Last week I was watching the African cup of nations match between Zambia and Sudan in a local pub. I was sitting next to a gentleman, who seemed not to know anything about soccer, despite him wearing a replica jersey of the Zambia national team. I did not have time to concentrate on watching that match, as I spent most of my time explaining to him what the commentators meant when they used certain terms, as he kept on asking me to explain. Then I realised that football (AKA Soccer) has its own terminology, just like any other profession or trade.
I thought of listing some football terms in this article, though not exhaustive.
ANCHOR MAN
An Anchorman is a midfielder who links play between the defenders and attackers; his mobility is restricted to the mid half of the pitch.
ASSISTANT REFEREE
An assistant referee is a linesman.
ATTACKING MID FIELDER
An attacking midfielder is an outfeild player who assists the strikers in attack.
CAF
Confederation of african football
CAPTAIN
A captain is a player who leads other players in the team; he is a team leader among players.
CAUTION
A caution is a warning given to a player for an infringement on another player or for misconduct on the pitch
CENTRE BACK
A center back is an out field player who is the last in the line of defence.
CENTRE FORWARD
Center forward is the main attacking out field player.
COACH
A coach is The person who prepares the team for matches.
CORNER
Kick A corner kick is a free, unchallenged play given to the opposing team for a play that is kept out of touch beyond the goal line by the team that is defending the goal. It is placed at the confluence of the long and short side of the pitch.
CORNER FLAG
A corner flag is the flag placed at the confluence of the long and short side of the pitch.
DEADLOCK
A deadlock is the time when both teams have not yet scored a goal against each other.
DIRECT FREE KICK
An indirect free kick is an opportunity that is given to a team to play a ball,
UNCHALLENGED
BY passing it to another player before it is directed at the opponent’s goal.
DIVISION
Division is a group of teams of the same standard of play, that compete against each other.
DRIBBLE
To dribble is to outwit an opposing player with feet in order to prevent them from possessing the ball.
EQUALISER
An equaliser is a goal that is scored in order to even the scores with an opposing team.
EXTRA TIME
Extra time is the additional 30 minutes time that is given to teams that are even in scores after playing for 90 minutes in order to determine the winner.
FIFA.
Federation of international footbal assocaitions
FINAL
A match that is played by two teams that remain undefeated in a tournament in order to determine the overall winner.
FINAL WHISTLE
A whistle that is blown to end a football match.
FINALS
Finals are a tournament that is organised for teams at have defeated other teams, and who are placed in groups to compete with each other in order to determine the winner.
FIRST HALF
First half is 45minutes of play from the time of the first whistle in the match.
FOUL
A foul is an infringement on an opposing player.
FOURTH OFFICIAL
The fourth official is the forth referee who may replace a referee or an assistant referee: he is also the one who keeps a record of players replacing others on the field of play and also keeps the time of the match.
FREE KICK
A free kick is an unchallenged kick of the ball which is given to the opposing team after an infringement.
FULL TIME
Full time is the end of the match after 90 minutes of play.
GAME PLAN
A game plan is the plot of how a team plays to attack and defend against an opposing team.
GOAL
A goal is the passage of the ball between an opposing team’s goal post.
GOAL KEEPER
A goalkeeper is a player who is allowed to use his hands, feet, or any part of the body to prevent the ball struck by an opposing playere or team mate from passing between the goal posts.
GOAL LINE
Is a line that passes from one end of the corner flag, through the goal mouth to another corner flag.
GOAL LINE TECHNOLOGY
Goal line technology is a proposed way of determining that the ball crossed the line by inserting a special chip in the ball and the goal post: the chip will send a signal to the referee instantly to alert him that the ball crossed the goal line.
GOAL MOUTH
The goal mouth is the area between two goal posts
HALF VOLLEY
A half volley is when a player connects with the ball which is slightly above ground and hits it towards goal
HALFTIME
Half time is a period given to players to rest in between the sets of 45minutes of a match.
HAND BALL
A hand ball is an act of an in field player makind contact with the ball using a hand.
HEADER
A header is an act of a player connecting with the ball using his head. it is also used in describing a match involving two big teams. When two matches involving four big teams are played at the same time, it is called a’ double header’.
HOLDING MID FIELDER
A holding midfielder is a midfield player who has the task of keeping good possession of the ball in the middle half of the field, in order to allow his team mates to move from the defensive position and join in attack, or one who covers up for his team mates who are out of position after an attack fails; who delays an attacking opponent until his team mates move to proper defensive positions.
INDIRECT FREE KICK
A indirect free kick is an un challenged play given to a team after an infringement, which requires one player passing the ball to another player, on its way goalwards.
KICK OFF
A kick off is the time when a team starts play at the start of the match by playing the ball ,un challenged, which is placed at the center of the pitch while both sets of players are in their own half. it is the first kick in the match.
KNOCK OUT STAGE
A knock out stage is a stage in a tournament when losing teams are eliminated participating in the tournament after defeat. at this stage all drawn matches are settled by a penalty shoot out in order to determine the winner.
LEAD
A lead is when a team has scored more than the other team in an on going match.
LEAGUE GAME
A league match is a match played where points are awarded for winning or drawing a match involving teams that have been grouped in one division. all teams play all in the division, twice, where the team that is awarded more points than other teams wins the league as champions.
LEFT BACK
A leftback is an outfield player who plays on the left side of a team’s defensive area.
MANAGER
A manager is the head coach of a professional footbal team or a national team.
MATCH BAN
A match ban is punishment or sanction given to a player or a manager from participating in subsequent matches due to misconduct.
MATCH CONFERENCE
a match conference is a time given to a manager or a player to talk to the press about the coming match or a match that has ended.
MATCH SUSPENSION
a match suspension is a sanction or punishment given to a player or manager for receiving a red card from a referee.
MIDFIELDER
A midfielder is an outfield player who plays in the middle half of the pitch.
OFFSIDE
offside occurs when an attacking player, receiving the ball from his team mate, is positioned towards the opponent’s goal, beyond the last defending player from the opposing team.
PENALTY
A penalty is an unchallenged spot kick which is awarded to an attacking team for a infringement that occurs within the marked area around the goal (danger zone area).
PENALTY SHOOT OUT
A penalty shoot out is a set of spot kicks given to teams whose scores end level at the end of a match in order to determine the winner.
QUALIFIERS
Qualifiers are rounds of matches that are played by teams in order to participate at a tournament.
QUARTER FINAL
Quarter finals are round of matches involving eight teams in the tournament who play the other team in order to eliminate and progress to the next round(semi final)
RED CARD
A red card is a card that a referee produces and shows to a player for misconduct or an infringement, in order to dismiss the player or team official from further participating in the match.
REFEREE
The referee is a neutral player on the football pitch who interprets the rules of the game during the match by blowing a whistle.
RIGHT BACK
A right back is an infield player who players on the right side of a team’s defensive area.
SECOND HALF
A second half is the restart of the match after the break of the first 45minutes.
SEMI FINAL
A semi final is a stage in a tournament when four teams remain to play the other in order to progress to the final.
SKIPPER
A skipper is a player who is the leader of the team (captain)
STOPPAGE TIME
Stoppage time is the time that is added on after 90minutes to compensate for time that is lost due to delays and stoppages during the match.
STRIKER
A striker is an outfield player who plays to attack the defensive area of a opposing team.
SUBSTITUTE
A subsitute is a player who replaces another during a match
SYSTEM (4-4-2, 4-3-3, 5-3-2, 5-4-1, 5-2-2-1)
a System is the organised movement and positioning of a team’s players on the field, when in attack or in defence. THROW IN A throw in is a play given to a team to put the ball into play using both hands after it is played out of the side pitch by an opposing player.
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