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Life / Sport / Football
Football (soccer) in the UK
     
Sections:
Introduction
UK football
  European football
  World Cup
Vocabulary
  Further information
  Links



INTRODUCTION

This page gives a brief guide to British football.

In the UK the term football is usually used for the game played by kicking a round ball (the game which is popular in the US, played with an oval ball, is known as "American football"). The term soccer is also used widely, although it should really only be used for professional games, as the word is a short form of the phrase "association football".

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UK FOOTBALL


You can find information about the main international games from the websites of the national football associations:
- England & Wales: Football Association: http://www.thefa.com
- Scotland: Scottish Football Association: http://www.scottishfa.co.uk
- Northern Ireland: Northern Irish Football Association: http://www.irishfa.com
International games can be sold out quickly. Tickets usually go on sale about 2 months before the game. Tickets for the English team's home games can be bought from the Football Association (FA): the number to call for tickets is 0870 902 0005.

The top teams in England play each other every season (from August until May) in the Premier League (the Premiership). Among the most famous clubs in England are Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. The teams play each other twice each season (at home and away), and the three teams with the lowest number of points are relegated (into the Championship League). The two divisions below the Championship League are called League One and League Two.

For club games, find out if tickets are available by contacting the football club or by checking its website. People who have bought a season ticket will get tickets first, then members, then non-members. It can be difficult for visitors to get tickets to see the most popular Premiership teams.

The Premiership teams in the 2011/12 season are as follows:

Football club (FC) Nickname Location Name of ground
Website
Arsenal The Gunners N London Emirates Stadium
here
Aston Villa The Villans Birmingham Villa Park
here
Birmingham The Blues Birmingham St Andrew's Stadium
here
Blackburn Rovers Rovers Blackburn Ewood Park
here
Blackpool The Seasiders/The 'Pool/The Tangerines Blackpool Bloomfield Road
here
Bolton Wanderers The Trotters Bolton Reebok Stadium
here
Chelsea The Blues London Stamford Bridge
here
Everton The Toffees Liverpool Goodison Park
here
Fulham The Cottagers SW London Craven Cottage
here
Liverpool The Reds Liverpool Anfield
here
Manchester City (Man City) The Blues/Citizens Manchester Maine Road
here
Manchester United (Man Utd) The Red Devils Manchester Old Trafford
here
Newcastle United The Magpies/The Toon Newcastle upon Tyne
St James' Park
here
Norwich City The Canaries Norwich Carrow Road
here
Queens Park Rangers (QPR) The Hoops/Super Hoops London Loftus Road
here
Stoke City The Potters Stoke Britannia Stadium
here
Sunderland The Black Cats/Mackems Sunderland Stadium of Light
here
Swansea City The Swans/Jacks Swansea Liberty Stadium
here
Tottenham Hotspur Spurs/Lilywhites N London White Hart Lane
here
West Bromwich Albion (West Brom) Albion, The Baggies, The Throstles Newcastle The Hawthorns
here
West Ham The Hammers E London Boleyon Ground
here
Wigan Athletic The Latics Wigan JJB Stadium
here
Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolves Wolverhampton Molineux Stadium
here


Manchester United

Manchester City

Chelsea

Liverpool

Arsenal

Clubs from all of the football divisions in England and Wales take part in a knockout competition which ends with the FA Cup Final in May.
For more information about the FA Cup, see the Football Association's website: http://www.thefa.com


The FA Cup Final is played at Wembley Stadium (London)

Fans enjoy pre-match celebrations


Entrance to the stadium

Flypast by the Red Arrows before the game starts

Another team competition is the Football League Cup (known as the Carling Cup since 2004). This starts as a knock-out competition. The semi-final is played in two legs (a home game and away game), and the final is played as a single game at a neutral ground.

The top Scottish teams play in the Scottish Premier League. There is also a knockout competition in Scotland to win the Scottish FA Cup. Top Scottish teams include Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Aberdeen and Dundee United. Celtic and Rangers are both based in Glasgow, and Hearts is based in Edinburgh.

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EUROPEAN FOOTBALL


The main competition between top European local teams is the UEFA Champions League (formerly known as the European Cup). The second most important competition is the UEFA Cup. Both of these competitions take place every year.

The European Cup (UEFA European Football Championship) finals take place every 4 years. Matches are between national teams from throughout Europe.

The Euro 2012 competition will be held jointly in Poland and Ukraine from 8 June - 1 July 2012.

For the European Cup finals, teams are divided into qualifying groups and play a league system (each team plays each of the other teams once at home and once away, 3 points are awarded for a win and 1 point for a draw). The two teams in each group with the highest number of points go through to the finals (the host country/countries for the finals automatically qualify). In the finals the teams are divided into 4 groups of 4. At first there is a league-style competition and the two top teams in each group go through. This is followed by the knockout rounds: only one game is played in each of these rounds. If the score is even after 90 minutes, a further 30 minutes of extra time is played. If the score is still even the winner is chosen using a penalty shoot-out.

The qualifying groups for the 2012 competition are as follows:

Group
Team 1
Team 2
Team 3
Team 4
A
Poland
Greece
Russia
Czech Republic
B
Netherlands
Denmark
Germany
Portugal
C
Spain
Italy
Republic of Ireland
Croatia
D
Ukraine
Sweden
France
England

The match schedule is shown below (kick-off times are UK times - the time in Ukraine is 2 hours ahead of the UK, and the time in Poland is 1 hour ahead of the UK):

Date UK Time
Group/Stage
Teams Venue
Fri 8th June 5:00pm
A
Poland v Greece Warsaw
Fri 8th June 7:45pm
A
Russia v Czech Republic Wroclaw
Sat 9th June 5:00pm
B
Netherlands v Denmark Kharkiv
Sat 9th June 7:45pm
B
Germany v Portugal Lviv
Sun 10th June 5:00pm
C
Spain v Italy Gdansk
Sun 10th June 7:45pm
C
Rep of Ireland v Croatia Poznan
Mon 11th June 5:00pm
D
France v England Donetsk
Mon 11th June 7:45pm
D
Ukraine v Sweden Kiev
Tue 12th June 5:00pm
A
Greece v Czech Republic Wroclaw
Tue 12th June 7:45pm
A
Poland v Russia Warsaw
Wed 13th June 5:00pm
B
Denmark v Portugal Lviv
Wed 13th June 7:45pm
B
Netherlands v Germany Kharkiv
Thu 14th June 5:00pm
C
Italy v Croatia Poznan
Thu 14th June 7:45pm
C
Spain v Rep of Ireland Gdansk
Fri 15th June 5:00pm
D
Sweden v England Kiev
Fri 15th June 7:45pm
D
Ukraine v France Donetsk
Sat 16th June 7:45pm
A
Czech Republic v Poland Wroclaw
Sat 16th June 7:45pm
A
Greece v Russia Warsaw
Sun 17th June 7:45pm
B
Portugal v Netherlands Kharkiv
Sun 17th June 7:45pm
B
Denmark v Germany Lviv
Mon 18th June 7:45pm
C
Croatia v Spain Gdansk
Mon 18th June 7:45pm
C
Italy v Rep of Ireland Poznan
Tue 19th June 7:45pm
D
England v Ukraine Donetsk
Tue 19th June 7:45pm
D
Sweden v France Kiev
Thu 21st June 7:45pm
QF1
1st Group A v 2nd Group B Warsaw
Fri 22nd June 7:45pm
QF2
1st Group B v 2nd Group A Gdansk
Sat 23rd June 7:45pm
QF3
1st Group C v 2nd Group D Donetsk
Sun 24th June 7:45pm
QF4
1st Group D v 2nd Group C Kiev
Wed 27th June 7:45pm
SF1
Winner QF1 v Winner QF3 Donetsk
Thu 28th June 7:45pm
SF2
Winner QF2 v Winner QF4 Warsaw
Sun 1st July 7:45pm
Final
Final Kiev

For further information about Euro 2012, see: http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro

Past events:
The Euro 2008 competition was held jointly in Austria and Switzerland in June 2008. Spain defeated Germany 1-0 in the final.
The Euro 2004 competition was held in Portugal. The final was won 1-0 by Greece (playing Portugal).

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WORLD CUP


The 2014 World Cup will be played in Brazil in June/July 2014.
32 teams will compete. As the host nation, Brazil has automatically qualified. The other countries will be selected in a series of regional competitions in Asia, Africa, North/Central America, South America, Europe and Pacific/Oceania.
The European qualification games will start in August 2012, after the Euro 2012 competition has finished.

The official website of the World Cup competition: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup

Past events:
The 2010 World Cup was played in South Africa. In the final, Spain beat the Netherlands in extra time.
The 2006 World Cup was played in Germany. In the final, Italy beat France (on penalty kicks).

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VOCABULARY


The goalkeeper (also known as the goalie, or keeper) wears the number 1 shirt. The person's job is to save goals, by stopping the ball from crossing the line under the goalposts. He is allowed to use his hands, but only inside the box (18 yard box or penalty box) marked around the goalposts. If a member of the attacking team touches the ball inside the box (known as handball), or if an attacker is held or tackled unfairly in the box, the attacking team way be awarded a penalty kick (penalty). This gives a member of the attacking team a chance to kick the ball from the edge of the penalty box, with only the goalkeeper defending the goal.

A defender plays mainly in the area in front of his own team's goal. A full-back plays the wider positions, a central defender plays in the middle. Two possible variations are a wing-back, who plays the wider positions at the back but comes forward as well, and a sweeper, whose job is to stay close to the goal area to make the defence stronger.

A midfielder plays mainly in the centre of the field. A winger (or wide midfielder) plays the wider positions, while a central midfielder plays in the middle.

A striker plays mainly in the opposing team's half of the field. The person's main job is to try to score a goal.

The formation of a team depends on the main roles of the players. The most common formation in British football is 4-4-2, meaning 4 defenders, 4 midfielders and 2 strikers.

Positions
(note: numbers/positions vary)

1 : Goalkeeper ("goalie")

Defenders:
2/3 : Centre back
4 : Right back/fullback
5 : Left back/fullback

Midfielders:
6: Inside right or right wing half
7 : Right wing
8: Inside left or left wing half
11: Left wing

Strikers:
9/10 : Centre forward

For more football vocabulary, see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/vocabulary/football.shtml

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FURTHER INFORMATION


BBC Sport (football): http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football
Football rules explained: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/rules_and_equipment

UK football headlines:


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LINKS


Sport in the UK: Life/Sport
Monthly guide to events in the UK: Ideas/Events

Visit Liverpool: Travel/Tours/England/Liverpool
Visit Manchester: Travel/Tours/England/Manchester
Visit Newcastle: Travel/Tours/England/Newcastle
Visit Glasgow: Travel/Tours/Scotland/Glasgow

Home page: Home

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