Why players raise hand when taking corner-kick

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Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford has lifted the lid on the secret code behind corner-kick signals.

Corner-kick takers use hand signals to non-verbally communicate with teammates on the receiving end of their set-piece.

Many fans may assume that the action is simply to alert team-mates that the ball is about to go into the box, or to signal a short corner if that is the option being taken instead.

But speaking on the My Mate's a Footballer podcast, Bamford explained what the corner signals actually mean.

Sometimes the one hand can mean it's going near post, and two hands can mean it's going far post.

But also it might be, for example, that you've agreed in the changing room that the first corner, whichever side we get, is going to be, "We're going to do this."

That's in terms of, we're going to put it in this area or we're going to crash that area.

So the actual hand going up, and then when it comes down, it's as a cue for them [the corner taker's team-mates] to start their run.

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