dot   Home     World     Europe     France  
Flag France

France

French Soccer Vocab 101

   

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.


Subscribe

 

rss icon France World Cup Blog RSS Feed

Print

Share

  • http://soccer.starsports.info/soccer/french-soccer-vocab-101/ Soccer News Aggregator » French Soccer Vocab 101

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

  • http://tunisia.worldcupblog.org Rami

    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.

  • http://france.worldcupblog.org Laurie

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

    :-)

  • Doumé

    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

  • http://www.worldcupblog.org/daily-dose/daily-dose-11708.html Daily Dose 1.17.08 – World Cup Blog – African Cup of Nations 2008

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

  • http://canada.worldcupblog.org Sam

    “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”

  • http://www.theoffside.com/world-football/daily-dose-11708.html Daily Dose: 1.17.08 – World Football – The Offside – Soccer News and Opinion from leagues around the world

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

  • http://rennes.theoffside.com Shazback

    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”…

  • Patrick

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

  • http://ghana.worldcupblog.org Inara

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

  • http://soccer.blogspace4you.info/?p=595 Soccer » French Soccer Vocab 101

    [...] 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. … [...]

blog comments powered by Disqus
 

MORE EUROPE BLOGS

france
France World Cup Blog
993 articles | 12,643 comments
 
croatia
Croatia World Cup Blog
201 articles | 1,850 comments
 
czechrepublic
Czech Republic World Cup Blog
196 articles | 322 comments
 
england
England Football Team World Cup Blog
1,035 articles | 5,228 comments
 
germany
Germany World Cup Blog
687 articles | 5,278 comments
 
italy
Italy World Cup Blog
1,028 articles | 32,761 comments
 
netherlands
Netherlands World Cup Blog
2,515 articles | 63,453 comments
 
poland
Poland World Cup Blog
489 articles | 7,787 comments
 
portugal
Portugal World Cup Blog
547 articles | 9,427 comments
 
serbia
Serbia World Cup Team Blog
208 articles | 1,511 comments
 
spain
Spain World Cup Blog
347 articles | 3,327 comments
 
sweden
Sweden World Cup Blog
226 articles | 385 comments
 
switzerland
Switzerland World Cup Blog
270 articles | 452 comments
 
ukraine
Ukraine World Cup Team Blog
119 articles | 1,003 comments
 
greece
Greece World Cup Blog
205 articles | 217 comments
 
russia
Russia World Cup Blog
110 articles | 366 comments
 
scotland
Scotland World Cup Team Blog
129 articles | 124 comments
 
ireland
Ireland World Cup Team Blog
112 articles | 166 comments
 
norway
Norway World Cup Team Blog
16 articles | 8 comments
 
turkey
Turkey World Cup Blog
49 articles | 314 comments
 
romania
Romania World Cup Blog
78 articles | 281 comments
 
austria
Austria World Cup Blog
111 articles | 118 comments
 
denmark
Denmark World Cup Team Blog
72 articles | 149 comments
 
albania
Albania World Cup Team Blog
4 articles | 8 comments
 
belgium
Belgium World Cup Team Blog
49 articles | 59 comments
 
wales
Wales World Cup Team Blog
62 articles | 17 comments
 
bosnia
Bosnia World Cup Team Blog
52 articles | 112 comments
 
israel
Israel World Cup Team Blog
33 articles | 28 comments
 
slovakia
Slovakia World Cup Team Blog
18 articles | 20 comments
 
slovenia
Slovenia World Cup Team Blog
43 articles | 133 comments
 

CATEGORIES & ARCHIVES

 

 
Closer

Ligue 1 News
Lyon
Marseille
Bordeaux
Ligue 1 Kits
Samir Nasri
Tournaments
Euro 2012 Qualifying
Africa Cup of Nations 2012
UEFA Champions League
Europa League

Follow WorldCupBlog on Facebook   Follow WorldCupBlog on Twitter  
World Cup Resources
World Cup History
World Cup Legends
World Cup Memorable Moments
World Cup Photos
World Cup Videos