All German Football Vocabulary You Need Posted by Sten on Jun 17, 2021 in Culture, Sports, Vocabulary
Germany played the current Weltmeister (World Champion) France, and lost. With 1-0, an Eigentor (own goal) by Germany. Whoops. But let’s not give up, there are many more games to come! If you want to get some vocabulary down for the next game, look no further – here’s a list of some essential football vocabulary, so you can follow the German commentary in any way you want!
Where can I find German commentary?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG8ZicPt4Z0
If you want to get German commentary for the games (or any sports), the ARD Sportschau is often a good bet. It’s the public German channel. You can watch their livestream, but only from Germany, sadly. But there are also other channels, like Manu Thiele, who makes commentary videos on Fußball.
The video above is a parody of Germany being in die Todesgruppe (“death group”), Group F, in the Euro 2020. It gets this name, because three out of the four teams in the group are very strong – Frankreich, Deutschland und Portugal (France, Germany and Portugal). Ungarn (Hungary) is the fourth one, but not a favorite like the others, so it’s an Außenseiter (m, outsider). It’s pretty funny and full of flat humor. Just the way Germans like it.
On to the vocabulary!
Football Vocabulary
Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash
Basic terms
Fußball spielen, bolzen – to play football
der Fußball – football, soccer ball
der Frauenfußball – women’s football
der Männerfußball – men’s football
der Fußballschuh – football shoe
der Fußballspieler, die Fußballspielerin – football player
der Torwart, die Torwartin – keeper
der Verteidiger, die Verteidigerin – defender
der Angreifer, die Angreiferin – attacker
das Spielfeld – pitch, field
die Seitenlinie – sideline
3der Ball – ball
die Aufstellung – lineup, composition
die Defensive, Abwehr – defensive
die Offensive – offensive
der Angriff – attack
der Konter – counterattack
das Mittelfeld – midfield
das Pressing, die Angriffsverteidigung – pressing
Game rules and Set-pieces
die erste Hälfte – first half
die Halbzeit – half-time
die zweite Hälfte – second half
die Verlängerung – extra time
die Nachspielzeit – added time, stoppage time
die Auswechslung – substitution
der Schiedsrichter, die Schiedsrichterin – referee
die gelbe Karte – yellow card
die rote Karte – red card
der Linienrichter, die Linienrichterin – linesman, assistant referee
das Abseits – offsides
der 16-Meter-Raum/Strafraum – 18-yard box/penalty box
der Strafstoß – penalty
das Handspiel – hands
die Grätsche – slide tackle
das Foul – foul
die Verletzung – injury
die Unterbrechung – interruption
die Standardsituation – set-piece
der Freistoß – free kick
der Einwurf – throw-in
der Eckstoß, die Ecke – corner
der Abstoß – goal kick
die Mauer – (defensive) wall
Making a goal
die Vorlage – assist
der Kopfball – header
der Schuss – shot
der Torschuss – shot on goal
das Tor – goal
das Eigentor – own goal
der Pfosten – goal post
die Latte – goal bar
das Netz – net
Tor! – goal!
Was für ein Tor! – What a goal!
das Runde muss ins Eckige – The round thing must go into the square thing
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About the Author: Sten
Hi! I am Sten, both Dutch and German. For many years, I've written for the German and the Dutch blogs with a passion for everything related to language and culture. It's fascinating to reflect on my own culture, and in the process allow our readers to learn more about it! Besides blogging, I am a German-Dutch-English translator, animator and filmmaker.
Comments:
Fiona:
Er ….. what about women’s fussball? Or is that a dirty word?
Sten:
@Fiona Not at all!
Good point, though, let me update the list of words where that applies 🙂
Thanks!
Joe Genovese:
I like “die Angriffsverteidingung”……the attack-defence.