Soccer Dictionary
Gear
- Cleats
- Footwear worn by players, featuring studs or blades on the sole for traction on grass or turf.
- Shop for Cleats
- Shin Guards
- Protective equipment worn on the front of a player's shins to prevent injury from kicks.
- Shop for Shin Guards
Rules
- Goal Kick
- A method of restarting play when the ball goes out of bounds over the goal line, last touched by an attacking player. The ball is kicked from anywhere within the goal area by a player of the defending team.
- Offsides
- A rule violation that occurs when an attacking player is nearer to the opponent's goal line than both the ball and the second-to-last defender (which is usually the last outfield player) at the moment the ball is played to them.
- See also: attacker, defender
Slang
- Howler
- An obvious and often comical mistake made by a player, especially a goalkeeper.
- Nutmeg
- The skill of kicking the ball between an opponent's legs.
- See also: dribbling
Surfaces
- Artificial Turf
- A synthetic surface made to resemble grass, often used for soccer fields, especially indoors or in areas where maintaining natural grass is difficult.
- Natural Grass
- The traditional playing surface for soccer, consisting of living grass.