Highlights: Football is unquestionably the most popular sport in the world. Around 245 million players are active worldwide and more than four billion fans follow the sport regularly. Despite this worldwide craze, for the less initiated, it is always useful to recall the definition of some football terms and rules. In football, you play with your feet and not with your hands. The most commonly used techniques are the leg passing, the small or large bridge, and dribbling. The English term hat trick is when the same player scores three consecutive goals in the same match.

Football is unquestionably the most popular sport in the world. According to FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), around 245 million players are active worldwide and more...

LEXICON

Offside, tackle, short bridge, here is a little football lexicon

Football is unquestionably the most popular sport in the world. According to FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), around 245 million players are active worldwide and more than four billion fans follow the sport regularly. Despite this worldwide craze, for the less initiated, it is always useful to recall the definition of some football terms and rules.

A football. © pepifoto / IStock

By: Nenad Tomic

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Stoppage time: Or injury time. At the end of each half, the duration of the interruption of play to heal players, make substitutions or other interruptions during the game is made up at the end of each half, usually a few minutes later.

Frame: Also known as the shot on target, refers to a shot fired in the direction of the inside of the goal, but the goalkeeper (or another player) has managed to deflect or stop the ball, preventing the opponent from scoring. Even if the ball hits a post or the bar, the shot is not considered on target.

Yellow card: the warning of a player by the referee when he commits a foul (a hard tackle, pulling of the shirt, inappropriate behaviour, etc.). If the same player receives a second yellow card in the same match, the referee will immediately wave the red card. The player will have to return to the locker room.

Red card: the supreme sanction for a player, synonymous with immediate expulsion from the field and without being able to be replaced by another player putting his team in numerical difficulty. Apart from the two yellow cards received, the red card may be shown by the referee in the event of a particularly dangerous and serious foul or in the event of insults or violent behaviour by a player.

Cross: most of the time performed from one side of the pitch, the player makes this technical gesture to throw the ball towards the box in front of the goal, usually by sending the ball quite high and far.

Corner: or "corner kick" occurs when the ball crosses the line along the goal when it was last touched by a player of the opposing team, the one defending the goal on that side. The attacking team shoots from the corner of the field. Thus, the players of the team trying to score focus in front of the goal to try to score or create a scoring opportunity. Defensive players will, on the contrary, try to push the ball away and prevent the attacking team from scoring.

Hat trick: or the English term hat trick. When the same player scores three consecutive goals in the same match. Otherwise, it's considered a hat-trick.

Free Kick: Following a foul, the referee blows the whistle for the free kick to be taken from the place where the foul was committed. It can be an indirect free kick (the ball must be sent to a teammate before being hit towards the goal) or a direct one. When the direct free kick is taken, the distance between the ball and the opposing team's players must be at least 9.15 m. Players on the "offending" team can set up a "living wall" to block a direct shot towards the goalkeeper's goal.

Dribbling: the technical gesture requiring great control of the ball. The player performs the action, dribbles past one or more opponents to overtake them while keeping the ball at his feet. Among the most commonly used techniques: the leg passing, the small or large bridge...

Lack of hands: in football, you play with your feet and not with your hands. Apart from goalkeepers who can use their hands in their penalty area, other players should not do the same. Penalty: free kick or penalty if the ball is touched by the hand in the penalty area in front of the goal.

Formation: Also known as "tactics", it represents a pattern according to which players will occupy the field. The formation, determined by the coach, favours more defenders if there is a desire for a more defensive game or more players in the centre and forward in case of an offensive strategy. Among the most commonly used formations are 4-4-2, 3-5-2 or 4-3-3.

Large bridge: this gesture, also used during a dribble, consists of passing the ball to one side of the opposing player and accelerating his run and going around this player on the opposite side in order to recover the ball and continue his advance towards the opponent's goal.

Offside: The player is in an offside position when he is closest to the opponent's goal while the ball is behind the last defensive player of the opposing team. It's a very subtle rule: sometimes it only takes a few centimetres to be offside or the ball intended for the striker has not yet been fired in his direction when he was already the last player in front of the goalkeeper. There can be no offside for a player in his own half.

Penalty: When a player commits a foul (irregular tackle, ball touched with his hand, pull of the shirt) in the penalty area, 16 metres in front of his goal, the referee may decide to whistle the most feared sanction in football: the penalty or the "eleven metres". Subject to numerous challenges by players who expose themselves to sanctions, bad decisions by referees are sometimes corrected by VAR (video refereeing). In a penalty kick, the goalkeeper and the opposing team's shooter are face to face. The shooter must kick the ball directly towards the goal and can only hit it a second time if the goalkeeper touches it first.

Small bridge: during a dribble, the player will pass his opponent using this technique which consists of passing the ball between his legs and decoying his opponent who can no longer do much to recover the ball.

Overtime: As for the end of regulation time (2 halves of 45 minutes) the score remains tied and when it is a playoff match, i.e. there must be a winner, the match is extended by two halves of 15 minutes. If, at the end of extra time, the score remains tied, a penalty shoot-out will be taken.

Volley: type of strike of the ball caught when it has not yet fallen to the surface, "on the volley". It's quite a complex technical gesture to perform, but one of the most beautiful to see!

Six metres: When a player kicks the ball out of the field (shot off target), behind the goal line, the goalkeeper recovers the ball and throws it back into play from the six-metre line (small rectangle in front of the goal).

Penalty area: the rectangle in front of the goal, measuring 16.5 m wide and 40.5 m long. Inside the penalty area, the goalkeeper has the right to use his hands to throw the ball back or defend his goal. Any foul committed inside the box by the defending team will be punished by a penalty.

Tackle: This is a defensive move by which a player (often a defender) tries to recover the ball that is in the possession of his opponent and advances towards the goal. But, the defender must only touch the ball or put his feet in front of the ball's trajectory. If, in the execution of this gesture, the opposing player is touched and shoved, the referee may whistle the foul which may also be sanctioned by a yellow or red card depending on the seriousness of the gesture (the red card is usually shown when the defensive player tackles the player directly at the back or in the position of the last defender in front of the goalkeeper).

Throw-in: This is a throw-in of the ball when it has been sent into touch, the line along the field, not the player of the opposing team. The ball must be handed over at the exact point where the ball comes out and with both hands behind the head.

Var: This abbreviation comes from the English Video Assistance Referee. Introduced a few years ago, this type of refereeing is indeed an aid for the main referee on the field when he has a doubt about a foul, an offside or the regularity of a goal.

Offside, tackle, short bridge, here is a little football lexicon

Offside, tackle, short bridge, here is a little football lexicon

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