first touch

noun

A player's initial contact with the moving ball, used to get the ball under control.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounfirst touch (plural first touches)

plural first touches

  1. hobbiesA player's initial contact with the moving ball, used to get the ball under control.

    "His ability to take the ball on the half-turn allows his first touch to be always forward when he receives it."

    2025 October 21, Alex Howell, “The evolution of Rice - how midfielder became Arsenal's all-rounder”, in BBC Sport
    1 more example

    They might have taken the lead when Gervinho latched on to a Mikel Arteta through ball, only for a heavy first touch to let Jussi Jaaskelainen gather.

    2011 September 24, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 3 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC Sport
Cite this entry
APA

first touch. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/first%20touch

MLA

“first touch.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/first%20touch. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “first touch,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/first%20touch.

Source: first touch on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.