Competitions and stats
64 terms · Whole glossary
- Ballon d’Or
- Football’s best-known individual award for the player of the year.
- Champions League
- Europe’s top club competition, run by UEFA.
- Comeback
- Winning or drawing after being behind.
- Conference League
- UEFA’s third European club competition, launched in 2021.
- Copa Libertadores
- South America’s top club competition.
- Cup
- A knockout competition where the loser of each tie is eliminated.
- Dead rubber
- A match whose result no longer matters.
- Derby
- A match between fierce rivals, usually from the same city or region.
- Double
- Winning the league and the domestic cup in the same season.
- Draw
- The random pairing of opponents or groups.
- El Clásico
- Spain’s name for its greatest rivalry, above all Real Madrid v Barcelona.
- Europa League
- UEFA’s second-tier European club competition.
- European Championship
- Europe’s national-team tournament, held every four years. The Euros.
- Favourite
- The team considered stronger before a match.
- FIFA
- Football’s world governing body, which organises the World Cup.
- Final
- The deciding match of a knockout competition.
- Fixture
- A scheduled match with a date and an opponent.
- Form
- A team’s recent results, e.g. WWDLW.
- Friendly
- A match with nothing at stake in a competition.
- Giant-killing
- A cup win by a small club over a big one.
- Goal difference
- Goals scored minus goals conceded; usually the first tiebreaker on points.
- Goalless draw
- A match that ends 0–0.
- Golden Boot
- The award for the top scorer of a competition or of Europe’s leagues.
- Group stage
- The part of a tournament played in small groups, the best of which reach the knockouts.
- Head-to-head
- Results between two particular teams; in some leagues they break ties on points.
- International break
- A pause in club football for national-team matches.
- Invincibles
- A team that goes a whole league season unbeaten.
- Knockout stage
- The elimination rounds of a tournament after the group stage.
- League
- A competition where every team plays all the others, usually home and away; the side with most points wins.
- League phase
- The Champions League format since 2024: one 36-team table where each club plays eight different opponents.
- League table
- The standings of a league by points, goal difference and goals scored.
- Matchday
- A round of league fixtures in which every team plays.
- Midweek
- Games from Tuesday to Thursday, usually European or cup ties.
- Pass accuracy
- The share of passes that reach a teammate.
- Play-off
- Matches between teams from different positions or divisions for a place higher up.
- Player of the match
- The player judged best in a particular game.
- Points
- In a league a win is worth 3 points, a draw 1 and a defeat 0.
- PPDA
- Passes allowed per defensive action; a measure of pressing intensity. Lower means more aggressive.
- Pre-season
- Training camps and friendlies before the season starts.
- Promotion
- The rise of the top teams to a higher division.
- Quarter-final
- The round with eight teams left.
- Relegation
- The drop of the bottom teams to a lower division at the end of the season.
- Relegation battle
- The fight at the bottom of the table to avoid going down.
- Remontada
- A dramatic turnaround in a two-legged tie after a heavy first-leg defeat.
- Round of 16
- The knockout round contested by 16 teams.
- Score draw
- A draw with goals, e.g. 2–2.
- Season calendar
- The schedule of every round and cup stage. Terrace Wars builds its match days on the real calendar.
- Seeding
- Placing teams in pots by strength before a draw.
- Semi-final
- The last four, playing for two places in the final.
- Shots on target
- Shots that would go in if not for the goalkeeper.
- Six-pointer
- A game between direct rivals: the winner gains points and denies them to the other.
- Streak
- Several identical results in a row: wins, defeats or clean sheets.
- Thrashing
- A heavy win.
- Title race
- The fight between several teams for first place.
- Top scorer
- The player with the most goals in a competition.
- Treble
- Three major trophies in a season, usually league, cup and Champions League.
- UEFA
- The Union of European Football Associations, which runs European competitions.
- UEFA coefficient
- A ranking of clubs and countries by European results that sets places and seeding.
- Unbeaten run
- Consecutive matches without a defeat.
- Underdog
- The team given less chance of winning.
- Upset
- A win by a clear underdog over the favourite.
- World Cup
- FIFA’s tournament for national teams, held every four years.
- xA (expected assists)
- Expected goals from shots after a player’s passes; a measure of chances created.
- xG (expected goals)
- The chance that each shot becomes a goal; the total shows how many goals a team “should” have scored.