Club football is only just back underway after the World Cup and summer break, yet we might have already seen the assist of the season.In a largely empty stadium during a match in the Russian second tier, 29-year-old centre-back Nader Mohammadi performed a move that wouldn’t look out of place in a gymnastics competition.In just his second appearance for his new club, the Iranian defender, known back home for his somersault throw-ins, set up a team-mate on Sunday with his speciality move.
The flip throw was famously used by Estonia’s Risto Kallaste and Newcastle’s Steve Watson in the… pic.twitter.com/kPUrT6OJNa
— EF (@EURASIAFOOTBALL) August 9, 2026Front-flip throw-ins are not new, but are rarely seen — and even less frequently lead to goals.Voga Wallace, a soccer player at the University of Virginia, was one of the first proponents in 1982. In English football, Newcastle United’s Steve Watson used the technique in the early 1990s, while Estonia’s Risto Kallaste took it to the international stage.While the flip provides greater momentum to fling the ball further, it is a high-risk, high-reward manoeuvre — great when it works, but slightly embarrassing when it doesn’t. Cue Iran’s Milad Mohammadi, who did the roll but didn’t release the ball in added time during a 1-0 loss to Spain in the group stages of the 2018 World Cup.
