Football Jargon

On this page, we’ve alphabetized our dictionary of football jargon. That includes acronyms, symbols, and general terms. It’s a WIP, so please send us an email at [email protected] or message us @TheFreeTransfer on Twitter.

Symbols 🔣 

‘ (apostrophe)

  • “minute”, as in he scored in the 60’ of the match

“#” (when referring to players' positions, e.g. #9, #8, etc)

  • As in— “he is a #6” or “they need a new #9”

  • Check out the image below to see which # refers to what position 👇️ 

This diagram shows what each position’s number is

Position acronyms 🔢 

GK

  • Goal keeper

CB

  • centerback

    • LCB= left centerback

    • RCB= right centerback

LB/RB

  • Left back / right back

L/R

  • Left/right— if you see this in front of a position name it’s just left/right

CM

  • Central midfielder

CDM

  • Central defensive midfielder

CAM

  • Central attacking midfielder

ST/CF

  • Striker / center forward

LW/RW

  • Left/right wing

LM/RM

  • Left/right midfielder

F9

  • False #9

    • Striker who drops deep into midfield to generate play (think Bobby Firmino)

LF/RF

  • Left/right forward

SS

  • Second striker

Acronyms 🔠 

ET

  • Extra Time

OG

  • Own goal

PL

  • Premier League

PK

  • Penalty kick

“s”— after a number like “60s”

  • Seconds— 60s=60 seconds

TOTS, TOTT, TOTY

  • Team of the Season, Tournament, Year…

UCL, UEL, UECL

  • UEFA Champions League

  • UEFA Europa League

  • UEFA Europa Conference League