World Cup Vocabulary

[michaelS]

Many of us may be watching the World Cup in the thick of a Chinese-speaking crowd, or at least with Chinese commentary on CCTV5, and to that end it'd be nice to brush up on vocabulary for football in general and the World Cup in particular.

 

I'm starting a partial list here, please post suggestions below, and corrections especially!

 

Also, if you're interested in following a Chinese discussion about the World Cup, come to this thread.

[michaelS]

Positions and other basic stuff

 

球场 qiúchǎng   ---  pitch

 

球员 qiúyuán   ---  player

 

教练 jiàoliàn   ---  coach

 

前锋 qiánfēng   ---  striker

•  中锋 centre forward
•  二中鋒  no. 10/ in the hole

 

中场  zhōngchǎng   ---   midfielder

•  正中场central midfielder
•  边锋 winger

 

后卫  hòuwèi    ---  defender  

• 中后卫  central defender
• 边后卫  full-back

 

守门员 shǒuményuán / 门将 ménjiàng   ---  goalkeeper

 

救球  jiù qiú   ---  save

 

队长 duì zhǎng   ---  captain

 

开球  kāi qiú   ---  kick-off

 

点球 diǎn qiú   ---  penalty kick

 

角球  jiǎo qiú   ---  corner kick

 

任意球  rènyì qiú   ---  free kick

 

带球  dài qiú   ---  dribble

 

传球   chuán qiú   ---  pass

 

进球  jìn qiú    ---   goal

 

帽子戏   màozi xì   ---  a hat-trick

 

射门 shè mén   ---  shoot

 

头球 tóu qiú   ---  header

 

掷界外球  zhíjiè wàiqiú   ---  throw-in

 

铲球 chǎn qiú   ---  tackle

 

犯规  fàn​guī    ---  to foul

 

裁判 cái pàn   ---  referee

 

半场 bàn chǎng  ---  half time

 

全场 quán chǎng  ---  full time

 

换人 huàn rén  ---  substitution

 

比分 bǐfēn    ---   the score

 

越位  yuèwèi   ---   offside

[michaelS]

Teams & Players

 

巴西  Bāxī   ---  Brazil

阿根廷  Āgēntíng   ---  Argentina

乌拉圭  Wūlāguī   ---  Uruguay

 

皇马  Huángmǎ    ---  Real Madrid

巴萨  Bāsà    ---   Barça

 

内马尔  Nèimǎ'ěr   ---   Neymar
梅西  Méixī     ---    Messi

哈维  Hāwéi    ---   Xavi

范佩西   Fànpèixī    ---   Van Persie

罗本   Luōběn    ---   Robben

穆勒  Mùlēi   --- Thomas Muller

[michaelS]

Useful and not-so-useful expressions

 

 

Describing Games

 

溃不成军   kuì​bù​chéng​jūn   ---  utterly defeated

 

满地找牙  mǎn dì zhǎo yá   --- beaten to a pulp

 

一败涂地  yī​bài​tú​dì    ---  crushed, beaten comprehensively

 

屠杀  tú​shā    ---  massacre, carnage

 

X 被 Y 斩    X bèi Y zhǎn    ---   X were torn to pieces by Y

 

大起大落  dà​qǐ​dà​luò    ---  a roller coaster game

 

 

Cliches and Useful Phrases

 

“一个球队太早热，不是好事情”     Don’t peak too soon

 

“西班牙的这种打法是有迹可循的”  The Spanish approach has become too predictable

 

“有对球的专注力”   Have composure on the ball

 

“卡塔尔拿钱去贿赂”    Qatar only got the World Cup by bribery

 

 “应该把卡塔尔那个事情给他颠覆”   The Qatar decision should be overturned

 

[for viewers in China only] “每个人都不知道是要提早睡，睡到半夜起来看，还是要看完再去睡”   Nobody knows whether to have an early night and then get up in the middle of the night, or to stay up and watch the game and then go to bed.

 

 

Misc

 

伪球迷  wěi qiúmí   ---  fake fans (seems like a popular expression in China)

 

勉强赢到  miǎnqiáng yíngdào   ---  to scrape a win

 

 

[edelweis]

so about this sentence 法国队以5:2击败瑞士队出线在望 from that article,

how do you read "5:2",

and what does 出线在望 mean?

[muirm]

I think "出线在望" is something like "with the next round in sight". The dictionary says 出现 is "...参赛者获得参加下一阶段比赛的资格", and 在望 is "within sight" literally, or "is about to happen" figuratively.

 

I would guess "5:2" is read 五比二.

[edelweis]

ah that makes sense, thanks

[ouyangjun]

When I saw this thread the first expression about the world cup that came to my mind was, 无聊.  As in....  看足球怎么这么无聊啊！ 

 

As you can see I'm not a 伪球迷.  Year round, 365 days per year, I don't watch the sport, just not my cup of tea, but hope everyone is enjoying it.  

 

Nice job to MichaelS for pulling together some useful vocab.

[fabiothebest]

There are already many terms in this thread. You can find a few more words here: http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/272/what-are-some-common-chinese-terms-used-when-playing-soccer

[skylee]

The ball is round. - 球是圓的。

Over here we love this saying (in HK Cantonese - 波係圓嘅）.

[Ania]

When I saw this thread the first expression about the world cup that came to my mind was, 无聊.  As in....  看足球怎么这么无聊啊！ 

 

As you can see I'm not a 伪球迷.  Year round, 365 days per year, I don't watch the sport, just not my cup of tea, but hope everyone is enjoying it.  

 

Same here, definitely not my cup of tea... But living in a country where it's a #1 sport (even though our team sucks and we didn't even qualify) it's very difficult to escape the craziness :D 

 

I actually finished a lesson on 世界杯 in my Road to Success textbook a few weeks ago and I was excited to see that I remembered some of the words and expressions when I came to this thread  

[michaelS]

Not many football fans here I see

 

Another useful one that I keep seeing on the TV:

 

控球 (率)  kòngqiú (lǜ)   -- possession

[michaelS]

Skylee's is excellent! As I found out by searching:

 

"足球是圆的"的意思是说在足球场上什么样的事情都可能发生

 

 

English: "It's a funny old game" or perhaps "Football eh? Bloody hell".

 

and equally cliched but effective:

 

“这就是足球”是人们对足球完美的性质的感慨

 

 

Let's skin this cat another way...

 

Any suggestions for how to render these useful footy-related sentences into Chinese:

• "It's a game of two halves"
• "It's end-to-end stuff"
• "Italy have parked the bus"
• "Thing about Arsenal, they always try to walk it in"

[edelweis]

@michaelS: I don't even understand what these sentences mean in English...

 

somewhat out of topic: I am not a football fan either, I usually don't watch unless I have insomnia (the players moving on a green field put me to sleep very efficiently) or it's the World Cup and the climate surrounding my national team isn't too bad (in which case I set the volume high enough to avoid falling asleep during the matches I really want to see to have something to discuss with my colleagues).

Now I have to ask, are those shirts are getting tighter? because I don't recall noticing any players nipples back in 1998 but now some are clearly visible, especially (oddly enough) on Algerian players.

[roddy]

I'd adjust muirm's  出线 explanation a bit, perhaps unnecessarily - rather than just the next round, it refers to qualification for it, by crossing an imaginary line which means that no matter what the results in future games, you are through.

[Koonder]

Which website do you guys visit to watch football matches with chinese commentary?

[edelweis]

If you're in China then CCTV5.

Else you can watch replays on sina.

[michaelS]

Another good one:

 

乌龙球 - own goal

 

(乌龙 in this context means accident, mishap)