Most of us know the game of a football. So let us know how we should define this game?
The definition of football is: Any of the several games played between two teams on a usually rectangular field having goalposts or goals at each end and their purpose is to get the ball over the goal line, go to the goal, or between the goalposts by running, passing, or kicking the ball.
The sport of association football is commonly called “soccer” in the United States.
Football is an interesting game of ball and so are the specific terms used in the sport. Let’s learn a few words and understand their meaning.
Football Vocabulary List in English
| WORD | MEANING | EXAMPLE SENTENCE |
| Assistant Referee | official who runs one of two touchlines and advises the referee, esp. on offside decisions | Assistant referees used to be called ‘linesmen’, but the term was changed in 1996. |
| Corner Kick | a free kick taken from one of the corners of the pitch | The referee awarded a corner kick after the goalkeeper tipped the ball over the bar. |
| Defender | a player whose main role is to prevent the opposition from scoring | Defenders include left backs, right backs and central defenders. |
| Dive | to deliberately fall over when tackled in order to deceive the referee into awarding a free kick | Many people see diving as a form of cheating and think players who dive should be sent off. |
| Draw | finish a game with an even score; tie | The game ended in a draw, with each team having scored two goals. |
| Extra Time | two periods of 15 minutes each played when a game ends in a draw after normal time | We won the game by scoring the only goal in extra time. |
| Foul | an illegal action punishable by a free kick | The referee blew his whistle and gave a penalty kick for a foul in the penalty area. |
| Goal | an instance of kicking or heading the ball into the goal | Manchester United beat Chelsea by three goals to one. |
| Goalkeeper | player whose role is to stop the ball from entering the goal, and the only player who can handle the ball in general play | The goalkeeper tried to stop the penalty kick by diving to his left, but the penalty taker kicked the ball past him and scored. |
| Goal line | the two shorter boundaries, one at each end of the pitch, on which the goals are placed | The referee thought a defender was the last player to touch the ball before it went over the goal line, and awarded a corner kick. |
| Handball | a foul committed by touching the ball with a hand or an arm | The ball hit Mark on the arm and the referee awarded a free kick to his opponents for handball. |
| League | a group of sports clubs that play each other over a period for a championship e.g. English Premiership League | The Spanish Football League, known as ‘La Liga’, includes famous clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona. |
| Offside | law requiring at least two defenders to be between an attacker and the goal line when the ball is passed to the attacker | The assistant referee raised his flag to indicate to the referee that one of the forward players was in an offside position. |
| Pass | to kick or head the ball to another player on one’s own team. | David saw a teammate and passed the ball to him. |
| Penalty | a free kick from the penalty spot; see also penalty kick | Our defender tackled their striker in the penalty box, but the referee thought it was a foul and gave them a penalty. |
| Penalty area | area near each goal in which the goalkeeper may handle the ball, and a foul is punished by a penalty kick (also; penalty box) | The tackle was just outside the penalty area, but the referee thought it was inside the area and gave them a penalty. |
| Penalty kick | a direct free kick taken from the penalty spot, awarded for a foul committed in the penalty area | Their best striker took the penalty kick, but our goalkeeper blocked his shot and they didn’t score the goal. |
| Penalty shootout | a best-of-five penalty kick contest held to find a winner when a game is still tied after extra time | Our team won the penalty shootout by four goals to three, and we were the new champions. |
| Penalty spot | a white mark in the penalty area from which penalty kicks are taken | I felt very nervous as I put the ball on the penalty spot and stepped back to take the kick. |
| Pitch | the playing field | It had rained all morning, so the pitch was soft and muddy and difficult to run on. |
| Professional | doing something, like playing sport or music, as a career or occupation | David Beckham became a professional player at 17 when he signed a contract with Manchester United. |
| Red card | the most severe punishment given by a referee, in which the player is sent off the pitch | The referee had already given Lee a yellow card, so when he committed another foul he was given a red card and sent off. |
| Shoot | to try to score a goal | Ronaldo took the free kick and scored a great goal by shooting over the wall. |
| Striker | a player whose role is to score goals | We’re not scoring enough goals, so our manager wants to get a new striker. |
| Substitute | to replace one player with another player; also a player used to replace another | They were losing by a goal with ten minutes to go, so the manager decided to substitute one of his defenders with a forward. |
| Tackle | to challenge a player for the ball | One of the defenders tackled David and kicked the ball out of play. |
| Tactical | relating to a carefully planned strategy to win | They were losing, so the manager made tactical substitutions and replaced two defenders with more attacking players. |
| Throw in | to put the ball back into play after it has crossed the touchline by throwing it, usually to a teammate | After Joe kicked the ball out, one of the other team’s players threw it in with a long throw into the penalty box. |
| Touchline | the two long boundaries along each side of the pitch; also sideline | The manager stood on the touchline shouting instructions to his players. |
| Wall | a line of players forming a barrier to block a free kick taken near the penalty area | The defenders formed a wall to block the free kick, and the referee pushed them back ten metres. |
| Yellow card | a warning issued to a player for a serious foul, two of which result in a red card and sending off | If Jose gets another yellow card, he’ll miss the next match. |
Let’s have a quick recap of some of the words that we have just learned using the following image:
Keep exploring EnglishBix to learn about words related different sports.
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