Ball placement for corner kicks in soccer

chef_carol

Increasingly I see players preparing for a corner by placing the ball on the extremity of the corner quarter circle. What advantage are the players trying to gain by placing the ball here instead of inside or on the markings?

Originally asked by The Footsie on Stack Exchange (sports) (CC BY-SA 4.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

I've noticed this too. Strangely there hasn't been much discussion about this in live commentary, by pundits, or on football analytics Twitter. I don't think there's one right answer, but I'd guess any of the following could be valid considerations for the corner kick taker: Run up angle : Given the position of the corner flag, players taking the corner are restricted to very particular run ups before striking the ball (especially when considering whether it's an in-swinging or out-swinging delivery), so perhaps players are trying to maximize their angle for delivery. Shortest distance : It sounds silly, but it's possible players are simply trying to get as close to the goal as possible so...

Full answer by OTStats: https://sports.stackexchange.com/a/27924 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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