Association Football Terminology - A

A

• Academy: model used by some professional clubs for youth development. Young players are contracted to the club and trained to a high standard, with the hope that some will develop into professional footballers. Some clubs provide academic as well as footballing education at their academies. Also known as a youth academy.
• Added time: see Stoppage time.
• Administration: legal process where a business unable to pay its creditors seeks temporary legal protection from them, while it attempts to restructure its debt. Clubs going into administration usually incur a points deduction.
• Advantage: decision made by the referee during a game, where a player is fouled, but play is allowed to continue because the team that suffered the foul is in a better position than they would have been had the referee stopped the game.
• AFC: initialism for either the Asian Football Confederation, the governing body of the sport in Asia, or association football club, used by teams such as Sunderland AFC.
• Against the run of play: describes a goal scored, or a win or draw achieved, by a side that was being clearly outplayed.
• Aggregate or aggregate score: combined score of matches between two teams in a two-legged match.
• Anti-football: pejorative term for a particularly robust and defensive style of play.
• Apertura and Clausura: league format employed by several football leagues in Latin America, in which the traditional August–May season is divided into two separate league tournaments, each with its own champion. Apertura and Clausura are Spanish for "opening" and "closing".
• Arena football: see six-a-side football.
• Armband: worn by a team's captain, to signify that role. Black armbands are occasionally worn by an entire team in commemoration of a death or tragic event.
• Assist: pass that leads to a goal being scored.
• Assistant referee: one of a number of officials who assist the referee in controlling a match.
• Attacker: usually refers to a striker. but can be used to describe any player close to the opposing team's goal line.
• Away: see Home and away.
• Away goals rule: tie-break applied in some competitions with two-legged matches. In cases where the scores finish level on aggregate, the team that has scored more goals away from home is deemed the winner.