Football or Soccer Vocabulary in Spanish

Football and soccer are two different sports and both are translated into Spanish as fútbol. However, if you refer to football you should say fútbol americano to avoid confusion. In Spain and all the Spanish-speaking countries, soccer is probably the most popular sport together with basketball. Today let’s go through and review some soccer vocabulary in Spanish.

Soccer Vocabulary in Spanish

Let’s have a look at some of the most important soccer vocabulary in Spanish.

Players and Positions

Jugador or jugadora (player) describes a person who plays a sport. You can say el jugador de fútbol or la jugadora de fútbol to refer to a soccer player. However, there is also the term futbolista to refer to this specific sportsperson.

Now let’s see the main soccer position names:

1. El portero, el arquero or el guardameta (goalkeeper)
2. El defensa (defender, fullback)
3. El centrocampista, el mediocampista or el volante (midfielder)
4. El delantero (forward, striker)

There are also other soccer vocabulary in Spanish that refer to people:

1. La plantilla (roster)
2. El entrenador or el técnico (coach)
3. La alineación (line-up)
4. El árbitro (referee)
5. El juez de línea (linesman)

Clothes and Equipment

Here you have some soccer vocabulary in Spanish that refer to clothes and equipment.

1. El balón or la pelota (ball)
2. El silbato (whistle)
3. La camiseta (t-shirt)
4. Los pantalones cortos (shorts)
5. Los guantes del portero (goalkeeper gloves)
6. Las espinilleras or las canilleras (shin guards)
7. Los calcetines or las medias largas (soccer socks)
8. Las botas de fútbol (soccer shoes)
9. Los tacos (studs, cleats)

At the Soccer Field

Now let’s focus on some terms related to the field and its sections.

1. El terreno de juego (the field of play, the field)
2. El campo de fútbol (soccer field)
3. La grada (stands, terrace)
4. El banquillo (bench)
5. La portería (goal, the area)
6. La red (net)
7. El palo or el poste (goal post, upright)
8. El travesaño or el larguero (crossbar)
9. La esquina or el corner (corner area)
10. La línea de banda (sideline)
11. La línea de puerta or la línea de meta (goal line)
12. La línea de fondo (endline)
13. El círculo central (center cicle)
14. La media luna (penalty arc)
15. El área chica or el área de meta (goal area, goal box)

Playing Soccer

Let’s continue learning soccer vocabulary in Spanish. Here you have a list of common nouns used while talking about soccer.

1. El equipo local (home team)
2. El equipo visitante (away team)
3. El partido amistoso (friendly game)
4. La primera parte, la primera mitad or el primer tiempo (first half)
5. La segunda parte, la segunda mitad or el segundo tiempo (second half)
6. El tiempo suplementario or la prórroga (extra time)
7. El descuento (injury time)
8. El marcador (scorer)
9. El gol (goal scored)
10. El tiro or el remate (shoot)
11. El tiro libre (free kick)
12. El penalti (penalty kick)
13. El pase (pass)
14. El regate (dribble)
15. La recepción (trap, control)
16. El fuera de juego or el fuera de lugar (offside)
17. El saque de salida (kick-off)
18. El saque de banda (throw-in)
19. El saque de puerta or el saque meta (goal kick)
20. El saque de esquina or el córner (corner kick)

Referees make the soccer game as fair as possible. Here are some more terms and vocabulary about fouls or signals referees need to know.

1. La falta (foul)
2. La tarjeta amarilla (yellow card)
3. La tarjeta roja (red card)
4. Los banderines (flagposts, corner flags)
5. La patada (kick)
6. El cabezazo (header)
7. La jugada (move)

Let’s finish reviewing the most used verbs to talk about soccer in Spanish.

1. Entrenar (to train)
2. Marcar (to score)
3. Arbitrar (to referee)
4. Atacar (to attack)
5. Defender (to defend)
6. Chutar (to shoot)
7. Rechazar (to reject, to clear out)
8. Apostar (to bet)
9. Clasificar (to classify)
10. Derrotar (to defeat)
11. Eliminar (to eliminate)
12. Empatar (to tie)

Exercises

Let’s do some exercises to practice some soccer vocabulary in Spanish. Do you feel like practicing more sports vocabulary? In our blog, you can practice baseball, basketball, cricket, golf, ice hockey or tennis vocabulary in Spanish.