Football is a vast game which has an unending list of abbreviations. If you really wish to understand football then abbreviations are the key. Without knowing the meaning of abbreviations, it’s quite difficult to understand the Football. In this article we will introduce you to the meaning of abbreviations and their use that will help you understand football better. Abbreviations are segmented into different parts based on the position, match, misc, etc.
Position Related Abbreviations
AM: Attacking midfielder
SW: Sweeper. The player who gets to perform both defensive and offensive tasks. He is kinda given a free role and can serve in a way beneficial for the play. Player back behind the defensive line when opposition attack.
CF: Centre Forward. The player is positioned at the centre or middle of the offensive line. The player is called an attacker. Nowadays only one or two attackers are used normally.
CB: Centre Back. While positioning the players only one or two players are used normally.
LB: Left Back. The player is positioned at the extreme left of the defensive line.
RB: Right Back: The player is positioned at the right side of the defensive line.
FB: Fullback. Don’t get confused as it is another name for a defensive player who either plays from right or left .
RWB: Right Wing Back. The player positioned in the front of the right back out on the wing.
LWB: Left Wing Back: The player positioned in the front of the left back out on the wing.
DM: Defensive midfielder
CM: Centre midfielder. Don’t confuse it with the chief minister.
D: Defender
F: Forward
G: goalkeeper. Sometimes GK is also used for the same.
LW: Left Wing. Just like LWB, the player is positioned in the left wing with the primary offensive task. You can also understand this as an offensive wing midfielder.
RW: Right Wing. Similar to the LW, but on the opposite side of the wing.
M: Midfielder
WF: Wing Forward. Player positioned with an offensive task on the wing. In modern times, use of centre forward or Wing Forward has lost popularity.
OL: Outside Left. Similar to the Left Wing
OR: Outside Right. Same as the Right Wing
S: Striker. The player plays the similar function as the centre and wing forward. Some biggest and greatest strikers are also world famous.
Match Related Abbreviations
A: Away. Commonly used in tables.
AET: After Extra time. You must be familiar with the extra time rule in football. This abbreviation refers to the game that has used its extra time to evaluate the result.
AW: Away Win. The team that played away won the game. It is used in contrast to home win (HW).
ET: Extra Time. Extra time is given to decide the result of a match in case of a draw. It can also be used in case of injury to a player.
D: Draw. When the score of both teams coincide after the game. It is commonly used in tables to mention the score.
FT: Full Time. The time of 90 minutes including added time for a match.
Gls. Goals. Represents the score of teams. Usually used in databases.
GD: Goal Difference. The difference between the number of goals scored by opposite teams.
H: Home
HT: Half Time. That is 45 minutes. The abbreviation used when compared to full time.
HW: Home Win. The team that played on the home ground and won the game.
L: loss. (Lost games)
QF: Quarter finals
Pts. Points
P: played. The games that are played.
W: win. The games won by a team.
Vs. Versus. It is commonly used while representing the two opposite teams playing against each other in a match.
Miscellaneous related Abbreviations
AFC: Association football clubs. Commonly used name for British clubs.
FC: Football clubs. The abbreviation commonly used for football club. But it can differ depending on languages. As in Spain it is called CF which means club de Football.
Apps. Appearances. It refers to the matches that a player has participated or appeared in.
SC: Soccer club. In America and Canada, football is known as soccer.
Football Association related Abbreviations
AFC: Asian football confederation
CAF: Confederation Africaine de Football. Similar to AFC, but the continent has changed.
CL: Champion League
FA: Football Association. This is an English football association which was established in 1963.
