A Goal by Any Other Name…

By: Daryl | March 2nd, 2009

In English it’s goal. In Spanish, gol. In French it’s but and in German, tor. There’s more than one word for putting the ball in the back of the net, but if you’re an Offside reader then you probably already knew that.

So Laurie and myself tried to come up with a few more than the four above. And came up with… nothing.

However, we did find this Wiktionary page which lists various translations of the “the act of placing the ball into the goal”. Here’s a selection:

Rather than pretending we knew these, we’ll just cut and paste the table straight from Wiktionary:

The m, f and n represent (I think) male, female and neutral.

What’s interesting in this list is how many cultures default to “gol”, despite the fact that the word for the post and nets thingy you put the ball in is something else altogether. For example, the “goal” (nets etc) in Russian is “voróta”, but when you score it’s still “gol”.

Also interesting: it’s “gol” in Brazil, but “golo” in Portugal. Which may or may not explain why Brazil has five more World Cups than Portugal.

One of the things I love about The Offside is that our audience is a) international, and b) knowledgeable.

So if you’re from a country not on this list (or even if you are) then please enlighten us with some knowledge about what goals are called where you come from.

Some Related Stories:

Category: World Football

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Mi

soory Andrzej, why didn't I notice your comment before posting?! No idea really.
Mi

We've got our "bramka" (like Czechs' branka) as well for the posts, bar and net. It's also used as synonym to "gol" though. not that it's important, but if "golo" may (or may not) explain why Brazil has 5 WC's more, then maybe this is why we haven't won anything? :)
Andrzej

In Poland we also know the goal as "bramka", "trafienie", and if we take under consideration any kind of urban language it would be "buda", "brama". Thank you
Johonna

I would say the use of the word "goal" around the world is far more likely be a result from the broadcast of EPL, South American and Spanish games than American globalization. Now, if the word was "touchdown" it would be an entirely different matter.

This is fascinating, though.
Darius

In Poland u can also say "bramka"
Omar Ingi

In Icleand we say "mark"
Jose

"Yea, maybe if it’s an important goal, I’d accept golgolgolgolgol (etc), but whenever I watch a game with spanish commentators, every goal is celebrated like that … so I try the mute button!"

I find that one annoying, but still, nobody does it better than Spanish announcers.

I like it best when it's "Gol. GOOOOOOOOOOOL! GOLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZO, GOLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZO!" It just mean 'big goal' and it's saved for special occasions (one I recall: when Brazil scored the opener against Argentina in Copa America 2007 Final).
Leon-Ben Lamprecht, Cape Town

In South Africa football/soccer is sometimes called diski. And a goal is "doel" in Afrikaans, or "laduma" (just say it: Laduuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuma!). Laduma is probably from fungalo, a mixture of languages from Xhosa and English and Afrikaans, used mostly in mines.
Drabik

Which reminds, does anyone remember the world cup (1998 possibly?) commentator from brazil(possibly?) a few years back that tried to break the world record for the longest goooooooooaaaaaaaaaaall ?
Drabik

Better? I think it's plain annoying....

Yea, maybe if it's an important goal, I'd accept golgolgolgolgol (etc), but whenever I watch a game with spanish commentators, every goal is celebrated like that ... so I try the mute button!
Mike

No one says goal better than the Spanish announcers.....
Peter Katsiris

Laurie -- true that! And I think the use of goal is a sign of American Globalization. And if that is not believable enough for you, then it surely has to be the spread of the English language -- which I say is completed via American globalization.
Mustafa

In arabic, the word for goal is "هدف" (hadaf), but a lot of commentators are starting to yell out "goal" too
Laurie

Fredorrarci, this makes me smile. In French, "cul" means ass or arse, i.e. where one would find Sepp Blatter's head.
Fredorrarci

In Irish, it's cúl (pronounced "cool").

To be super-picky, if I may: the n stands for neuter rather than neutral.
victor

Golazo is when someone scores a great goal. Like Mascara's this weekend.
Musab

For fantastic goals Turks will yell "Gol da Gol!!!!!"
Hana

In Amharic (Ethiopian), it would technically be ግብ or "Geb". I find that most people say "goal" anyway.
Weston (@wpazzurri)

i thought they said golazo when somebody scored a hattrick...
Peter Katsiris

In Greek we say "Γκoλ" which sounds exactly like goal.
For a super-goal, or the "golaso" equivalent, we say "Γκoλapa!", which is pronounced as "Golara!"
Anja

In the US its..rare. Just kidding.
Adam

I think it may have to do with the fact Japanese seem to love saying shu-to. they use the word whenever possible for some reason.
Jonny

Adam's right about the japanese for goal (go-ru esentially)

what's fascinating for me is that when a player shoots from outside the penalty box - but from a reasonable distance - in open play, it's called a midoru shu-to (or middle shot)

I have no idea why it's called that, as I've never heard it described that way anywhere else.
Al

I'm a big fan of the term "golazo" which means something like "super goal" or "cracker". I wonder if there are similar words in other languages (there should be).
Francesco

In Italy for the most part you'll hear "gol", but some announcers like to use "rete", which literally means "net".
Adam

In japanese it is gooru or getto