Association Football Terminology - B

B

• Back-pass rule: rule introduced into the Laws of the Game in 1992 to help speed up play, specifying that goalkeepers are not allowed to pick up the ball if it was intentionally kicked back to them by a teammate.
• Backheel: pass between team-mates, in which one player uses their heel to propel the ball backwards to another player. Sometimes spelt back heel.
• Ball: spherical object normally kicked around by football players. Balls used in official matches are standardised for size, weight, and material, and manufactured to the specifications set in the Laws of the Game.
• Ball boy: one of several children, male or female, stationed around the edge of the pitch, whose role is to help retrieve balls that go out of play.
• Ballon d'Or: may refer to the current FIFA Ballon d'Or, awarded to the player voted the best in world football, or a previous award, which recognised the best player in European football.
• Barras Bravas: name used to describe organised supporter/hooligan groups in Latin America, similar to the European term Ultras.
• Beach football: variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand. Also known as beach soccer or beasal.
• Behind closed doors: matches in which spectators are not present. May be imposed as a form of sanction for clubs whose supporters have behaved inappropriately. Such matches are sometimes arranged between clubs, to help hasten a player's return to fitness.
• Bench: area on the edge of the pitch where a team's substitutes and coaches sit, usually consisting an actual covered bench or a row of seats. More formally known as the substitutes' bench. Also sometimes called a dugout.
• Bend: skill attribute in which players strike the ball in a manner that applies spin, resulting in the flight of the ball curving, or bending, in mid-air. Players who are especially adept at achieving this will often be their team's designated free kick taker, as they are able to bend the ball around walls while taking shots at goal. The phrase "bend it like Beckham" stems from English player David Beckham's ability in this regard.
• Bicycle kick: move made by a player with their back to the goal. The player throws their body into the air, makes a shearing movement with the legs to get one leg in front of the other, and attempts to play the ball backwards over their own head, all before returning to the ground. Also known as an overhead kick.
• Booking: act of noting the offender in a cautionable offence, which results in a yellow card.
• Boot boy: young player who, in addition to his football training, is expected to perform menial tasks such as cleaning the boots of first-team players.
• Bosman ruling: ruling by the European Court of Justice related to player transfers that allows professional football players in the European Union to move freely to another club at the end of their term of contract with their present team. Handed down in 1995, it also banned the restricted movement of EU members within the leagues of member states. Named after Jean-Marc Bosman, the plaintiff in that court case.
• Box: see Penalty area.
• Break: attacking manoeuvre in which a several members of a defending team gain possession of the ball and suddenly counter-attack into their opponent's half of the pitch, overwhelming their opponents' defence in greater numbers, usually as a result of the opposing defenders' being out of position after having supported their attackers.
• Bung: secret and unauthorised payment, used as a financial incentive to help a transfer go through.
• Byline: markings on the shortest side of the pitch, which run from the posts to the corners. Also known as the End line.