A diving clearance: you throw yourself forward head first, take your weight on your hands, and swing both heels up over your back to play a ball that has dropped behind you. The best-known example is goalkeeper René Higuita's clearance for Colombia in a 1995 friendly against England at Wembley, where he skipped a simple catch and cleared the ball from behind his body with both feet. Be clear about what this lesson is: no governing-body coaching manual or biomechanics study teaches the scorpion kick, so the technique steps below describe the shape of the move, and the sourced part is how to fall forward safely. It is a forward dive onto your hands, so learn the fall first, on soft ground, and never alone.
Learn the dive first
Start on your knees on a gym mat. Fall forward onto both hands and let your elbows bend as your hands touch, so your arms slow you down instead of stopping you dead. Keep your head up and away from the mat.
a soft, slowed landing, not a jolt through straight arms.
Raise the height only when the low falls feel easy: kneeling, then crouching, then a small dive from standing. If you have momentum after your hands land, roll it off to one side rather than stopping on your wrists.
the same soft landing at each height before you move up.
Practise only on a mat or soft, dry grass, with a partner or coach there. Not on a wet or bumpy pitch, not on hard ground, and not when you're tired. Keep sessions short.
Set up
Only try it when a ball is dropping just behind your head and no opponent is close. If someone is near, a flailing pair of boots is dangerous play. In a game, a simpler option (a header, a catch if you're the keeper, a step back) is almost always the better choice.
Face away from where you want the ball to go, with the ball's flight coming down just beyond the top of your head as you dive.
the ball is about to land on the spot your heels will swing through.
Dive & arch
Dive forward head first and reach both hands to the ground, elbows soft, the way you practised on the mat.
a planned dive, not a stumble: you choose when your hands go down.
As your hands take your weight, bend your knees and swing your heels up behind you over your back, so your body curves like a scorpion's tail.
Flick it
Meet the ball with the heels or soles of both feet at the top of the swing and send it back over you, away from goal.
one sharp heel-flick. If the timing is off, let the ball go and just land.
Land
Let your elbows keep bending as your legs come down and lower your chest to the ground, head up. If you are still moving, roll off to one side.
your arms and chest share the landing; nothing hits hard.
Stop for the day if your wrists, elbows, neck or lower back hurt, or as soon as you're tired. Don't stack up lots of attempts in one session.
Feel it
Your hands meet the ground with bent, giving elbows, your heels swing up through the dropping ball, and you finish lying on your front or rolling off to the side with nothing jarred. Even when you miss the ball, the landing should feel the same as your mat practice. It is a low-percentage move: the landing matters more than the flick.
Fix-its
- Your wrists or elbows jar on landing You're landing on stiff, straight arms. Go back to kneeling falls on a mat and let the elbows bend as the hands touch. Don't raise the height until that feels soft.
- Your face or chest gets close to the ground too fast Keep your head up and bend the elbows to slow the chest down. If you have a lot of speed, roll off to one side instead of trying to stop dead.
- You miss the ball Timing. Go back to a partner's gentle toss that lands just beyond your head, and start the dive a little earlier so your heels are already rising as the ball arrives. Missing is fine; land safely anyway.
- No power on the flick Swing the heels up sharply from bent knees rather than lifting straight legs. Power matters less than a clean contact that sends it away from goal.
- You try it with an opponent close by Don't. Boots swinging up near a player's head is dangerous play and gives away an indirect free kick, or a card if it endangers them. Head it or clear it another way.
Drill
- Kneeling forward falls on a gym mat: fall onto both hands, elbows bending, head up. Short sets until each one feels soft.
- Crouch, then standing, forward falls onto the mat, rolling off to one side when you have momentum. Same soft landing before you go higher.
- On the mat, no ball: small dive onto your hands and swing the heels up over your back. Partner watching.
- Partner gently tosses the ball to drop just beyond your head as you dive; try the heel-flick, and always finish with the practised landing.
- Only on soft, dry grass with a partner: tosses from a little further away. Stop when you're tired or anything hurts.
By position
A rare showpiece move, not a priority skill for any position. The famous example was a goalkeeper's clearance, but a goalkeeper who can catch the ball should catch it.
Sources
- FIFA — Colombia's Scorpion King, 25 years on (2020)
- IFAB — Laws of the Game, Law 12: Fouls and Misconduct (latest)
- Phu, Delbaere, Sturnieks & Lord (NeuRA Falls Network) — Landing Safely to Prevent Fall Injuries, mini review (undated, cites work to 2025)
- Kim & Ashton-Miller — Biomechanics of fall arrest using the upper extremity: age differences, Clin Biomech (2003)
- Weerdesteyn, Groen, van Swigchem & Duysens — Martial arts fall techniques reduce hip impact forces in naive subjects after a brief period of training, J Electromyogr Kinesiol (2008)
- John C. Harves, Coaching American Soccer — Soccer Bicycle Kick
Last checked 2026-10-31.