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Football Language Podcast: 2020 Club World Cup

In this week’s football language podcast, we look at some of the key words and phrases from the 2020 Club World Cup that recently took place in Qatar. Check out our glossary of footballing phrases here, and visit our site to access all the previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions, contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.

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Football Language Podcast: 2020 Club World Cup

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Bayern are only the second side in Europe to sweep all before them and win six trophies in one season – do you know which other team managed this feat?

DF: Hello everyone, this is Damian from the Learning English Through Football team. I hope we are all doing well and staying safe wherever we are in the world. It’s just me today as Damon, who is based in Tokyo, is a little busy. Now on this short football language podcast we look back at the FIFA Club World Cup that took place in Qatar last weekend and which saw German and European champions Bayern Munich win their sixth trophy in the past nine months – amazing.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in German).

DF: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com and that message was in German. Don’t forget that there’s a transcript to this podcast which you can access by coming along to our site. And you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or you can drop us a line at: admin@languagecaster.com. Right, let’s take a look at some of the words and phrases that emerged from the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup tournament.

Confederations

This annual tournament sees the champions of the six confederations play off to see which team can be crowned the best club side in world football. The six confederations are as follows:

  • UEFA (Europe): Bayern Munich
  • CONMEBOL (South America): Palmeiras
  • AFC (Asia): Ulsan Hyundai
  • CONCACAF (Central and North America): UANL (Tigres)
  • CAF (Africa): Al Ahly
  • OFC (Oceania): Auckland City

Now, New Zealand side Auckland withdrew – they failed to participate in the competition because of Covid restrictions – and the Qatari side Al-Duhil qualified as hosts.

Clean Sweep

Now, Bayern have had an amazing 2020 – they won the Bundesliga, the German Cup, the Champions League, the German Super Cup, the UEFA Super Cup and now the FIFA Club World Cup – they have won all six titles that they’ve competed for and so we can say that they have won a clean sweep. One of the meanings of this phrase is to describe when a team wins everything they can win in a season; so for example in England if a team wins the Carabao Cup (the League Cup), the Community Shield, the FA Cup and the Premier League then we can say they have won a clean sweep. Bayern are only the second side in Europe to sweep all before them and win six trophies in one season – do you know which other team managed this feat? Well, the other side was Barcelona back in 2009.

Far from their best

Bayern beat Egypt’s Al Ahly 2-0 in the semi-final and then kept another clean sheet when defeating Mexican side Tigres 1-0 in the final but they were far from their best. This phrase means that Bayern did not reach their top level – the level they usually reach. This may have been because they did not have to be at their best because the opposition was not as strong as they usually face. If a team is far from their best it suggests that they have not played well but it doesn’t always suggest that a team has been beaten, as in this final. Another similar phrase is ‘didn’t get out of second gear‘ which means that the team did not reach their top level – again, this may have been enough to still win a game – the team won easily and didn’t have to get out of second gear.

Stinger: You’re listening to languagecaster.com (West Ham fan).

Good Bye

DF: OK, that’s it for this short podcast – congratulations again to Bayern Munich who completed the sextuple – six trophies. Don’t forget that we have recently posted lots of football language podcasts including the phrases, ‘to gift’ and ‘to feed‘. And we’ll have more football phrases to talk about next week. Enjoy all the football this week and we’ll see you again soon. Bye bye.

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Damian Fitzpatrick

Learn English Through Football Podcast: A show for football fans to improve their English language skills

Welcome to the website that helps students interested in football improve their English language skills. Soccer fans can enhance these skills with lots of free language resources: a weekly podcast, football phrases, explanations of football vocabulary, football cliches, worksheets, quizzes and much more at languagecaster.com.

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