The Football Dictionary

An award given each year to the best male and female footballer for the previous year. It is presented by France Football magazine and voted for by one representative journalist from each country inside the FIFA top 100 rankings. The Ballon d’Or is the most prestigious individual award in football. It began in 1955 as an award for the best European player but expanded to include any player based in Europe in 1995 and then to any player in the World in 2007. The Ballon d'Or Féminin was first awarded in 2018 and is now a central part of the big gala awards night each year. To win a Ballon d'Or marks you down as an all-time great.

A player, usually a striker, that’s all about the goals. The rest of their play doesn’t really matter, they might go all game with very few touches, but then appear at the right time in the box to score a goal. Shevchenko, Inzaghi, and Haaland are all great examples of goal machines that focused less on all round play and more on making the net bulge.

A term used to describe a club that was once at the top of the football pyramid, with title wins and pedigree but has since fallen on tough times. A sleeping giant has a big fanbase, stadium and potential to get back to the top but are currently suffering. There are plenty of examples of sleeping giants in England in recent years, some that have returned to the Premier League after years down in the Football League.

The striker is through on goal, one on one with the keeper, rounds them and slots the ball home. You fully expect the net to bulge and the striker is already running off to celebrate. It’s not the end of the story though, a defender has raced back and managed to make a last ditch goal line clearance, sliding in to sweep the ball away just before it crosses the line for a goal. Last ditch defending masterclass.

Bodies everywhere, defenders and the goalkeeper blocking the goal, legs flying in, arms in the air as the ball bounces around. There’s nothing quite like a goal mouth scramble where there are air kicks and a mass of bodies around the goalkeeper and in the six-yard box. Defenders do everything to block and clear, attackers try desperately to get the ball over the line, mostly it’s just chaos and a blur as the ball bounces back and forth off shins and calves and chests and heads. It usually ends up in a wild clearance to row Z or the ball being smashed into the net.

The oldest cup competition in the world, the FA Cup, first played in the 1871-72 season. There’s still a prestige to winning the trophy even if the gloss isn’t quite as shiny in recent years. Arsenal are the team that have won the most FA Cup, with 14 victories. A sunny day out at Wembley in May, the history of the occasion. It’s the domestic cup competition that every football fan and player around the world knows about dreams of winning.

The aim of SCR is to provide a more competitive playing field for all Premier League clubs. In theory it should prevent clubs with the richest owners from hoarding too many players, without compromising clubs who want to invest in stadium and training infrastructure amongst other organisational improvements. There is also a multi-year rolling allowance of 30% above the 85% limit. Clubs must submit estimated revenues and costs to the Premier League at the start of the season, with compliance assessed in March based on those figures. Spending must be at a maximum of 85%, with a six-point deduction for clubs that go over that threshold and a further point deducted for £6.5 million spent over the 115%.

The third tier of European football, the UEFA Conference League was originally due to be named Europa League 2 before it was launched as the Europa Conference League in the 2021-22 season. It was intended to provide greater opportunity for lower-ranked European nations to play in European competition for longer. It’s opened up positive European experiences for many clubs, including lower-ranked teams from the top leagues who would otherwise never have successful adventures, such as West Ham and Crystal Palace from the Premier League or Olympiakos from Greece. The winner of the Conference League qualifies for the following season’s Europa League.

A term used by rival fans to describe Manchester City in the wake of the guilty verdict of financial doping in 114 of 115 charges between 2009-2018. The term ‘sham contract’ was used in the verdict, a legal description from the 1960s. In this case, Manchester City are deemed to have used sham contracts to pump money into the club disguised as sponsorship deals, hugely inflating revenue to circumvent FFP rules. It meant they could throw money at the best players and the best manager of his generation (Pep Guardiola), winning countless titles, as a result. The punishment is yet to be dished out, but could be anything from titles stripped to expulsion from the Premier League.

The international break is the time when club football around the world pauses and players are handed over to their respective international coaches for a period of two to three weeks at a time. Four times a year, countries play qualifying matches for confederation tournaments and the World Cup, alongside the Nations League and friendly matches. During international tournaments like the World Cup, Copa America, Euros and African Cup of Nations, players are with their countries for up to 6 weeks at a time. The international break is fantastic for national coaches and fans who love watching their country. For club managers, owners, and fans, it can be a long wait to see if players come back to the club game fit or injured.