Albania
Austria
Belgium
Bosnia
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
England
France
Germany
Greece
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Scotland
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
Ukraine
Wales
World
France
French Soccer Vocab 101
Comments(11)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.
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
Rami, I think maybe we don’t want to know what a grand pont is.
Posted from United States
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
[...] French soccer phrasebook (France Blog) [...]
Posted from United States
“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
[...] Prêt-à-porter le protège-tibia, or something (France WCB) [...]
Posted from United States
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
“aile de pigeon” is when a player backheels the ball to another player
Posted from United States
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
[...] 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. … [...]
Comments are closed
MORE EUROPE BLOGS
CATEGORIES & ARCHIVES
[...] Original post here [...]