# Two-Footed Footballers: Who Genuinely Qualifies

> Very few players truly use both feet. Dembélé's goal split, Brehme's two World Cup penalties, and why Kevin De Bruyne does not actually make the list.

- URL: https://ambidestro.it/en/two-footed-footballers/
- Author: Mattia Penna (https://mattiapenna.dev/)
- Category: Are You Ambidextrous
- Language: English
- Published: 2026-09-13
- Updated: 2026-10-09
- Other languages: [Italiano](https://ambidestro.it/calciatori-ambidestri.md), [Español](https://ambidestro.it/es/jugadores-ambidiestros.md)

## Who genuinely qualifies

Genuinely two-footed footballers are rare enough to name in one breath. **Ousmane Dembélé is the strongest case** — by late 2020, 21 career goals with his left and 24 with his right[\[2\]](#fonti "Dembélé: Effective with both feet"). Santi Cazorla and Andreas Brehme are the other two. Kevin De Bruyne, the name everyone searches, does not qualify.

Start with the word, because English gets this one right and most languages don't. *Ambidextrous* comes from the Latin *dexter*, meaning right hand — it is a word about hands. The term for feet is **two-footed**, or *ambipedal* if you want the clinical version.

Footedness is genuinely less lopsided than handedness, but it is still a preference: about one adult in five is mixed-footed[\[1\]](#fonti "Packheiser et al., 2020"), and players who use each foot equally are very rare[\[6\]](#fonti "Carey et al., 2001"). On a pitch that shows up clearly, because every touch gets logged.

So be suspicious of any list with twenty names on it. Three hold up.

## The De Bruyne question

Take the most-searched name first, because the honest answer is *no*.

De Bruyne is a natural right-footer with a left foot that makes no sense. On 11 May 2022 against Wolves he scored four. The first three — an entire first-half hat-trick — came off his **weaker left foot**, and only the fourth came off his right[\[3\]](#fonti "Wolves 1 - 5 Man City - Match Report & Highlights").

A hat-trick with the wrong foot does not make you two-footed. It makes you a right-footer who no longer has a predictable side — which, from where the defender is standing, is the same thing.

And that distinction matters less than it sounds. Watch the pitch and you cannot tell. Count the goals and you can.

**The better question isn't "is he two-footed?"**

It's **how many options does the defender have to cover?** A one-footed winger offers two: cut inside and shoot, or reach the byline and cross. A two-footed one offers four, and none of them can be closed early.

Which is why a trained weak foot is worth, in match terms, roughly what real two-footedness is worth.

## Dembélé, the closest case

If two-footedness exists in football, it looks like Dembélé.

Barcelona did the arithmetic: 22 goals in a Barça shirt, **12 left-footed and 10 right-footed**. Across his whole career to that point (late 2020), 21 left, 24 right and one header out of 46[\[2\]](#fonti "Dembélé: Effective with both feet").

Sit with those numbers a moment. That is not a strong foot and a spare — it is a *coin flip*, sustained across an entire career. In a sport where most players lean heavily on one foot, 21–24 is a genuine outlier.

## Two penalties, two feet

The cleanest proof is decades old. Andreas Brehme, West Germany, and the only player to score World Cup penalties with either foot.

Mexico 1986, quarter-final shootout: second up, instep drive, **left foot**. The 1990 final against Argentina, a penalty seven minutes from time, the goal that won the World Cup: **inside of the right**[\[4\]](#fonti "Andreas Brehme in der HALL OF FAME des deutschen Fußballs").

Same player, same act, different foot, on the two largest stages the sport has.

> I'm more accurate with my left foot but I can shoot harder with my right.

His words. That is not someone describing two identical feet — it is someone describing two *usable* ones, who knows exactly what each is for. Which is a far more reachable target, and a far more useful one.

## A foot you build

One thing connects every name here, and it is the part the listicles leave out: **none of them were born this way.**

Cazorla always preferred his right. He hurt his right ankle, started leaning on his left, and then spent years staying behind half an hour after training to kick a ball against a wall with his weaker foot[\[5\]](#fonti "Cazorla - How I became so two-footed (Arsenal.com)"). The full story, along with the names that fall apart under checking, is in [famous ambidextrous people](https://ambidestro.it/en/famous-ambidextrous-people/).

A wall. Half an hour. Repeated for years.

What separates this list is not talent. It is tolerance for boredom, held longer than everyone else held it. And if you want the terminology argument in full — why *ambidextrous* was made for hands, and what the words for feet are — it's in [ambidextrous feet](https://ambidestro.it/en/ambidextrous-feet/).

![football-on-grass.jpg](https://ambidestro.it/uploads/abigail-keenan-8-s5QuUBtyM-unsplash.jpg.webp)

Image by [Abigail Keenan](https://unsplash.com/@akeenster?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/group-of-people-playing-soccer-on-soccer-field-8-s5QuUBtyM?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText)

Who would you add to this list? If it was useful, send it to the friend who insists his left foot "works fine".

## Your own weaker foot

The useful part is that the mechanism isn't reserved for professionals.

Cazorla's wall is available to you too, and it doesn't take a pitch — it takes deciding which side of your body you stopped using and putting it back to work. For the football-specific drills, start with [what a two-footed player is](https://ambidestro.it/en/being-ambidextrous-in-soccer/). For the larger idea — training the weak side everywhere, not just in the box — start with [how to become ambidextrous](https://ambidestro.it/en/how-to-become-ambidextrous/).

My book is the organised version of that wall: a starting assessment, graded exercises, and a day-by-day programme built for adults starting from nothing, without a coach waiting for them after training.

Brehme never knew which foot was his good one. Maybe you don't either. That's the good news.

 [ ![Cover of the book How to Become Ambidextrous](https://ambidestro.it/uploads/cover_how_to_become_ambidextrous_135ca3f910.webp) ](https://ambidestro.it/go/ambidextrous?l=en)

 **[Start with your weaker side — find it on Amazon](https://ambidestro.it/go/ambidextrous?l=en)**

## Frequently asked questions

### Who is the most two-footed player in football history?

Ousmane Dembélé has the best-documented claim. Barcelona counted 21 left-footed and 24 right-footed goals among his first 46 in senior football, by late 2020, an almost even split. Santi Cazorla and Andreas Brehme are the other two names that survive checking.

### Is Kevin De Bruyne two-footed?

Not strictly. De Bruyne is a natural right-footer with an exceptional left: in May 2022 he scored a first-half hat-trick against Wolves entirely with his left, then added a fourth with his right. That is an elite weak foot rather than genuine two-footedness.

### What do you call a player who uses both feet?

Ambidextrous refers to hands, since it comes from the Latin dexter meaning right hand. For feet the usual terms are two-footed in everyday football usage, or ambipedal in clinical language. Ambidextrous is still widely used for players, and Merriam-Webster now lists that soccer sense too.

### Can you train your weaker foot as an adult?

Yes. Weak-foot work is routine in professional training, even though genuinely two-footed players stay rare. Santi Cazorla rebuilt his left after injuring his right ankle, staying an extra half hour after training to kick against a wall with his weaker foot, for years.

## Sources

1. [Packheiser et al., 2020](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-71478-w)
2. [Dembélé: Effective with both feet](https://www.fcbarcelona.com/en/news/1897360/dembele-effective-with-both-feet)
3. [Wolves 1 - 5 Man City - Match Report & Highlights](https://www.skysports.com/football/wolves-vs-man-city/report/446617)
4. [Andreas Brehme in der HALL OF FAME des deutschen Fußballs](https://www.fussballmuseum.de/en/hall-of-fame/men/andreas-brehme)
5. [Cazorla - How I became so two-footed (Arsenal.com)](https://www.arsenal.com/news/cazorla-how-i-became-so-two-footed-aSCTD3d0yIxG)
6. [Carey et al., 2001](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11695507/)