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French Soccer Vocab 101

January 16th, 2008 | By: Laurie | 11 Comments »

I was googling something completely different when I stumbled on this list of French soccer vocabulary. For some reason it made me smile. Even with this depressing introductory paragraph:

On Sunday, 9 July, France lost to Italy in the 2006 World Cup Final. Here is a list of French vocabulary related to soccer and the World Cup.

Well, then. Yeah. Why don’t you just casually drive the knife back into our hearts, just as the pain was starting to heal?

With as much time as I spend reading about French soccer, I thought this would all be old hat, but there were actually some that I didn’t know, including “shin-guards” (le protège-tibia, duh!) and my personal favorite, faire du chiqué “to (take a) dive.”

And then there is my personal favorite sentence, which I’m sure none of us knew:

*In the US, “football” refers to football américain. In most of the rest of the world, “football” is what Americans call soccer.

Here’s a sampling:

Verbs

amortir to trap, control
bétonner to put up a strong defense
contrôler le ballon to control the ball
déborder to get past an opponent
être hors jeu to be offside
faire du chiqué to (take a) dive
faire une tête to head (the ball)
faucher to bring down
mener to lead, be winning
sauver un but/penalty to save a goal/penalty
tirer to shoot, kick

Got it, boys and girls? There will be a test.

Tags: France, French soccer, French soccer vocabulary, Just for Fun

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Comments

By Soccer News Aggregator » French Soccer Vocab 101 | January 16th, 2008 at 5:41 pm

[...] Original post here [...]

By Rami | January 16th, 2008 at 6:56 pm

my favorite has got to be the way to say nutmeg, which translates literally to little bridge: Petit pont

So I guess a grand pont is when you put the ball around the player rather than through his legs.

Posted from United States

By Laurie | January 16th, 2008 at 7:49 pm

Rami, I think maybe we don’t want to know what a grand pont is.

Posted from United States

By Doumé | January 17th, 2008 at 8:27 am

Rami, right on!

The list covers nicely the essential. I’ll one, though:
“Caviar” : a perfect pass or cross which generally leads to an easy goal

By Daily Dose 1.17.08 - World Cup Blog - African Cup of Nations 2008 | January 17th, 2008 at 12:53 pm

[...] French soccer phrasebook (France Blog) [...]

Posted from United States

By Sam | January 17th, 2008 at 6:44 pm

“Oh et c’est dans la lucarne/lunette!” -) “Oh, and it’s in the top corner!”
“Il s’est troué!” -) He punctured himself! (He messed up and let a guy get through”

Posted from Canada

By Daily Dose: 1.17.08 - World Football - The Offside - Soccer News and Opinion from leagues around the world | January 17th, 2008 at 7:00 pm

[...] Prêt-à-porter le protège-tibia, or something (France WCB) [...]

Posted from United States

By Shazback | January 17th, 2008 at 7:45 pm

There’s also the lovely “transversale” that translates very well as “cross” (”barre transversale” is the “cross-bar” duh).
Or the “aile de pigeon”… But I’m at a loss to translate it.
But after all, with a little “football champagne”, a few “papinades”, perhaps a “madjer”, and a few “café crèmes” we’ll all be happy. On the other hand, any “bakayokoades” will not be appreciated, nor will any “savonettes”…

Posted from France

By Patrick | January 17th, 2008 at 8:08 pm

“aile de pigeon” is when a player backheels the ball to another player

Posted from United States

By Inara | January 17th, 2008 at 10:01 pm

Thanks for this list, Laurie. Some of them are pretty silly, and just goes to show that some phrases are just lost in translation.

Posted from United States

By Soccer » French Soccer Vocab 101 | January 19th, 2008 at 6:45 am

[...] Laurie wrote an interesting post today on French Soccer Vocab 101Here’s a quick excerptFor some reason it made me smile. Even with this depressing introductory paragraph:. On Sunday, 9 July, France lost to Italy in the 2006 World Cup Final. Here is a list of French vocabulary related to soccer and the World Cup. … [...]

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