Glossary
Football terms explained for parents
Look up common coaching terms, position names and academy terms. Where the US uses a different word, we include it.
Coaching terms
- Play out from the backUS: Build out of the back
- Start an attack with passes from the goalkeeper and defenders instead of a long kick.
- ScanUS: Check your shoulder
- Look around before receiving the ball. Check where teammates, opponents and open spaces are.
- Half-turnUS: Open up
- Receive the ball with your body turned sideways so you can see both the pass and the space ahead.
- Press
- Move towards an opponent to win the ball or make their next pass harder. Teammates usually work together.
- Trigger
- A signal to start pressing. For example, an opponent takes a poor touch and the ball moves away from them.
- Compact
- Keep teammates close enough to reduce the spaces opponents can pass or run through.
- Overlap
- Run past a teammate on the outside, nearer the touchline, to offer a pass.
- Underlap
- Run past a teammate on the inside, nearer the middle of the pitch, to offer a pass.
- Third man
- A passing move involving three players. One passes to a second player, who passes to a third.
- Switch
- Move the ball from one side of the pitch to the other to find more space.
- Show them outsideUS: Force them wide
- Defend at an angle that encourages an attacker to move towards the touchline rather than towards goal.
- Goal-side
- Stand between the player you are marking and your own goal.
Positions and pitch areas
- The sixUS: Holding mid, the 6
- A defensive midfielder. This player usually stays in front of the defenders and helps protect them.
- The eight
- A central midfielder who helps with both attacking and defending.
- The ten
- An attacking midfielder who helps create scoring chances, usually playing behind the striker.
- The nine
- A striker. A false nine is a striker who moves back towards midfield to receive the ball.
- Wing-back
- A wide player who helps both defence and attack, usually in a team with three central defenders.
- Between the lines
- The space between two rows of opponents, such as their midfielders and defenders.
- Half-space
- The area between the middle of the pitch and the wing.
Academy and league terms
- Category 1 to 4
- The four tiers of English academies under the Elite Player Performance Plan. Category 1 has the most coaching hours and funding, and from age 14 can recruit nationally. Category 4 only takes players from 17.
- EPPP
- Elite Player Performance Plan. The Premier League rulebook for academies since 2012: travel limits, registration lengths, coaching hours, compensation when a player moves.
- Foundation Phase
- Under-9 to Under-11. Registrations last one year at a time. Travel limit one hour.
- Youth Development Phase
- Under-12 to Under-16. Two-year registrations at U13 and U15. Travel limit ninety minutes.
- Professional Development Phase
- Under-17 to Under-21. Scholarship at 16, first professional contract at 17.
- Scholarship
- The two-year full-time deal offered at 16 to a minority of U16 academy players. The decision is made by the end of December of the U16 year at most Category 1 clubs.
- Released
- Not offered a new registration. Happens at every spring review. The club must tell you by the first Saturday in June if it intends not to retain, and you can decline retention by the same date.
- Compensation
- A payment that may be due between clubs when a registered young player moves. The rules depend on the system, age and registration.
- Development centre
- A coaching programme linked to a club, often with a fee. Attending does not mean a child has an academy place. Check how the programme connects to recruitment.
- Pre-academy
- Unregistered Under-7 and Under-8 groups a club coaches before it can sign them at Under-9.
- Trial
- A period when a club watches a player train or play before deciding whether to offer a place. Ask the club about the length, costs and assessment process.
- MLS NEXT
- The US elite youth league run by Major League Soccer: 30 MLS academies plus about 80 other clubs. MLS academies are free. The others usually are not.
- Homegrown
- An MLS rule letting a club sign a player from its own academy without a draft. The reason MLS academies care where you live.
- ECNL
- Elite Clubs National League. The main US pay-to-play league outside MLS NEXT, for boys and girls. Costs run into thousands of dollars a year.
- Pay-to-play
- A programme where families pay fees for their child to take part. Ask for the full cost, including travel, kit and tournaments.
- Relative age effect
- A difference linked to age within the same year group. Research often finds more players born early in the selection year in academy teams. This does not predict an individual child’s future.