In this post we take a look at some of the words and phrases that players might use while playing a match, the kind of language that you can hear – or use – on the pitch. There is also a quiz to help you practise the vocabulary below. Check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and if you have any suggestions or questions then contact us at [email protected].

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Learn English Through Football Language Podcast: Vocabulary – Playing the Game

DF: Hello everyone, this is Damian from the Learning English Through Football team. I hope we are all doing well. Now on this short football language podcast we take a look at some of the words and phrases that we might hear on the football pitch while we were playing the game.

I remember playing football in Spain and then in Japan and Hong Kong and sometimes finding it difficult to communicate with team mates as I simply didn’t know the words that were used on the pitch while we were playing the game. Sometimes I could use an English phrase like ‘time‘ which was understood by all but it was not until I knew other words and phrases that I became more comfortable playing.

As you can imagine, players do not have much time during a game, so quick and clear communication with your team mates is key. For example, when you see an opponent coming towards one of your own players, you are not going to shout, ‘Be careful, there is a member of the opposing side approaching’. Instead, the phrase ‘man on‘ is used to warn your team mate. How about if you want to tell one of your players that he or she is free and has time to look up and pass or dribble with the ball? You could explain all of that to them but it’s much better to simply shout ‘time‘.

So, many of the phrases used by players in a game are similar to these expressions in that they are made up of only one or two words to help with this rapid communication; these kind of football instructions on the pitch need to be short and clear. One other thing to mention is that although you might know the meaning of the words ‘head‘, or ‘out‘ and ‘time‘ away from the football pitch, on it they tend to have different meanings.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in French).

DF: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com and that message was in French. Before we move on to describe some of the language you hear while playing, a quick reminder that there’s a transcript to this podcast which you can access by coming along to our site. And you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or you can drop us a line at: