Association Football Terminology - P

P

• Panenka: skill move used when taking a penalty kick wherein the player taking the penalty delicately chips the ball over a diving goalkeeper, rather than striking the ball firmly, as is the norm. Named after Antonín Panenka, who famously scored such a penalty for Czechoslovakia against West Germany in the final of the 1976 UEFA European Football Championship.
• Parachute payment: series of payments made for four years by the Premier League to every club relegated from that league.
• Paralympic football: consists of adaptations of the sport of association football for athletes with a disability. These sports are typically played using FIFA rules, with modifications to the field of play, equipment, numbers of players, and other rules as required to make the game suitable for the athletes. The two most prominent versions of Paralympic football are Football 5-a-side, for athletes with visual impairments, and Football 7-a-side, for athletes with cerebral palsy.
• Parking the bus: expression used when all the players on a team play defensively, usually when the team is winning by a narrow margin. See also Catenaccio.
• Pass: when a player kicks the ball to one of their teammates.
• Passive offside: exception to the offside rule, wherein play may continue if a player in an offside position makes no attempt to involve himself in the game at the moment an offside call would usually be made, and allows an onside player to win control of the ball instead.
• Penalty area: rectangular area measuring 44 yards (40.2 metres) by 18 yards (16.5 metres) in front of each goal.
• Penalty kick: kick taken 12 yards (11 metres) from goal, awarded when a team commits a foul inside its own penalty area, and the infringement would usually be punishable by a direct free kick.
• Penalty shootout: method of deciding a match in a knockout competition, which has ended in a draw after full-time and extra-time. Players from each side take it in turns to attempt to score a penalty against the opposition goalkeeper. Sudden death is introduced if scores are level after five penalties have been taken by either side. Also spelt penalty shoot-out.
• Perfect hat-trick: when a player scores three goals in a single match, one with the left foot, one with the right foot and one with a header.
• Phantom goal: see Ghost goal.
• Phoenix club: club which has been created following the demise of a pre-existing club. Phoenix clubs usually take on the same colours and fan base as those of the defunct club and may even be established by fans themselves.
• Pitch: playing surface for a game of football; usually a specially prepared grass field. Referred to in the Laws of the Game as the field of play.

• Pitch invasion: when a crowd of people who are watching run onto the pitch to celebrate, protest about an incident or confront opposition fans. Known as rushing the field in the United States.
• Play-acting: similar to diving, play-acting is deceiving the officials that a player is injured to try to gain an advantage or force the referee to punish the "aggressor". Also known as feigning injury or Diving.
• Play to the whistle: an informal phrase used to instruct players to keep on playing until the referee blows their whistle.
• Playing advantage: see advantage.
• Playmaker: attacking player whose job is to control the flow of their team's play.
• Playoff: series of matches towards the end of the season that determine clubs which are promoted and/or relegated, determine tied league positions or determine qualifiers for continental competitions. In some leagues, playoffs are also used to determine that season's champions.
• Points deduction: method of punishing clubs for breaching the rules of a tournament by reducing the number of accumulated points during a league season. Points deductions can be applied for offences such as going into administration, financial irregularities, fielding ineligible players, match fixing, or violent conduct amongst club staff or supporters.
• Post: see goalpost.
• The Poznań: celebration which involves fans turning their backs to the pitch, joining arms and jumping up and down in unison. It takes its name from Polish club Lech Poznań, whose fans are thought to be the first to celebrate in this way.
• Pre-season: period leading up to the start of a league season. Clubs generally prepare for a new season with intensive training, playing various friendlies, and sometimes by attempting to sign new players.
• Premier League: name of the top division of English football since 1992. The phrase can also be used generically, or as a translation for leagues in other countries.
• Professional: player who is engaged by a club under a professional contract and who is paid a wage by the club to focus on their sport in lieu of other employment.
• Professional foul: foul committed by a player who is aware that they are about to intentionally commit the foul, and who does so having calculated the risk, and determined that committing the foul and taking a yellow card or even a red card will be more beneficial to their team than if the player allowed their opponent to continue unimpeded.
• Promedios: relegation system based on a points per game average over multiple seasons.
• Promotion: when a club moves up to a higher division in the league hierarchy as a result of being one of the best teams in their division at the end of a season.
• Pyramid: may refer to the 2–3–5 formation, or to a football pyramid, a hierarchical structure of leagues.