tiki-taka

American

[tee-kee-tah-kuh] / ˈti kiˌtɑ kə /

noun

Soccer.

a strategy of maintaining possession of the ball to move it steadily upfield through a series of quick, short passes requiring technical skill and flexibility of position.

Example Sentences

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tiki-taka

Faced with a peak version of the pretty-passing, high-possession, tiki-taka style, the Dutch realized that they simply couldn’t out-soccer La Roja.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

Aragones' team was the side that became known for tiki-taka.

From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2026

It was arguably the peak performance of Spain’s dominant era playing the high-tempo, possession-based style known as tiki-taka.

From Washington Times ● Jul. 27, 2023

Twenty years ago today, Barcelona brought tiki-taka to Liverpool.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 20, 2021

That was the first full season with the main team for Lionel Messi, the commander of the tiki-taka style for nearly two decades.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 21, 2021

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023