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French Soccer Vocabulary (European Football Terms)

French Soccer Vocabulary (European Football Terms)

What are French soccer vocabulary words?

The most common French soccer vocabulary words include le foot-ball (soccer), le joueur de foot (soccer player), l’équipe de foot (soccer team), le ballon de foot (soccer ball) and le terrain de foot. On this page you will find a comprehensive list of French football vocabulary including words for equipment and the various players on the field.

French soccer vocabulary (List of European football terms)
French soccer vocabulary (List of European football terms)

Soccer, called both “le foot-ball” and “le foot” is by far the most popular sport in France and is played thousands of people across the country. France has been a leader in soccer both in Europe and internationally as it hosted and won the FIFA World Cup in 1998.

Basic soccer vocabulary

People

French soccer vocabulary list with pictures
French soccer vocabulary list with pictures

Positions

Equipment

The field

  • Soccer field (pitch) le terrain de foot
  • Goalpost le poteau
  • Net le filet 
  • Crossbar la barre traversale 
  • Goal le but
  • Central circle le cercle central 
  • Penalty area la surface de réparation 
  • Goal line la ligne de but 
  • Corner flag le drapeau de coin 

The game

  • Foul la faute 
  • Yellow card la carton jaune 
  • Extra time la prolongation 
  • Corner le corner 
  • Off-side l’hors jeu 
  • Draw, tie l’égalité 
  • Penalty le penalty 
  • Red card le carton rouge 
  • Send off l’expulsion 
  • Half time la mi-temps 

Verbs

  • to dribble dribbler 
  • to head the ball faire une tête 
  • to kick botter 
  • to pass (the ball) faire une passe 
  • to shoot (the ball) shooter 
  • to save (the ball) sauver 
  • to tackle tacler 
  • to score a goal marquer un but 
  • free kick faire un coup franc 

Other

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David Issokson

David Issokson is a lifelong language enthusiast. His head is swimming with words and sounds as he speaks over six languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private online lessons. When procrastinating working on his site, FrenchLearner.com, David enjoys his time skiing and hiking in Teton Valley, Idaho.

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