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This week’s football language podcast looks at some of the language from the 2023 Club World Cup that took place recently in Saudi Arabia. We’ll be looking at some football phrases that emerged from the tournament including, ‘confederation’; ‘host’ and ‘representative’. We also have a worksheet to help you practice your listening and to build your vocabulary. And don’t forget that you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.
Festive Period
DF: Hello again everyone and welcome to Languagecaster.com – the football-language podcast for learners and teachers of English. I’m Damian and I’m currently in Ireland for the Christmas break, while the other member of the Languagecaster team is Damon and he’s based in Japan. And indeed, Damon recently posted a podcast on the phrase, ‘clear cut‘ in which he also looked at the phrases, ‘fashion a chance‘ and ‘well organised‘. And of course we both wish you all a wonderful holiday period wherever you are listening around the world. Have you seen any of the festive period football? I wonder if Damon has watched any football over the festive period – I am sure he has! Now, the festive period refers to the Christmas and New Year holiday time and in Britain, this festive period is a really busy one for football with games on nearly every day. Most teams will play three or four league matches in only a week or ten days so it is an important time (or period) for many clubs and of course their fans!
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Vietnamese)
Learn English Through Football Podcast: 2023 FIFA Club World Cup
Right, on today’s short podcast I will be focusing on the FIFA Club World Cup, which this year celebrates the 20th anniversary of the current format of the tournament (the format means the way that something happens or is arranged; so how the tournament is organised). I remember going along with Damon in Tokyo way back in 2007 to watch Boca Juniors take on Toile du Sahel from Tunisia in the semi-final that year, while I have also been to a final in 1996 when Juventus beat River Plate 1-0. And this was the last time that I have been to a game in this end-of-year tournament. But we have always followed this tournament here at Languagecaster and if you come along to our site you can listen to some of our previous podcasts on the Club World Cup (check the related links at the end of the post too). And so on today’s show I will be looking at some of the language that has emerged from the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup tournament that took place in Saudi Arabia over the past week or so.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Al-Hilal SC (Sudan) fan)
2023 FIFA Club World Cup: Questions
Now, before we listen to the report on the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup, let’s see how well you know the tournament. Here are a couple of quizzes to help you prepare for the listening. The first is about the nationalities involved in the tournament, while the final one explains some of the words and phrases that you will hear in the report. You can download a worksheet, along with the answers, for this report by coming along to our site here at Languagecaster.com.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (a West Ham fan)
Nationalities
DF: So, the first one is about nationalities. What are the nationalities of the following countries? And these are the seven countries that are taking part in the Club World Cup.
| Country | Nationality | |
| 1 | England | English |
| 2 | Saudi Arabia | |
| 3 | New Zealand | |
| 4 | Brazil | |
| 5 | Mexico | |
| 6 | Egypt | |
| 7 | Japan |
2023 FIFA Club World Cup: Questions
How much do you know about the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup? Try and answer these questions.
- How many teams have taken part in this year’s competition?
- Which team won the tournament last year (in 2022)?
- This year the competition takes place in Saudi Arabia but where did it take place (or where was it held) last year (2022)?
- There will be a new format in 2025 – how many teams will participate in this new format?
Vocabulary
And finally some words and phrases that you will hear in the report.
- Format: So, as we have mentioned this is a version; a way of doing something
- Confederation: These are the organisers of football in different regions around the world. And there are six different ones.
- Host: This can be a verb – to host a competition for example – or a noun: the hosts Al-Ittihad played Auckland FC from New Zealand in the opening match
- Represent/Representative: This is to participate in a competition on be half of someone or something (e.g. a football Confederation). So, Manchester City are representing the European region (UEFA) – they are the European representatives at the tournament.
- To be outplayed: To be completely dominated by the opposition.
- To set up a final: This means to produce the two teams for the final. So for example, the two teams won their semi-finals to set up a final which means that these two sides will meet in the final.
Now, listen to this short report to check your answers and we’ll check them again later on in the show.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Irish fan)
Introduction
Yes, that message was from an Irish fan – drop us a line if you want to add a stinger in any language that says ‘you are listening to Languagecaster’ at admin@anguagecaster.com.
The 20th FIFA Club World Cup kicked off in Saudi Arabia last week with games involving seven teams from seven different countries but from six different confederations. And these games took place in two stadiums (or stadia) in Jeddah which is the second city in Saudi Arabia. This will be the final time that the tournament will take place in this format as there will be a new version from 2025 in which 32 sides will take part in a summer tournament every four years and the first of this new kind of tournament will be held in the USA. The current holders of the trophy are Real Madrid who won in Morocco last year against Al-Hilal but of course they cannot defend their trophy as they did not win the Champions League this season – Manchester City defeated Inter 1-0 and so are representing Europe. The other five confederation winners are: The AFC champions are Urawa Reds from Japan; the CAF winners from Africa are Egyptian side Al Ahly; Club León from Mexico represented the CONCACAF region; Brazilian side Fluminense represented CONMEBOL; the OFC representative was Auckland City FC from New Zealand, while Al Ittihad FC from Saudi Arabia qualified as champions of the host nation.
2023 FIFA Club World Cup: Matches
The first round play-off game saw the hosts Al-Ittihad easily defeat the Oceania representatives from New Zealand, Auckland FC, by three goals to nil to set up a second round match against Al Ahly from Egypt who of course were representing the African Federation CAF – the Egyptian side winning 3-1. In the other second round match the Asian champions Urawa Red Diamonds beat Mexican side León 1-0 to qualify for the semi-final against Manchester City. There, the Japanese side were easily outplayed by the European champions and ended up losing 3-0. In the other semi-final, Brazilian side Fluminense, who recently won their first ever Libertadores Cup, beat Al Ahly 2-0 to set up a European-South American final.
2023 FIFA Club World Cup: Final
Now, since both sides won their first ever continental title last season, whoever wins would collect their inaugural world title. City scored in the first minute through Argentinian striker Álvarez – he chested the ball into the net – before an own goal from Mota Filho made it 2-0 to the European side. City’s dominance continued in the second half with Phil Foden scoring the third and Álvarez scored his second in the 88th minute. This was a comprehensive victory for City who become the fourth English club side to win this trophy, while they also became the first English side to win five trophies in the same season – a remarkable feat indeed.
Glossary
A-BC-DE-FG-HI-K L-NO-QR-ST-VW-Z0-9Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in French)
Contact
Now, if you have any questions or comments then drop us an email at admin@languagecaster.com and you can also look out for us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We also have a football-language forum where you can ask and answer any questions you have on the language of football. Don’t forget to subscribe to our football-language podcast and a quick reminder that you can also access all of our other football-language podcasts – we have hundreds of them – by coming along to our site here at Languagecaster.com.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (a Czech fan).
Answers
OK, thanks for listening to the short report on this season’s FIFA Club World Cup. Can you remember the questions before the report? Let’s go through some of the answers. First of all, let’s look at the list of nationalities that took part in the tournament and then look at the answers to the questions we asked beforehand.
Nationalities
| Country | Nationality |
| England | English |
| Saudi Arabia | Saudi Arabian / Saudi |
| New Zealand | New Zealander / New Zealand |
| Brazil | Brazilian |
| Mexico | Mexican |
| Egypt | Egyptian |
| Japan | Japanese |
2023 FIFA Club World Cup: Questions
And here are the answers to the questions we asked earlier on:
-
- How many teams take part in the annual competition?
Answer: Seven teams have taken part in this year’s competition - Which team won the tournament last year (that’s in 2022)?
Answer: That was Real Madrid - This year the competition takes place in Saudi Arabia – where did it take place (where was it held) last year (2022)?
Answer: It took place in Morocco last year. - There will be a new format in 2025 – how many teams will participate in this new format?
Answer: The new FIFA-run tournament will have 32 teams participating from 2025.
- How many teams take part in the annual competition?
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Brazilian fan).
Goodbye
DF: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster and that message was from a Brazilian fan. Don’t forget there’s a transcript for this short podcast and there’s lots of vocabulary support too; we explain lots of the meanings of these words in the transcript, which you can access by coming along to our site. And don’t forget of course we also have a worksheet, with answers, with this listening report.
OK, that’s it for this short podcast about the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup tournament that took place in Saudi Arabia in which we looked at lots of language including the phrases, ‘represent’; ‘to host’ and ‘Confederation’. Let us know if you hear any of these words in any language while watching football over the next week or two. And of course drop us a line if you come across any interesting football language over the festive period or if you have any football language questions.
Congratulations again to Manchester City on winning the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup. Enjoy all the football over the festive period. Have a wonderful holiday. And we’ll see you again soon. Bye bye!
Related Links
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