Talking about football in Chinese 聊足球
liáo zúqiú
Football in Chinese is 足球 (zú qiú).
Also searched for as: football in Chinese, soccer in Chinese, football terms, talking about soccer.
Goals, fouls and the referee: talk football like a fan. 15 essential talking about football words in Mandarin Chinese, with pinyin and English. Open it in the app to hear each word, tick off the ones you know and turn them into flashcards.
To talk about football in Chinese, start with 踢球 (tī qiú), to play, and 看球 (kàn qiú), to watch a match. Football is 足球 (zú qiú), literally 'foot ball', and fans in China follow both domestic and European leagues, often staying up late to watch games live. Words like 进球 (jìn qiú, goal), 点球 (diǎn qiú, penalty) and 越位 (yuè wèi, offside) will let you join in any match-day conversation.
| Chinese | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|
| 踢球 | tī qiú | to play football |
| 看球 | kàn qiú | to watch football |
| 支持 | zhī chí | to support (a team) |
| 进球 | jìn qiú | to score; goal |
| 射门 | shè mén | to shoot; shot |
| 守门员 | shǒu mén yuán | goalkeeper |
| 越位 | yuè wèi | offside |
| 犯规 | fàn guī | foul; to foul |
| 点球 | diǎn qiú | penalty |
| 红牌 | hóng pái | red card |
| 比分 | bǐ fēn | score |
| 平局 | píng jú | draw |
| 主场 | zhǔ chǎng | home ground; home game |
| 绝杀 | jué shā | last-minute winner |
| 踢得好 | tī de hǎo | played well |
Usage tips
- 球 (qiú) does a lot of work in football talk: 踢球 is playing, 看球 is watching, and 球迷 (qiú mí) is a fan; 踢球 on its own almost always means football.
- 绝杀 (jué shā), literally 'decisive kill', is a last-gasp winning goal and a favourite word of commentators; 平局 (píng jú) is a draw and 打平 (dǎ píng) is to draw.
- To ask which team someone supports, say 你支持哪个队 (nǐ zhī chí nǎ gè duì) or 你是哪个队的球迷 (nǐ shì nǎ gè duì de qiú mí).
Common mistakes
- Saying 打足球 (dǎ zú qiú) → football is played with the feet, so the verb is 踢 (tī): 踢足球 (tī zú qiú); 打 is for games played with the hands or a racket, such as 打篮球 (dǎ lán qiú).
- Using 分数 (fēn shù) for the score of a match → 分数 is used for marks and points, as in an exam; the score in a game is 比分 (bǐ fēn).
Mini dialogue
- A昨晚的比赛你看了吗？Zuó wǎn de bǐ sài nǐ kàn le ma?Did you watch the match last night?
- B看了一半就睡着了。比分是多少？Kàn le yī bàn jiù shuì zháo le. Bǐ fēn shì duō shao?I fell asleep halfway through. What was the score?
- A二比一，最后一分钟绝杀！Èr bǐ yī, zuì hòu yī fēn zhōng jué shā!Two-one, with a winner in the last minute!
- B真的？谁进的球？Zhēn de? Shéi jìn de qiú?Really? Who scored?
- A一个替补，射门特别漂亮。Yī gè tì bǔ, shè mén tè bié piào liang.A sub, it was a beautiful shot.
- B太可惜了！周末我们一起去酒吧看球吧。Tài kě xī le! Zhōu mò wǒ men yī qǐ qù jiǔ bā kàn qiú ba.What a shame I missed it! Let's go to the pub to watch the match this weekend.
Example sentences
- 周末我们一起去踢球吧！Let's go and play football this weekend!
- 今晚去酒吧看球吗？Are we going to the pub to watch the match tonight?
- 你支持哪个队？Which team do you support?
- 这个进球太漂亮了！What a beautiful goal!
- 他射门的时候太犹豫了。He hesitated too long before shooting.
- 今天守门员表现太好了。The keeper was brilliant today.
- 裁判说这个球越位了。The ref says that was offside.
- 他刚才明显犯规了。That was clearly a foul just now.
- 裁判判了一个点球！The referee's given a penalty!
- 这个犯规应该给红牌。That foul deserves a red card.
- 现在比分是多少？What's the score now?
- 最后打成了平局。It ended in a draw.
- 我们下周打主场。We're playing at home next week.
- 最后一分钟绝杀，太刺激了！A winner in the last minute, so exciting!
- 今天踢得好，赢得漂亮！We played well today, a deserved win!
Practise speaking
Ready to use these words? The Talking about football speaking island has 8 everyday questions about talking about football to prepare your own answers to.