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This week’s weekly football phrase is often used when looking ahead to a new season: The team to beat. Find out more about this phrase by reading the transcript below and listening to the audio, while you can also find many more examples of soccer vocabulary by going to our football cliches page here and our huge football glossary here.
The Team to Beat
At the beginning of every new season many fans and pundits try and predict the winners and losers in different leagues. A phrase that is often used to describe a team that many feel will win a title – they are the overwhelming favourites – is ‘the team to beat‘, as in Bayern Munich will be the team to beat in this season’s Bundesliga. The meaning behind this phrase is that one team in the league is particularly strong and that it will be very difficult for other teams to come above them or beat them in the league. They are the Team to Beat.
- Example: Alan Shearer feels that Chelsea ‘are still the team to beat‘ in this season’s Premier League (BBC Football Website July 30 2015).
- Example: Paris Saint Germain will yet again be the team to beat in Ligue 1 this season
