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Football (Soccer) vocabulary · Competitions & Results

Match

Meaning in football (soccer), with examples

/mætʃ/nounCore term

In football (soccer), match means: A game of football between two teams, normally made up of two 45-minute halves, with stoppage time added at the end of each half.

In Turkish: maç, karşılaşma

How it is used

The standard word in British English and in official competition language. You play, win, lose or draw a match; reporters write a match report and fans go to a match. Game means the same and is very common in speech, especially in American English.

Example sentences

  1. We've got a big match against Kestrel Athletic on Saturday.

  2. The match was postponed because the pitch was frozen.

  3. It was a tough match, but we got the three points.

Common collocations

  • win a match
  • home match
  • match report
  • match-winner
  • friendly match
  • 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.
  • drawA result in which both teams finish the match with the same number of goals. As a verb, to draw means to finish level.
  • leagueA competition in which teams play each other over a season, usually home and away, and are ranked in a table by points.
  • half-timeThe break between the two halves of a match, which must not be longer than 15 minutes, when players rest and coaches give instructions.
  • kick-offThe kick from the centre spot that starts each half and restarts play after a goal; also the time a match is due to start.

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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