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Football (Soccer) vocabulary · Competitions & Results

League

Meaning in football (soccer), with examples

/liːɡ/nounCore term

In football (soccer), league means: A competition in which teams play each other over a season, usually home and away, and are ranked in a table by points.

In Turkish: lig

How it is used

Teams win, top or lead the league and finish in a league position. A club can play in different divisions of a league system, moving up by promotion and down by relegation. League is often contrasted with cup competitions.

Example sentences

  1. Millbrook City won the league with two games to spare.

  2. Our priority this season is the league, not the cup.

Common collocations

  • win the league
  • top of the league
  • league title
  • league table
  • league position
  • tableThe list that ranks the teams in a league by points, with goal difference and other figures; also called the league table or standings.
  • promotionMoving up to a higher division at the end of the season by finishing in one of the top places or by winning a play-off.
  • relegationDropping down to a lower division at the end of the season after finishing in one of the bottom places of the league.
  • fixtureA match arranged for a particular date; the fixtures, or the fixture list, are all the matches a team or league has scheduled for the season.
  • goal differenceThe number of goals a team has scored minus the number it has conceded, used to separate teams that are level on points in a league table.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Competitions & Results

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