curves away to the left (from the player’s perspective). A left-footed trivela curves right. This makes it particularly useful when:
- A right-footed winger on the right side wants to bend a cross into the near post without cutting inside
- A player needs to disguise the direction of a pass — it looks like one direction, goes another
- Scoring from a tight angle by wrapping the ball around a goalkeeper
The deception is built into the technique. Your body shape suggests one direction. The ball goes somewhere else.
Ricardo Quaresma
No player is more associated with the trivela than Ricardo Quaresma, the Portuguese winger who made it his signature.
Quaresma used the outside of his right foot so consistently — for passes, shots, and crosses — that many people assumed the technique was named after him. It was not (the name predates him), but he did more than anyone to bring it into mainstream soccer consciousness.
His most famous trivela moment came at the 2018 World Cup against Iran — a curling, dipping shot from outside the box that gave the goalkeeper absolutely no chance. It was Quaresma’s 34th international goal, and it may be the most aesthetically perfect of the lot.
Ronaldinho, Robben, and various others have scored memorable trivela goals over the years, but Quaresma remains its undisputed ambassador.
Why It Is So Hard
The inside of the foot gives you a large surface area and a predictable contact point. The outside of the foot gives you almost none of those advantages. The contact zone is small, the ankle position is awkward, and generating both power and accuracy simultaneously requires years of practice.
Most professional players can hit a trivela occasionally. Almost none can rely on it under pressure in competitive matches.
When Quaresma pulled one off in the 87th minute of a World Cup group stage game, he was doing something that maybe 50 players on the planet can execute reliably — and doing it at the exact moment the whole world was watching.
Why We Named Our App Trivela
When we were looking for a name for this app, we wanted something that felt like soccer without being generic.
The trivela felt right for a few reasons.
It is the kind of technique that reveals something about the game that casual fans have not seen yet. It rewards attention. The more you watch, the more you appreciate it. And there is a romanticism to it — it is the option players choose when they want to do something beautiful rather than just effective.
That is what we wanted the app to feel like. Not just a fixture list. Something that deepens your appreciation of the sport and the tournament — one small detail at a time.
Welcome to the World Cup. Watch for the trivela.
Explore every team, stadium, and match at the 2026 World Cup with Trivela — free on iPhone.
