Soccer in Spanish: How to talk fútbol for the 2022 World Cup (2024)

The 2022 World Cupis coming up fast, getting fans excited about this year’s tournament in Qatar. As one of the only truly global sporting events, the matches will be broadcast in literally dozens of languages. This is obviously a good time to cover essential vocab for talking about soccer in Spanish!

Which Spanish-speaking countries are in the 2022 World Cup?

This year’s World Cup sees six Spanish-speaking countries compete, so we’ll start by listing each of them in Spanish: Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, España, México, y Uruguay. In addition, several neighboring countries with big Spanish-speaking populations will also be there: Brasil, Canadá, los Estados-Unidos, Francia, y Portugal.

For the full lineup, as well as the schedules and up-to-date info during the tournament, check out the FIFA 2022 World Cup website. Who will you be rooting for?

Vocab for talking soccer in Spanish

This post is fairly straightforward, in that we give you a bunch of lists of Spanish vocabulary related to our beloved sport of fútbol. If you want to branch out beyond soccer, we also have a general post on sports and hobbies in Spanish. For now, check out the following sections broken down by category so you can talk all about soccer in Spanish!

General terms about soccer in Spanish

Games and the playing season

Game rules and penalties

Moves on the field

Spanish terms for the playing field

Soccer players in Spanish

Soccer attire in Spanish

Spanish verbs for talking soccer

Now that we’ve covered all the different tangible components of the game with our lists of Spanish soccer vocabulary in the previous sections, it’s time to learn some useful verbsfor talking about soccer in Spanish. We’ll introduce each verb here, followed by an example of the Spanish verb in use!

To bet – Apostar

• Apuesto 2-1 a favor de Argentina. – I bet Argentina to win 2-1.

To referee – Arbitrar

• ¡Él no sabe arbitrar! – He doesn’t know how to referee!

To attack – Atacar

• Están atacando más que en el primer tiempo. – They are attacking more than in the first half.

To look for, To seek – Buscar

• ¿¡Por qué no busca el balón!? – Why is he not looking for the ball?

To fall – Caer

• Se cayó corriendo por la banda. – He fell running down the sideline.

To shoot – Chutar

• Messi es uno de los que mejor sabe chutar. – Messi is one of the best shooters.

To qualify – Clasificar

• ¡Vamos que si! ¡Ya clasificamos a la siguiente ronda! – Come on, yes! We already qualified for the next round!

To run – Correr

• Ya no puede correr, se ve muy cansado. – He can’t run, he already looks very tired.

To defend – Defender

• Piqué fue uno de los mejores defendiendo – Piqué was one of the best at defending

To defeat – Derrotar

• ¡Esta vez los derrotaremos! – This time we will defeat them!

To stop – Detener

• ¡No lo pueden detener! Es demasiado rápido. – They can’t stop him! He’s too fast.

To play, To compete – Disputar

• ¡Este partido va a estar disputado! – The match is going to be played!

To eliminate – Eliminar

• ¡Vaya! Que mala suerte, nos eliminaron. – Wow! What bad luck, they eliminated us.

To tie – Empatar

• Para continuar, necesitamos al menos empatar. – To continue, we at least need to tie.

To train – Entrenar

• Se nota que han estado entrenando nuevas tácticas. – It shows that they’ve been training new tactics.

To end – Finalizar

• El partido está por finalizar. – The game is about to end.

To stop – Frenar

• Casi hace el pase, pero no pudo frenar el balón. – He almost made the pass, but he could not stop the ball.

To win – Ganar

• ¡Ganamos! – We won!

To prevail – Imponerse

• Para ser nuevos, saben imponerse en el campo. – For being the new team, they know how to play.

To try – Intentar

• Al menos lo intentaron. – At least they gave it a try.

To play – Jugar

• ¡Ellos si saben como jugar! – They know how to play!

To fill – Llenar

• Pensé que se llenaría más el estadio. – I thought that the stadium would have filled up more.

To score – Marcar

• ¡No han marcado ni un gol! – They didn’t score a goal!

In addition to “to score,” this verb has a bunch of other meanings that we detail in our related post on the multiple meanings of “marcar”.

To spin the ball. – Marear el balón.

• ¡Mira! Es bueno mareando el balón. – Look! He’s good at spinning the ball.

To improve – Mejorar

• Deben mejorar como equipo. – They must improve as a team.

To fight – Pelear

• Al terminar el partido, casi se agarran a pelear. – At the end of the game, they almost ended up fighting.

To lose – Perder

• ¡Ya perdieron, pero lo dieron todo! – They’ve lost, but they gave it their all!

To recover – Recuperar

• Neymar estuvo lesionado, pero ya se recuperó. – Neymar was injured, but he has already recovered.

To break – Romper

• ¡Falta! ¡Casi le rompen la pierna! – Foul! They almost broke his leg!

To continue, To follow, To go on – Seguir

• ¡El partido debe continuar! – The game must go on!

To go up, To increase – Subir

• Lograron subir de posición en el marcador. – They managed to increase their position on the scoreboard.

To triumph – Triunfar

• El equipo triunfó en el mundial. – The team triumphed in the World Cup

Useful Spanish soccer phrases to use during the World Cup

Now that you’ve seen a bunch of useful vocab about soccer in Spanish, we’ll leave you with some top Spanish phrases you’re likely to hear during the World Cup. Don’t be afraid to yell out a few of these at opportune moments during a match, modifying them for your favorite team, of course!

• ¿Dónde vamos a ver el partido? – Where are we going to watch the game?

• ¿Cuando comienza el partido? – When does the game start?

• ¡Ya va a comenzar la final! – The final is about to begin!

• ¿Ya comenzaron los cuartos de final? – Did the quarterfinals already start?

• ¿Sabes quién ganó ayer? – Do you know which team won yesterday?

• ¿Este equipo fue el que ganó la última vez? – Was this team the one who won last time?

• ¿Cómo va el partido? – How’s the game going?

• ¿Viste la inauguración? – Did you see the opening?

• ¿Cuanto tiempo queda? – How much time is left?

• ¡Ya nos empataron! – They already caught up to us!

• Se fueron a penaltis. – They went to penalties.

• ¡Ese arbitro es un pendejo! – That referee is an ass!

• ¿Está ciego o que? – Is he blind or what?

• ¡No fue falta! ¡Está fingiendo! – It wasn’t a foul! He’s pretending!

• Espera por la repetición, ¡Claro que fue falta! – Wait for the replay, of course it was a foul!

• No puede ser! Mi equipo quedó eliminado. – No way! My team was eliminated!

• ¡Que buen jugador! Probablemente se lleve el balón de oro. – What a good player! He probably gets the golden ball.

• Messi es mi jugador favorito. – Messi is my favorite player.

• ¡Te dije que Argentina llegaría a la final! – I told you that Argentina would reach the final!

• ¡Te apuesto a que gana Brasil! – I bet you that Brazil wins!

Conclusion

The 2022 World Cup is a big deal throughout the Spanish-speaking countries, so with this post we’ve got you covered to be able to keep up with all the specific soccer vocab you’ll need when watching the tournament with your Spanish-speaking friends. Between the vocab lists for each category of the game, the list of useful Spanish soccer verbs, and the quick go-to phrases to holler out during matches, you’re ready to ready to dive in and talk soccer in Spanish!

We recommend bookmarking or sharing this post for quick access when you need it. And for practice, we can even recommend following along with the Cup on FIFA’s 2022 World Cup page in Spanish! May the best team win!