Spain’s Tiki-Taka: An Old Tactic Made New

by Andrew Jordan

In order to understand how tiki-taka came to be, one must first understand total football. Total football was first used by the Dutch club team, Ajax, in the early 1970s to as a solution to the seemingly unstoppable man-to-man defense played by Italian club teams. Total football solved this issue by making all the positions fluid, or training players to be able to play multiple positions at different times. This meant that your strikers had to be capable of playing defense, your fullbacks had hold their own in front of goal, and the midfielders had to be able to keep everything from falling apart. Luckily, the mastermind behind total football, Dutch manager Rinus Michels, had the perfect conductor: Johann Cruyff. Cruyff, widely considered to be one of the greatest footballers of all time, had the skill, versatility, flair, and intelligence to make sure that Michels’s total football was effective. Using this new, extremely complex system, Ajax won three straight European Football Cups and made it to 2 consecutive World Cup Finals. While total football never claimed a World Cup trophy, it still captivated the world and made Johann Cruyff a legend (“Total Football Strategy”).

Following his retirement, Cruyff tried his hand at managing. His greatest success was with FC Barcelona, the flagship Spanish Club. Using a style similar to total football, he won eleven trophies for Barcelona between 1988 and 1996. Cruyff’s greatest pupil was Pep Guardiola, future manager of FC Barcelona and the first to truly implement tiki-taka. Using dynamic passing and defending with possession, Guardiola used tiki-taka to deadly effect in La Liga and won 15 trophies. Guardiola also benefited from Cruyff’s contribution in developing “La Masia”, Barcelona’s prestigious youth academy that pumped out tiki-taka masters such as Xavi, Iniesta, Fabrengas, and none other than Lionel Messi. With the exception of Messi, these players all played with each other both on the club and international level, further strengthening their rapport. Without this class of versatile footballers, neither Barcelona nor Spain, who used the tiki-taka style to claim a World Cup victory in 2010, would have been able to attain such success (Murphy). To be successful, a team using tiki-taka must have possession for almost 70% of the match. It requires world-class talent, exceptional coaching, and a productive youth academy system. Spain had all the right ingredients at the ideal time.

Spain Page

Power in Possession

Good, But Far From Perfect

How to Cite this page: “Spain’s Tiki-Taka: An Old Tactic Made New”, Written by Andrew Jordan(2016). Olympic Football 2016 Guide, Soccer Politics Blog, Duke University, http://sites.duke.edu/wcwp/tournament-guides/olympic-football-2016-guide/team-playing-styles-in-soccer/spains-tiki-taka/spains-tiki-taka…-tactic-made-new/, (accessed on (date)).