Association Football Terminology - F

F

• FA Cup: English knockout competition – the oldest cup tournament in the world.
• Fan: follower of a football team or someone who simply enjoys watching the game. Also known as supporter.
• Fan park: area away from grounds – often in city centres – used to screen matches on large television screens for fans, normally for big tournaments such as the World Cup or other important matches.
• Fans' favourite: player that is extremely popular with fans of a club or nation.
• Favourite: team that is expected to win a particular match or tournament. Opposite of underdog.
• FC: initialism for football club, used by teams such as Watford FC.
• Feeder club: club whose role is to provide first-team experience for younger players with a formal or informal agreement that successful ones can move on to the bigger club.
• Feign injury: see play-acting
• Field of play: see pitch.
• FIFA: acronym for Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football), the world governing body of the sport; pronounced "fee-fa".
• Final whistle: see full-time.
• First eleven: the eleven players who, when available, would be the ones usually chosen by the team's manager to start a game.
• First team: the most senior team fielded by a club.
• First touch: skill attribute for a player which signifies their ability to bring the ball completely under control immediately upon receiving it.
• Flag: small rectangular flag attached to a handle, used by an assistant referee to signal that they have seen a foul or other infraction take place. One assistant referee's flag is a solid colour (often yellow), and their colleague's has a two-colour (often red and yellow) quartered pattern. Some flags have buttons on the handle, which will activate an alarm worn by the referee to attract their attention. Can also refer to the corner flag. The action of an assistant referee signalling with the flag is called flagging.
• Fixture: scheduled match which has yet to be played.
• Flat back four: defensive positioning system, in which the primary first position of each member of a four-man defense is in a straight line across the pitch; often used in conjunction with an offside trap. In formations with three centre backs, the phrase "flat back three" is sometimes used.
• Flick-on: when a player receives a pass from a teammate and, instead of controlling it, touches the ball with their head or foot while it is moving past them, with the intent of helping the ball reach another teammate.
• Football: a widely used name for association football. Can also refer to the ball.
• Football League: English league competition founded in 1888, the oldest such competition in the world.
• Football programme: also known as match programme; booklet purchased by spectators prior to a football match containing information relevant to it, including lists of players, short articles penned by commentators and the like. Older programmes may have a considerable value as a collectable.
• Football pyramid: also known as league system; hierarchy of leagues which teams can be promoted or relegated between, depending on finishing positions or playoffs. They are often referred to as "pyramids" due to their tendency to have increasing number of divisions further down the tiers (or "steps"), leading to a pyramid-like structure.
• Formation: how the players in a team are positioned on the pitch. The formation is often denoted numerically, with the numbers referring to the corresponding number of players in defensive, midfield and attacking positions.
• Forward: see Striker.
• Fourth official: additional assistant referee, who has various duties and can replace one of the other officials, in case of injury.
• Fox in the box: see Goal poacher.
• Foul: breach of the Laws of the Game by a player, punishable by a free-kick or penalty. Such acts can lead to yellow or red cards depending on their severity.
• Free kick: the result of a foul outside the penalty area, given against the offending team. Free kicks can be either direct (shot straight towards the goal) or indirect (the ball must touch another player before a goal can be scored).
• Freestyle football: art of a player expressing themself with a football, while performing various tricks with any part of their body. Similar in style to keepie-uppie and kemari, it has become a widespread sport across the world and is practised by many people.
• Friendly: match arranged by two teams with no competitive value, such as a player's testimonial or a warm-up match before a season begins.
• Fullback: position on either side of the defence, whose job is to try to prevent the opposing team attacking down the wings. Also spelt full back or full-back.
• Full-time: either (1) the end of the game, signalled by the referees whistle (also known as the final whistle), (2) a professional footballer or club i.e. their only profession or (3) a word used to describe a permanent coach.
• Futsal: variant of association football that is played on a smaller hard court surface and mainly played indoors. Involves two teams with five players each, one of whom is the goalkeeper, with an unlimited number of substitutes per permitted and is played in two periods each lasting 20 minutes. Similar, but not identical, to six-a-side football.