Independiente’s Santiago Montiel is the winner of the FIFA Puskas Award for goal of the year, courtesy of his spectacular bicycle kick in an Argentine Primera Division clash against Independiente Rivadavia in May.
After a corner was headed clear, the 28-year-old right-back shrugged off his marker and found space on the right side of the penalty area, just outside the D, with his back to goal. Then, in a moment of extraordinary opportunism, he launched himself into the air, looping an outrageous acrobatic effort over goalkeeper Ezequiel Centurion, who had strayed off his line.
We’ll never tire of this goal. 🤸♂️
Santiago Montiel with a Puskás award winner to remember. 💫
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) December 16, 2025
A cousin of 2022 World Cup-winning left-back Gonzalo Montiel, he beat off competition from 10 other nominees, including Arsenal’s Declan Rice and Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal. The calibre of that competition matters. Half of the vote comes from the public, where Rice and Yamal benefit from large, active online fanbases, with the remainder decided by a panel of “FIFA Legends”.
But Montiel’s victory is further evidence of a broader trend: football’s growing obsession with the bicycle kick. This is the fourth consecutive year such a strike has claimed the Puskas Award, a run that began in 2022 with Polish amputee footballer Marcin Oleksy’s improvised effort for Warta Poznan.
𝐆𝐎𝐋 𝐒𝐄𝐙𝐎𝐍𝐔 2⃣0⃣2⃣2⃣ ⚽🔝
CO ZA STRZAŁ 💪 CO ZA BOMBA 🔥
Trafienie Marcina Oleksego z ostatniego turnieju możemy oglądać godzinami ❗To jest właśnie PZU Amp Futbol Ekstraklasa 🏆 pic.twitter.com/P65gUCeoJT
— Amp Futbol Polska (@AmpFutbolPolska) November 7, 2022
Brazilian midfielder Guilherme Madruga followed in 2023 with a bicycle kick from outside the box for Botafogo, before Alejandro Garnacho claimed the award last year for his athletic overhead effort for Manchester United against Everton.
Alejandro Garnacho’s spectacular bicycle kick against Everton has won the 2024 FIFA Puskas Award 🚲🏆 pic.twitter.com/O3pOzzbOUR
— Premier League (@premierleague) December 17, 2024
These goals are inevitably jaw-dropping and cinematic, but should they really dominate this much? Casting one’s eye over this year’s shortlist reveals a disappointing lack of variety, with instinctive volleys and overhead kicks crowding out almost everything else. The high-profile nominees are probably the pick of the rest.
Rice was nominated for the second of his two stunning free kicks in Arsenal’s 3-0 Champions League game. Struck from 27 yards, just left of centre, it carried venomous power and spin, nestling perfectly into the top-right corner beyond the despairing dive of Thibaut Courtois.
Meanwhile, Yamal’s goal against Espanyol was a trademark effort from the Spanish prodigy, cutting sharply inside from the right before whipping a ferocious strike into the top-left corner.
But even his nomination was odd. The Spaniard’s goal against Espanyol was outstanding, but his strike in Barcelona’s thrilling 3-3 Champions League semi-final draw against Inter Milan was both more memorable and technically superior.
Receiving the ball with his back to goal some 35 yards out, and under pressure from forward Marcus Thuram, Yamal had 10 Inter players between him and the net. With exquisite agility and footwork, he slipped past a series of challenges before threading a perfect finish through the narrowest of defensive gaps.
Yamal solo goal vs Inter 😮💨#UCL pic.twitter.com/sp0Kacmjfs
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) November 14, 2025
It was a goal only an elite handful could conceive, let alone execute, and its exclusion is further proof that the award prioritises the final shot over the moments leading to it. His Espanyol effort was the purer strike, but one a much wider group of players could pull off.
Scott McTominay is a regular exponent of the overhead kick (Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)
This undervaluing of dribbling ability was most jarring in 2015, when Lionel Messi’s mazy Copa del Rey dribble and finish against Sevilla — arguably the finest goal in his astonishing catalogue — was pipped to the award by a fairly bog-standard overhead kick from Brazilian forward Wendell Lira.
Team goals are another casualty of the award’s ball-striking-first emphasis. In Paris Saint-Germain’s 1-0 Champions League semi-final first-leg victory over Arsenal, Ousmane Dembele swept home the finish to a 26-pass move, a goal built on flawless cohesion, constant movement and pinpoint precision. It’s a goal far beyond the capabilities of most teams, but not deemed worthy enough for inclusion.
In a sport already dominated by a select few, the Puskas Award should not be the preserve of elite players and teams. It is refreshing that an extraordinary strike from someone as unheralded as Montiel can be catapulted into the public consciousness. But perhaps, like Montiel after his airborne strike, it’s time that the bicycle kick was brought back down to earth.