# free kick, penalty kick (soccer)



## Kotlas

Hi Soccer Fans,

I have a question regarding some soccer terminology for you.
I think the commentators often say simply, "R (player's name) is taking a free kick" or "A free kick is awarded to NF (team's name)", without clarifying if it is direct or indirect.
In Russian, the terms are different, so it is always clear which free kick is meant:
direct free kick - штрафной удар [ʂtrɐfˈnoɪ̯ ʊˈdar] (lit. _penalty kick_)
indirect free kick -  свободный удар [svɐˈbodnɨɪ̯ ʊˈdar] (lit. _free kick_)

I wonder if there are other languages as well that use different terms for direct and indirect free kicks in soccer.
And by the way, for a penalty kick (which is a type of free kick, too) we use the original English word so there is no confusion here at all:
пенальти [pʲɪˈnalʲtʲɪ]

P.S. And see you all in Russia at the World Cup venues next summer!


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## apmoy70

Greek:

-The kick-off (that starts the game) is called *«σέντρα»* [ˈsendra] (fem.) < Eng. centre (spot), the spot at the centre  of the football pitch.
-The goal kick is called *«ελεύθερο»* [eˈlefθeɾo] (neut.) --> _free_ (kick is omitted).
-The free kick is *«φάουλ»* [ˈfa.ul] (neut.) < Eng. foul.
-The direct free kick is called *«άμεσο»* [ˈameso] (neut.) --> _direct, immediate_ < privative prefix *«ἀ-» ă-* (PIE *a(n)- < *n̥- _privative prefix_) + *«μέσον» mésŏn* (neut.). It's often associated with (1) *«χτύπημα»* [ˈxtipima] (neut.) --> _strike, beating, hit_, or (rarely) (2) *«λάκτισμα»* [ˈlaktizma] (neut.) --> _kick_ (from the ancient v. *«λακτίζω» lăktízō* --> _to kick with the foot_, or _the hoof_, with obscure etymology; the connection with Lat. calx, _heel_ is semantically adequate, but without certain explanation).
-The indirect free kick is *«έμμεσο»* [ˈemeso] (neut.) --> _indirect_ < *«ἐν» ĕn* + *«μέσον» mésŏn* (neut.) with assimilation. It too is often associated with (1) *«χτύπημα»* [ˈxtipima] (neut.), or (2) *«λάκτισμα»* [ˈlaktizma] (neut.).
-The penalty kick is *«πέναλτι»* [ˈpenalti] (neut.) < Eng. penalty.

PS: We didn't make it this time, I'll surely watch it on the TV though.


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## Kotlas

So it's *«άμεσο»* [ˈameso] and *«έμμεσο»* [ˈemeso]. Similar but still different.

And as one can see, in Greek, the free kick is simply a foul (*«φάουλ»* [ˈfa.ul]. Very interesting, to say the least of it. It means transferring the term for a violation (foul) to a consequence of/punishment for making it (free kick).
Thanks, apmoy. Πολύ ενδιαφέρον.


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## ThomasK

I am just pasting my translations in Apmoy's text:


apmoy70 said:


> Dutch:
> 
> -The kick-off (that starts the game) is *aftrap* (kick-off)
> -The free kick is *vrije trap *
> -The penalty kick is *penalty*, *strafschop* (penalty/punishment-kick)


You can see a variation: _schop_ or _trap_ for kick. But I cannot see a difference in meaning...


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## Kotlas

ThomasK said:


> But I cannot see a difference in meaning...



It looks like Dutch, being a Germanic language, follows (unlike Russian or Greek) the English pattern and simply adds adjectives when it is necessary to be specific.
Indirecte vrije schop - indirect free kick
Directe vrije schop - direct free kick.


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## lingpil

Kotlas said:


> It looks like Dutch, being a Germanic language, follows (unlike Russian or Greek) the English pattern and simply adds adjectives when it is necessary to be specific.


In German it's the same:

direct free kick - direkter Freistoß
indirect free kick - indirekter Freistoß

However in most cases the adjective is omitted and the commentators simply say "Freistoß".

The penalty kick is usually called "Elfmeter" (lit. "eleven-meters"), in a very casual way "Elfer" (short form of the previous) and in a more formal way (like for example in official written rules) "Strafstoß" (punishment kick). The kick-off is "Anstoß".

Have as much fun with the World Cup, as we had in 2006!


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## Dymn

*Spanish*: 
Typically we use the same word for the breach of the rules and the kick following it: _falta _(if outside the area) or _penalti _(if inside). 
If we need to distinguish indirect and direct free kicks, it's _falta directa, falta indirecta _or_ tiro directo, tiro indirecto_.
_Tiro libre _might be the technical term but it reminds me of basketball, not football.

In *Catalan *it's kind of the same, except that the proper term for penalty is _penal _(due to puristic tendencies probably), but I think most people say _penalti _anyway.


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## Olaszinhok

*Italian*:

*calcio d'angolo*   corner (kick) 
*calcio d'inizio*   kick-off 
*calcio di prima* _direct free kick   direct free kick  _
*calcio di punizione  * free kick 
*calcio di rigore*   penalty kick 
*calcio di rimessa*     )   goal kick 
*calcio di rinvio*      drop-out 
*calcio di seconda*      indirect free kick  

We don't use any English words for football (soccer), we used to be a football power, after all


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## Armas

Finnish:

_vapaapotku_ < _vapaa_ "free" + _potku_ "kick"
_epäsuora_ / _suora_ _vapaapotku_ "indirect / direct free kick"
_rangaistuspotku_ < _rangaistus_ "penalty, punishment" + _potku_ "kick"


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## Kotlas

Thanks for all your posts.
It looks like the word "penalty" is ignored by some languages after all.
The German "Elfmeter" reminded me that we have a similar term in Russian, too:
одиннадцатиметровый [aˌdinatsatimi'trovyi] 11-metre (kick)
But пенальти [pʲɪˈnalʲtʲɪ] is still the first choice with our soccer commentators.


Olaszinhok said:


> We don't use any English words for football (soccer)


We have also got rid of a number of English terms in soccer over the years. Thus, instead of корнер ['korner] (corner kick), we now say угловой in Russian: [ugla'voi] (derivative of угол -corner).


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## apmoy70

Kotlas said:


> Thanks for all your posts.
> It looks like the word "penalty" is ignored by some languages after all.
> The German "Elfmeter" reminded me that we have a similar term in Russian, too:
> одиннадцатиметровый [aˌdinatsatimi'trovyi] 11-metre (kick)
> But пенальти [pʲɪˈnalʲtʲɪ] is still the first choice with our soccer commentators.
> 
> We have also got rid of a number of English terms in soccer over the years. Thus, instead of корнер ['korner] (corner kick), we now say угловой in Russian: [ugla'voi] (derivative of угол -corner).


There was an attempt by the Greek media in late '70's-early '80's to replace English terms with Greek calques but it stopped early, mostly because the translations were awkward and artificial e.g. corner kick was *«γωνιαῖον λάκτισμα»* [ɣoniˈe.on ˈlaktizma] (both neut.) --> _angular kick_ ...people preferred *«κόρνερ»* [ˈkorneɾ] (neut.).


Olaszinhok said:


> Italian
> ...we used to be a football power, after all


Oh come on, you're still a first tier football power, you're just going through a minor crisis which won't last long (for sure), be patient.


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## Gavril

Armas said:


> _rangaistuspotku_ < _rangaistus_ "penalty, punishment"



Is the slang term _rankkari_ used for penalty kicks in soccer/football? It definitely seems to be used for penalty shots in ice hockey.


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## Armas

Yes it is. Similarly _vapaapotku_ is _vapari_. Penalty kick is also called _pilkku_ "spot".


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## Ghabi

Kotlas said:


> The German "Elfmeter" reminded me that we have a similar term in Russian, too:
> одиннадцатиметровый [aˌdinatsatimi'trovyi] 11-metre (kick)


It's "12-yard" (sap6ji6maa5 十二碼) in Cantonese for penalty, while free kick is "penalty shot" (fat6kau4 罰球). In on-field talk (in contrast to more formal commentary), "direct" and "indirect" are simply "one-foot" (meaning "one-kick") and "two-foot" (meaning "two-kick").


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## Kotlas

Ghabi said:


> It's "12-yard" (sap6ji6maa5 十二碼) in Cantonese for penalty


Thank you, Ghabi. This is another thing that's of interest to me - I mean terms for a penalty kick that show the distance, like the German _Elfer_ or the Russian extremely long  _одиннадцатиметровый_ [aˌdinatsatimi'trovyi] (eight syllables!).
So Cantonese also uses this method for naming the penalty kick, but resorts to a different unit of length. I wonder if they do the same in Korean and Japanese.


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## lingpil

Kotlas said:


> I wonder if they do the same in Korean and Japanese.



Not in Japanese. Contrary to the true popular sport in Japan - baseball - where you hardly find any English term, nearly the whole Japanese football vocabulary consists of English loanwords written in katakana (the syllabic script used mostly for foreign words). And so "penalty kick" in Japanese is ペナルティ･キック (penarut(e)i kikku).

In regards to your comment that many languages don't necessarily use "penalty", I've just realised that in Swiss German "penalty" (pronounced mostly with the stress on the second syllable) is indeed a common word which the German speaking Swiss use instead of "Elfmeter".


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## Kotlas

Armas said:


> Penalty kick is also called _pilkku_ "spot".


Indeed, another term for a penalty kick is a spot kick.
In Russian: удар с точки [u'dar s 'tochki]. It's been used quite often lately.


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## Ghabi

"Spot kick" (diǎnqiú 点球) is used in Mandarin for penalty, though never in Cantonese.


Kotlas said:


> So Cantonese also uses this method for naming the penalty kick, but resorts to a different unit of length.


This may be a remnant of Hong Kong's colonial past. When we were kids playing soccer, we liked to yell "10 yards away from the ball!" (which is supposed to make you a connoisseur of the game) whenever one's about to take a free kick. Otherwise we rarely use the unit "yard".


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## Gavril

If a soccer game goes to a shootout (because of a tie that couldn't be broken), are the kicks in the shootout called "penalty kicks" in your language?

(Even though the kicks in a shootout are not the result of a penalty, they are formally the same as, or very similar to penalty kicks.)


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## apmoy70

^
Yes they are, in Greek. When ET ends with the score tied or scoreless, and a shootout is followed, often the sportscaster says *«έχουμε πέναλτι»* [ˈexume ˈpenalti] --> _we have penalties_, or, *«πάμε στα πέναλτι»* [ˈpame sta ˈpenalti] --> _we go to penalties_


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## Kotlas

For _shootout kicks_ we use the same terms in Russian, i.e.:
пенальти [pʲɪˈnalʲtʲɪ] and одиннадцатиметровый [aˌdinatsatimi'trovyi]

So the terms for _a (penalty) shootout_ are 
серия пенальти - lit. series of penalty kicks ['seriya pe'nal'ti]
серия одиннадатиметровых - lit. series of 11-metre kicks
['seriya aˌdinatsatimi'trovykh]


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## Dymn

*Spanish*:

penalty shootout - _tanda de penaltis
_
kick-off - _saque inicial_
goal kick_ - __saque de puerta_
corner kick - _saque de esquina, córner_
throw-in - _saque de banda_


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## Perseas

Kotlas said:


> Hi Soccer Fans,
> 
> I have a question regarding some soccer terminology for you.
> I think the commentators often say simply, "R (player's name) is taking a free kick" or "A free kick is awarded to NF (team's name)", without clarifying if it is direct or indirect.
> In Russian, the terms are different, so it is always clear which free kick is meant:
> direct free kick - штрафной удар [ʂtrɐfˈnoɪ̯ ʊˈdar] (lit. *penalty kick*)
> indirect free kick -  свободный удар [svɐˈbodnɨɪ̯ ʊˈdar] (lit. _free kick_)


Hello,

a penalty kick (shot taken from the penalty mark, which is 12 yards (11 m) from the goal line) is a direct free kick but a free kick is not necessarily a penalty kick. Do you mean that in Russian a "direct free kick" is a "penalty kick" and nothing else? Thanks.





Direct free kick - Wikipedia


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## Kotlas

Perseas said:


> Do you mean that in Russian a "direct free kick" is a "penalty kick" and nothing else? Thanks.


That's right if you remember that _penalty_ in English means 'punishment'; so a "direct free kick" in Russian is called with an expression that means a "punishment kick". I had used the word _penalty_ in the fragment you quoted in the sense of _punishment._ It has nothing to do with a penalty kick taken from a penalty spot. Anyway, in Russian all the terms are different, so there is no confusion whatsoever.


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## Perseas

ΟΚ, now I believe it's clear to me. Thanks Kotlas.
In that case, besides "φάουλ", the Greek words for "punishment" are "ποινή" /pin*i*/ or "παράβαση" /par*a*vasi/.
And the punishment which results to the 11m penalty kick is called (besides "πέναλτι") "εσχάτη των ποινών" /esx*a*ti t*o*n pin*o*n/ --> "the last/ultimate of the punishments". [All these supplementarilly to apmoy's excellent posts].

I wish your national team a good perfomance and luck! I remember the world cup of 1986, when USSR had one of their best teams but didn't make it against Belgium.


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## franknagy

Hungarian:
direct free kick = szabadrúgás,
indirect free kick = közvetett szabadrúgás,
penalty = büntető | tizenegyes (tizenegy = 11),
corner kick = szöglet [rúgás],
throw-in = bedobás.


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## LoveVanPersie

As is said above, in Chinese mainland Mandarin, _penalty kick_ is 点球 (“spot ball”) while in Taiwanese Mandarin it's the same as Cantonese 十二碼. As for _free kick, _it's 任意球 ("randon ball") in Chinese mainland but 自由球 ("free ball") in Taiwan.


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## Kotlas

LoveVanPersie said:


> 任意球 ("randon ball")


You mean "random"? _Random_ is haphazard and done without definite aim or plan; this is an unusual name for a free kick that always has an aim and a plan for making it work.


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## Ghabi

Dymn said:


> *Spanish*:
> Typically we use the same word for the breach of the rules and the kick following it: _falta _(if outside the area) or _penalti _(if inside).


I suppose it's the same in Portuguese, right? Excerpt from a piece of AFP news (source):


> "One, two, three, go!" shouts Neymar as around a dozen youngsters fall to the ground of a parking lot.
> 
> "That's a free-kick!" screams the Brazilian breaking into fits of laughter.
> 
> The video was released with a hashtag #ChallengeDAFALTA, the free-kick challenge in Portuguese.


Should "free kick" here be actually "foul", as Neymar is here trolling himself for his on-field antics?


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## LoveVanPersie

Kotlas said:


> You mean "random"? _Random_ is haphazard and done without definite aim or plan; this is an unusual name for a free kick that always has an aim and a plan for making it work.


Yes it seems a bad Chinese translation of ''free''.


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## ahmedcowon

In Arabic:

*direct free kick* = ضربة حرة مباشرة /_darba hurra mubaashera_/
*indirect free kick* = ضربة حرة غير مباشرة /_darba hurra gheir mubaashera_/
*penalty kick* = ضربة جزاء /_darbat jazaa'_/
*penalty shootout* = ضربة ترجيح /_darbat tarjeeh_/
*corner kick* = ضربة ركنية /darba rokniyya/


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