My 10 Favourite Foreign Language Football Phrases

By: Daryl | November 10th, 2009

global soccer One of my favourite things about The Offside and WorldCupBlog is that we’re a bit international. As a result, I’ve been exposed to a lot of non-English language football words and phrases that I otherwise may not have discovered.

There are far too many to list them all, obviously, so below I’ve put together a quick list of my ten favourite. And yes, I know that some of the ten are technically single words and not phrases. I just cheated a little for the sake of an alliterative headline.

Of course, The Offside is all about sharing. So please pitch in and use the comments to share your favourite foreign (ie non-English langauge) football words and phrases from anywhere in the world.

Also, I once again have to hold up my hands and admit to being uni-lingual. So if any of the below are incorrect, please feel free to point that out.

Der grösste Stinkstiefel
German phrase for the most unpopular player in the Bundesliga in an annual poll conducted by Bild. Mark van Bommel was the 2008 winner. It translates into English as “the biggest stinky boots”, which is a great phrase in its own right. But even better in German.

Gardien de but
French for goalkeeper. Or “guardian of the goal”, which is an infinitely better description of a goalies’ job than plain old “goalkeeper”. The phrase gives me a much stronger mental image of the gloved figure standing watch over the goal. “Thou shalt not pass!” and that kind of thing. Unless it’s Hugo Lloris and Steve Mandanda this past weekend of course.

Weltmeisterschaft
German for World Cup. I love it because it’s different. Every language has a name for World Cup, but the German phrase is arguably the most direct. I know that Weltmeister doesn’t literally mean “world master” (it means “world champions”) but if you speak English as a first language then that’s what it sounds like, thereby making the World Cup sound somehow even more important than it already is.

Calcio
It’s Italian for football. Except not exactly. While most other languages have adopted some variation of “football” (fussball, futbol, voetball etcetera) the Italian word literally means “kick”. Just so everyone’s clear on what they’re supposed to do. It also means you can say the word with a lot more force than you can other football words. Try it at home.

Copa Libertadores
Despite what I said in the Weltmesiterschaft paragraph above, I love the word Copa. I love that Spanish grammar puts Copa at the front of the phrase. I love Copa Libertadores above all other Copa names. Mostly because it’s not as dull and generic sounding as the “Champions League” that every other confederation uses for its contintental club competition, but also because it translates into something inspirational sounding: Cup of the Liberators.

Fantasista
Italian for playmaker. But more so. It’s not really a position. Trequartista (three quarters) is the name for the “in the hole” player. Fantasista is more a player who does the unexpected, a fantasy player. To quote Chris: “I like fantasista because it almost leads one to believe there are some mythical qualities”. Exactly. Also, it seems that only the very very best playmakers can carry this name. Anyone can play trequarista. Not anyone can be a fantasista.

Catenaccio
Italian for “door-bolt”. Which is apt because it describes a tactical system design to lock out opposition attackers with a highly organized defence. The term is often used to describe any defensive tactic, but in it’s original form catenaccio basically involved a sweeper/libero playing behind a defence that man-marked opposition attackers. Understandably, that was pretty tough to break down. Catenaccio is/was not always pretty to watch, but it sounds nice when you say it, and describes the idea perfectly.

Allsvenskan
Sweden’s top division, which literally translates as “The All Swedish”. In a world with too many Premier Leagues (English, Scottish, Russian, Ukrainian etc) this is a name to cherish. Maybe just as good, the Swedish second division is the Superettan, or “The Super One”.

Petit Pont
French phrase for what others call a nutmeg or panna. Basically slipping the ball between an opponents legs. The phrase literally means “Little Bridge”, which is capitalized because it refers to an actual little bridge that has straddled the River Seine since 1853. (Yes, I did find that on Wikipedia.) I’m willing to speculate that when the ball goes through the players legs, it looks a bit like when a boat passes under the actual Petit Pont.

Seleção
I know, I know. This nickname for Brazil’s national team is now so widely used that it’s borderline cliché. But there’s a reason it’s widely used, and that reason is that it’s a fantastic – and very fitting – word. This may be yet more cliché, but seems to me that Brazil has a ridiculous number of players to choose from. Which other national team has to choose between the likes of Kaka, Diego and Ronaldinho at playmaker? Being selected for Brazil is a big ask, which gives Seleção extra wordy weight, for me anyway.

If this has inspired you to further investigate foreign language football phrases, then you could do a lot worse than visiting this post. If you have a great phrase or word you want to share, please share away in the comments.