French Soccer Vocabulary (List of European Football Terms)

vocabulaire de football européan

Soccer, called both “le football” 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. Here you will learn some basic soccer vocabulary in French including words for equipment and the various players on the field.

Table of Contents

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Basic vocabulary

Soccer le football
Soccer game le match de foot

People

Soccer fan le fan de foot
Soccer coach l’entraîneur de football
Soccer player le footballeur, le joueur de football
Soccer player (slang) le footeux
Soccer team l’équipe de foot (f)

Positions

Goalkeeper (goalie) le gardien de but
Defense le défenseur
Center forward l’avant centre
Left wing l’alier gauche
Right wing l’alier droit
Left mid-fielder le milieu gauche
Right mid-fielder le milieu droit
Referee l’arbitre (m)
le remplacement substitution

Equipment

Soccer ball le ballon de football/foot
Cleats les chaussures à crampons
Soccer jersey le maillot de foot
Soccer shorts le short de foot
Shin guards les protège-tibias

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

Soccer practice l’entraînement de foot (m)
Soccer stadium le stade de foot
FIFA la Fédération Internationale de Football Association
Soccer World Cup la Coupe du Monde de Football
Soccer news l’actualité du football

Related lessons:

More resources:

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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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