We all know about the great speed of professional soccer players, but what about their shots?
For well over a century, the world of sports has been at odds to find out how fast certain professional soccer players can shoot. In the early years of soccer, records were often kept by hand and could be easily manipulated.
In recent years, however, scientists have turned their focus away from the track and towards team or relay sports such as soccer, rugby, or football.
Since each player must wait for the previous player to release the ball, scientists have been able to test how fast players can shoot a soccer ball through different passing methods.
The global average shooting speed was published in 2015 at 70 kph (about 43 mph). A 2010 study found the global average soccer player shot speed to be 67 kph (around 42 mph), which makes sense since most top leagues around the world use measures like FIFA.
In this article, we’re going to go a bit deeper into this subject and dig for official data. Enjoy!
Average Pro Soccer Player Shot Speed
Professional soccer players are disciplined and well-practiced athletes who have made the commitment to work towards their goal of playing on a professional team.
There are many factors that contribute to the speed of their soccer shot. The player’s age, weight, strength, momentum and skill level are all important contributors.
Pro players are at the top of their game in terms of skill and conditioning because they have spent hours practicing their shots to get them just right.
The speed of a pro soccer player’s shot depends upon several factors including his build, training habits, weight percentage, and momentum at the time of the shooting. There are many examples of average pro athletes’ speeds, but the speed of a soccer shot is quite elusive.
Sports medicine does not have much data on average pro soccer player shot speed because this information can vary greatly depending on factors like age and fitness level.
The average pro soccer player in leagues all over the world has a shot speed of 70 kilometers per hour, according to official reports. This is fast enough to travel from goal line to goal line in professional play.
Regarding women’s shot speeds, results have shown that female athletes are able to hit speeds of 45 mp/h during practice but only 37 mp/h during official games. Even at these lower velocities, however, this would still make women’s soccer probably the fastest sport on earth in terms of shot speed!
What Influences the Shot Speed in Soccer?
The shot speed in soccer is influenced by several factors, one of which is the soccer ball itself. That is why the balls used by soccer teams must meet such stringent specifications.
There’s also the matter of science to consider. When it comes to how fast a person can kick a soccer ball, physics plays a role. For example, depending on how the ball is kicked, Newton’s laws of motion play a significant role in the trajectory of the ball.
When you kick with your toes, the ball moves very differently than when you kick with the side of your foot.
There’s also the kick’s power and speed to consider. The speed of the ball is affected by the time it takes for the player’s foot to strike the ball and the force with which it is kicked. The stronger the kick, the faster it will travel.
If you want to kick the ball as quickly as possible, your goal should be to kick the ball as quickly as possible using the best technique you can.
It will take a lot of practice, and you will need to learn specific techniques that will help you become more efficient as you play.
These are abilities that you will gain as you continue to practice and participate in games.
Related: Leg Workout for Soccer Players – The Ultimate Guide (2023)
Top 10 Fastest Shots in Pro Soccer
Football is a whirlwind of emotions that can change in an instant and for this reason it is the most loved sport in the world. The fans live for the great play of their favorite: sensational saves, through assists and crazy goals that are indelible in the minds of each of us.
The essence of football is the goal because the goal is the act that makes you get up from the seat or the sofa, and makes you scream so much that you don’t you have more strength to speak.
But before the goal there is the shot and the shot is the technical gesture that remains most impressed in the hearts of the fans.
Here’s the top 10…
10. Cristiano Ronaldo opens the ranking in tenth place, who has just become the penta Ballon d’Or after crowning a stellar 2017 with the Real Madrid shirt. CR7’s racing car dates back to the 2008-09 season, the one that will end with the Champions League final, which was lost by Ferguson and him against Pep Guardiola’s first Barcelona. Ronaldo’s is a real missile against Porto from 104.6 km / h that is worth the final victory. Little better than him – in ninth place –
9. Gabriel Omar Batistuta, one who in terms of physical strength had plenty to sell. 106 km / h, still in the Champions League, but at the end of the millennium. 1999-00 season, in England Fiorentina challenge Arsenal, and the match unlocks Batigol with a right that slips under the crossbar, of course, but at the average speed of a car on the highway.
8. There is more than one Italian case in the ranking, but the only Italian – understood as a passport – is Francesco Totti, in eighth place. An almost non-accidental position for him, who has become the eighth king of Rome. The kilometers per hour this time are 113. Against Juventus in the 2012-13 season, Totti unlocks the game in the 58th minute, scoring the goal that will be worth the definitive victory. A missile loaded from the edge of the area that leaves Buffon just enough time to sketch the parade.
7. Below him in the standings is Jay-Jay Okocha, legend of Nigerian football with more than one hundred appearances in the Premier League with the Bolton shirt. And it is precisely in the top English championship, with the Bolton shirt and against Aston Villa, that in 2004 he found a goal from a free-kick by sending the ball into the net at 119 km / h . Continuing the ranking, and almost entered the top 5, you already reach speed from a fine speed camera.
6. Roberto Carlos ‘ free-kick in the 1997 tournament of France entered the football legend, and not just because of his power. A crazy left-winger that curves almost unnaturally, beating a still incredulous Barthez. The score? 137 km / h . A masterpiece of strength and precision.
5. In fifth place is Adriano, in that famous Inter v Palermo in September 2004. The match will end 1-1, and the Brazilian will score the advantage. In history, however, there remains his 140 km / h stone: the most powerful shot ever in Serie A. The ball hits the crossbar and bounces beyond the penalty area, leaving in the ears of those present at San Siro the muffled sound of the door that continues to shake.
4. Not an unprecedented sensation, however, even for someone like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who played there for many years in Italy between Juve, Inter, and Milan. The power on the other hand is also a peculiarity of him, in shooting as in the plays in the middle of the field. The Swede is fourth, just off the podium. There are 149.7 kilometers per hour of his third goal against Anderlecht with PSG, season 2013-14. That day in the Champions League, Ibra scored three goals, and the last one was violent and precise: practically the perfect shot.
3. On the lowest step of the podium there is David Trezeguet, someone who in reality you expect him to be at the top of the scores, maybe the dirty ones, as a pure striker like he was. Instead in 1998, with the Monaco shirt, he scored in the quarter-finals of the Champions League at Old Trafford, contributing to the elimination of the Red Devils (who will lift that cup the following year). His right foot slips into the net at 154.4 km / h, practically the speed of a moving train.
2. Even better than him, however, Ronald Koeman, which in 1992 took the second step of this special classification in one fell swoop and – at the same time – also the Champions Cup. In London Boskov’s Sampdoria challenges Cuijff’s Barcelona, and the Dutchman decides the match in extra time with a free kick from 188 km / h, well beyond any speed limit.
Record
1. But the absolute record belongs to Ronny Heberson, a Brazilian still in business today. Name from “phenomenon” but unknown to most. He did not score as certain as the other Ronnie, Ronaldo, the Phenomenon, but between 2006 and 2009 – the period of his interlude at Sporting Lisbon – he made the most powerful shot in history. A missile that is almost difficult to follow with one’s eyes, capable of breaking the barrier of 200 km / h. How many? 221 km / h to be precise, in a Portuguese league match against Naval. An unstoppable shot that is worth the record. All beaten: Ibra, Roberto Carlos, Totti, and CR7 too. After all, you can be a hero for just a day… or a shot.
