Soccer Terms to Help You Sound Like a Pro
Want to decode the announcers’ commentary while you watch soccer this summer? We’ve rounded up the top football jargon, from internationally inflected slang to advanced strategy terms, to help you better understand the beautiful game — or at least sound like you do!
Tiki-taka
Tiki-taka refers to a style of play characterized by frequent short passes and maintaining possession to slowly but surely move the ball up the field. This strategy is associated with the Spanish national team in the early 2010s.
Gegenpressing
The German word for counter-pressing, gegenpressing describes the tactic of immediately exerting high pressure against the other team in an attempt to quickly win the ball back after losing it.
Half-spaces
Imagine the soccer field is divided into five vertical lanes: two “wide areas” along the left and right borders, a middle “center” lane, and two “half-spaces” in between. Also known as the “inside channels,” half-spaces describe the optimal position for offensive players to approach the goal.
Parking the bus
Parking the bus (also known as a low block) is a defensive tactic in which a team packs most of its players behind the ball, often in their own penalty area, to protect against attackers. The term is widely attributed to José Mourinho, who — during his early tenure as Chelsea’s coach — used a “bus in front of the goal” metaphor to describe very defensive opponents.
False nine
A false nine describes a forward who starts as a striker but regularly drops back to midfield to orchestrate play and throw off the defense. Lionel Messi is the most prominent example of a false nine, though Francesco Totti also played the role effectively before his retirement in 2017.
Zonal marking
Zonal marking is the opposite of man-on-man defense. In this tactic, defenders cover a spatial area rather than marking a specific player.
Overloads
With the technique of overloads, teams on the attack will pack players in specific corners of the field, often drawing defenders away from their positions, to overwhelm the opposition.
Stoppage time
In soccer, the clock never stops. However, the stoppage time taken for injuries, substitutions, and set plays is recorded and tacked on to the end of the game’s 90-minute run.
Offside
Offside can be a tricky rule to understand and often involves nuance. Generally, an attacking player is offside if, at the moment the ball is played by a teammate, any part of their body that can legally play the ball is beyond the second-to-last opponent. Play is then stopped and restarts with an indirect free kick for the opposing team.
Soccer Terms: The Basics (and Slang!)
Football
On the international stage, football is the most widely used term for what Americans call soccer. In the United States, football refers to a different sport entirely — American football.
Pitch
A pitch is the U.K. term for what Americans call a soccer field. In many sports, it generally refers to the field of play.
Match
In the U.K., you’re likely to hear a soccer game referred to as a match. Other sports like tennis use the term match.
Diving
Diving or taking a dive is slang for when a player exaggerates a fall in an attempt to get a foul called on their opponent.
Hat trick
If one player scores three goals in a game, that’s called a hat trick. Note that this is a term used in multiple sports, not just soccer, to describe three feats by a single player.
Booking
A booking is when a referee issues a yellow or red card to a player for a foul or misconduct.
Nutmeg
If a player kicks a ball through an opponent’s legs, that’s called a nutmeg.
Own goal
If a player accidentally kicks the ball into their own team’s net (oops!), that’s called scoring an own goal. This term is used in other sports like ice hockey.
Through ball
A through ball describes when a player feeds the ball past the defense for their teammate to receive in open space, versus passing it directly to their feet.
Penalty kick
A penalty kick is awarded to the attacking team when a defending player commits a foul inside their own penalty area. The kick is taken from the penalty spot.
Breakaway
When a lone player advances past the defense to face the goalkeeper one-on-one, they’re on a breakaway. You’ll see this term in other sports like ice hockey.
Gaffer
Gaffer is British football slang for the team’s head coach or manager. You’ll hear it in player interviews and commentary.
