When Diego Maradona displayed his mastery in control and performed in half-time shows during Argentine Clausura matches, freestyle football really took off after that in the early 80s. In fact, one of his famous skills of all time was the Maradona 7 where players juggle the ball with the right foot, then the left foot, followed by the right thigh, then the left thigh, subsequently the right shoulder, then the left shoulder and finally the head. Inspired by Maradona who became successful and popular, Hao Young Woo, a South Korean who worked extremely hard to develop his juggling skills and eventually earned a reputation as a football entertainer.

Until the early 21st century, Touzani and Nelson were among the new generation of freestylers preferring fancier tricks with different combination and variations of around-the-worlds and other lower body tricks. Back in the days of Pele, Maradona and Cruyff, the word "freestyle" was unknown and no one has ever heard that word before in the world of soccer at least until the late 90s. Then, in the late 21st century, Nike came in as they launched an advertising campaign promoting the players and the competition. One of campaigns is to allow participants to submit their own video clip and receive feedback worldwide at NikeFootball. Thus, opens the door for the likes of Touzani and Abbas Farid to display their skills worldwide and become more popular.