Bending or swerving the ball is one of the most exciting soccer kicking techniques. Brazilians, such as Pele, were famous for making the ball bend around a defensive wall, and this is one of the hallmarks of David Beckham. This skill is important in many areas of football, such as shots at goal around defenders that are obscured from the goalkeeper's view, corner kicks, crosses into the box, and passing the ball around opponents.

There are two main methods, namely using the outside of the foot to swerve the ball away from you, or using the inside of the foot to bend the ball inwards. Swerve is produced by kicking the ball off centre on the opposite side to the side you want the ball to swerve to. For example, if you want to bend the ball from right to left with your right foot, you make contact with the ball on the right side using the inside of your foot. To make the ball bend away from you from left to right, kick the ball on the left side using the outside of your foot. A tip for improving your skill using the inside of the foot is to swivel on your non-kicking foot as you kick the ball, but this movement should not be exsagerated.

To bend the ball from right to left contact is made on the right side of the ball using the inside of the right foot or the outside of the left foot. The amount of spin has been exagerated for illustration.