Tiki-taka algorithm: a novel metaheuristic inspired by football playing style

Purpose Metaheuristic algorithms have been commonly used as an optimisation tool in various fields. However, optimisation of real-world problems has become increasingly challenging with to increase in system complexity. This situation has become a pull factor to introduce an efficient metaheuristic. This study aims to propose a novel sport-inspired algorithm based on a football playing style called tiki-taka. Design/methodology/approach The tiki-taka football style is characterised by short passing, player positioning and maintaining possession. This style aims to dominate the ball possession and defeat opponents using its tactical superiority. The proposed tiki-taka algorithm (TTA) simulates the short passing and player positioning behaviour for optimisation. The algorithm was tested using 19 benchmark functions and five engineering design problems. The performance of the proposed algorithm was compared with 11 other metaheuristics from sport-based, highly cited and recent algorithms. Findings The results showed that the TTA is extremely competitive, ranking first and second on 84% of benchmark problems. The proposed algorithm performs best in two engineering design problems and ranks second in the three remaining problems. Originality/value The originality of the proposed algorithm is the short passing strategy that exploits a nearby player to move to a better position.