Italian soccer terminology

[Jager]

Just in case, you watch some calcio, with Italian commentary... :mrgreen: Keep in mind that they talk like there on speed, but what the hell...

pallone - ball
fallo - foul
fallo di mano - handball
fuorigioco - offside
simulazione - dive
calcio d'angolo - corner kick
tiro - shot
parata - save (saved?)

Positions:

portiere - keeper
attacante - forward
difensore - defender
centrocampista - midfielder

And some more specific descriptions:

regista - distributing midfielder, or "director"
fantasista - creator or magician
punta - striker
seconda - second forward


fantasista - creator or magician

a.k.a. "trequartista" and sometimes "mezzapunta",when he's adept at scoring as well (Totti and Recoba,for instance)

terzino = fullback. Somewhat dated word,a legacy of man-to-man marking. Nowadays "difensore laterale" or "difensore di fascia" are more used
terzino fluidificante = attacking fullback; the refined "incursore di fascia" version also applies
stopper = stopper,halfback. See above > "difensore centrale"
libero = libero
ala = winger
mediano = central,defensive midfielder (Keane,C.Zanetti and such),also "centrale",nowadays they seem to invariably come in pairs: "i due centrali del *insert club name*"
centravanti: striker (usually used for bulky players)
incontrista,centrocampista di quantità,recuperatore di palloni: ballwinner
attaccante di movimento: second forward
opportunista: poacher
capocannoniere: leading scorer of the tournament
giocatore scorretto: unfair,dirty,violent player

laziale: common offensive word in Rome ("ma che,sei laziale?")
gobbo: light offensive way to indicate a juventus player/fan (literally "hunchback"...because in Italy a hunchback is supposed to bring luck...an outrageous amount of luck )
allenatore,mister (the latter used especially by players): coach

punizione di prima: direct free kick
punizione di seconda: indirect free kick
calcio di rigore: penalty kick
espulsione: ejection
ammonizione/cartellino giallo: caution?/yellow card

sostituzione: substitution (elegant > "avvicendamento")
injury: infortunio

tridente: three forward formation
catenaccio: ultra-defensive style often used by Liverpool,Bruges,A.S.Roma in away games and generally by european clubs when they come to play in Italy. Also a very convenient way to tell an ignorant/idiot when discussing italian football
contropiede: fast-break,counterattack
giocare di rimessa,impiegare una tattica attendista: employing a defensive and counterattacking style
marcatore: scorer,but also the marking defender
ultras: the italian hooligans (not necessarily violent though)
teppisti: the violent,vandalic (?) ultras
la curva: the end of the stadium; home of the ultras
moviola: the slo-mo,a favorite of italian public,conspiracy-theorists and casual idiots. Every italian football tv show offers plenty of it,unfortunately
in casa: home match
in trasferta: away match
vittoria: win
sconfitta: loss
pareggio: draw

rovesciata: bicycle kick
colpo di testa: header
colpo di tacco: heel kick
tunnel: nutmeg
entrata: tackle
dribblare: to dribble (you'd never guess it,right?)
la foglia morta: "the dead leaf",from a free kick the ball flies over the wall and seem to be directed over the bar as well only to drop in the very last meters to enter the goal
tirare fuori gli attributi: to show specific male qualities (=pendants) on the pitch to come out of an unfavourable situation,to overcome a scoring deficit
cabala: the statistical history of a match between the clubs > a word borrowed from the popular "lotto" game
formazioni,schieramenti: formations
la rosa: the roster (not to be mistaken with "La Gazzetta dello Sport".i.e. the italian males' bible)
primavera: the youth team
esordiente,less frequently matricola: rookie
titolare: regular in the line-up
riserva: bench player
dilettanti: "amateurs",in fact semi-professional leagues/players
amatori: true amateurs

La Vecchia Signora: Juventus
Il Diavolo: A.C.Milan
Il Toro: Torino
Il derby della Lanterna: Genoa-Sampdoria derby
Il derby della Mole: Juventus-Torino

diretta: live transmission
sintesi/sintesi registrata: a summarization of the match,more or less extended
in registrata: post-poned,not live first transmission of a complete match,event
replica: a second,later transmission of a live match,or any tv program for that matter

Liscio - to whiff on the kick or header
Papera - major goof commited by the keeper
Di Piatto - point blank shot
Ruba Palle - defensive midfielder
Velo - to dummy the ball through
Svirgolare - to mis hit the ball
Effetto - put spin on the ball
Esultare - to celebrate after a score

[Rosa]

I knew most of those, sometimes when i talk about football i use the occasional italian word; usually fantasista, trequartista and tridente.
I like 'la rosa' best

[Jager]

BUMP...I think this could be useful and sticked

[Aladino]

Never seen this thread before. I like it! It is definitely useful for people who don't know the meaning of some words. Well Done Jager.

[sinoy1]

This is some great stuff.Makes me want to re-learn Italian .

Funniest one was :

gobbo: light offensive way to indicate a juventus player/fan (literally "hunchback"...because in Italy a hunchback is supposed to bring luck...an outrageous amount of luck )

! always wanted to know what it was.

[azzurri]

It can refer to any team thats lucky, its not a term unique to Juve.

[z187]

Nice thread, sometimes I watch games with italian commentary on TV this is helpful to me cuz I dont know italian but I think it is a nice language and the commentatos sound cool.

some of the words like Tira (shoot) and other stuff is similar to Portuguese those ones I understand.

Italians sure do have a large vocabularly for soccer!

[sinoy1]

Originally Posted by azzurri

It can refer to any team thats lucky, its not a term unique to Juve.

Thats not what the definition says . Ive actually heard alot of juve fans being called that.Finally get to know what it means

[azzurri]

Originally Posted by sinoy1

Thats not what the definition says . Ive actually heard alot of juve fans being called that.Finally get to know what it means

Its not from the dictionary. Its obviously written by a Roma fan. "Laziale" and connecting "Gobbo" and Juve gives it away. No other clubs r mentioned.

[sinoy1]

Dude...its a flipping joke.Chill out.Who cares who made it...wouldnt be surprised if a Samp fan made it though.Those folk despise you lot.

Either way some good terms thrown out there.

"Laziale" is a Roman term as far as I know.Again Gobbo is a joke laugh a little.

[Aladino]

some juventini are rpoud to be called gobbi... it is believed to bring you luck so there is nothing wrng with it. If it brings you luck.. so what!