2000: Prawn sandwich brigade<\/p>\n
Amid concerns over ticket prices, increased space given to corporate hospitality and the declining atmosphere at matches, Manchester United captain Roy Keane inadvertently invented a new phrase in a rant about his club\u2019s home support.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people come to Old Trafford and I don\u2019t think they can spell football, let alone understand it,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the end of the day, they need to get behind the team. Away from home, our fans are fantastic; I\u2019d call them the hardcore fans. But at home, they have a few drinks and probably the prawn sandwiches, and they don\u2019t realise what\u2019s going on out on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n Roy Keane, centre, versus seafood in bread was a big talking point in the 2000-01 season (Alex Livesey\/Allsport)<\/p>\n
It went, in 2000 terms, viral. This is one of those phrases that has been distorted; Keane obviously didn\u2019t use the word \u2018brigade\u2019, but somehow this became automatically attached to the other two words, best evidenced by David Moyes\u2019 post-match comments after a 1-0 win over Arsenal in his brief spell in charge a decade later. \u201cThe crowd played a massive part today,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was certainly no prawn sandwich brigade here today.\u201d<\/p>\n
It now feels a little dated \u2014 even if it was recently used in a Daily Mail headline \u2014 because corporate hospitality is now so luxurious you\u2019d expect more than prawn sandwiches.<\/p>\n
2001: Fox in the box<\/p>\n
This brilliant phrase for a lively goal-poacher was seemingly invented by accident.<\/p>\n
In his biography of Thierry Henry, French journalist Philippe Auclair explains that it was unwittingly co-authored by himself, Thierry Henry and the late Evening Standard journalist Steve Stammers in the aftermath of Arsenal\u2019s FA Cup final defeat in 2001 at the hands of Liverpool. Arsenal had dominated the game, but lost the game thanks to two opportunistic Michael Owen strikes. Henry, ruing Arsenal\u2019s lack of a player in that mould, suggested to assembled French journalists that Arsenal needed a \u2018renard de surface\u2019.<\/p>\n
Stammers asked Auclair how that translated. Auclair explained. It happened to rhyme: fox in the box. Immediately realising it would make a great headline, Stammers asked Auclair not to tell anyone else until he could get it written up and in the paper.<\/p>\n
It briefly became a common phrase, most associated with Francis Jeffers, signed by Arsenal from Everton to be that player a month after the FA Cup final. The phrase itself was more successful than Jeffers.<\/p>\n
2002: Metatarsal<\/p>\n
When David Beckham\u2019s World Cup 2002 campaign was threatened by a tackle from Deportivo\u2019s Aldo Duscher in a Champions League tie, we were introduced to an unfamiliar word: the metatarsals, the bones at the top of the foot<\/a>. Football had, subtly, become more scientific. What was once a mere \u2018twisted ankle\u2019 would increasingly be referred to as an \u2018ankle ligament\u2019 injury, but \u2019broken metatarsal\u2019 sprang up from nowhere.<\/p>\n \u201cIt used to be called a broken foot,\u201d said then-Reading physio Jon Fearn a couple of years later, speaking to the BBC. \u201cAfter all the Beckham analysis in 2002, the metatarsal word came up and has been used ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n Traditionally, English football has been more vague with injuries than other countries, particularly Spain. Last year, for example, The Athletic headlined a piece about Alexis Putellas\u2019 fitness problems with simply \u201cleg injury\u201d<\/a>, while the information from the club was that she had suffered a \u201ctriceps surae\u201d problem. The halfway house of \u2018calf\u2019 is probably what most of us are looking for.<\/p>\n 2003: Active<\/p>\n You could populate half of this list with various offside-related phrases: daylight, armpit, T-shirt line.<\/p>\n The craze in 2003 was \u2018active\u2019 (and \u2018passive\u2019). This was essentially an acknowledgement that a player in an offside position was not actually offside unless he was attempting to play the ball, or blocking an opponent.<\/p>\n It\u2019s quite standard now, but it caused confusion, with some players \u2014 most notably Manchester United\u2019s Ruud van Nistelrooy and Bolton Wanderers\u2019 Kevin Nolan \u2014 taking advantage by standing offside at free kicks, waiting for defenders to \u2018drop\u2019 and then becoming involved if the ball was half-cleared.<\/p>\n \u201cThis rule is absolute nonsense,\u201d said Match of the Day pundit Alan Hansen. \u201cWhat is passive or active? What is second phase? Do me a favour. I just shake my head now and cannot believe what is going on.\u201d<\/p>\n 2004: Parking the bus<\/p>\n When Jose Mourinho complained about Tottenham Hotspur\u2019s negative tactics in a goalless draw with his Chelsea side a couple of months into his period in English football, he borrowed a phrase from Portuguese.<\/p>\n \u201cAs we say in my country, they brought the bus and they left the bus in front of the goal,\u201d he said. Clearly, this was a bit wordy, so this became \u2018parking the bus\u2019, which initially found popularity as an insult for unambitious football, then later was used in a more neutral manner to mean deep defending.<\/p>\n Mourinho, ironically, became one of the managers most regularly accused of parking the bus.<\/p>\n 2005: Bouncebackability <\/p>\n A year beforehand, when Iain Dowie suggested that his Crystal Palace side had proven their ability to recover from a disappointing result and respond with a victory, he was presumably slightly flailing for the right word to use.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s precisely why words should be invented, and after a campaign by Soccer AM<\/a> for the word to officially enter the English language, it increasingly became used knowingly by sports commentators, journalists, and eventually the wider world too. Ultimately, Soccer AM got its wish.<\/p>\n Justin Crozier, director of the Collins English Dictionary, explained: \u201cBouncebackability came to our attention in September in our huge database of words. We thought it would die out but it steadied in October, and exploded in November. It went into a life of its own then. I can see why it works. It has a nice rhythm to it as a word, and it also sounds punchy.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Iain Dowie, creator of bouncebackability (Ian Walton\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n 2006: Fanzone\/fanfest\/fanmeile<\/p>\n Forgive a quick detour over to Germany, but this concept deserves special recognition here because \u2018fanmeile\u2019 \u2014 fan mile \u2014 was literally named the German word of the year for 2006.<\/p>\n In the summer, when Germany hosted the World Cup, city centres hosted huge parties, often across extraordinarily large areas. The Berlin one supposedly contained a million people for a quarter-final penalty shootout victory over Argentina, in the shadow of the Brandenburg Gate.<\/p>\n It was the first time FIFA had officially designated city centre areas as \u2018fanfests\u2019, which are now more commonly known as \u2018fanzones\u2019, but regardless of the precise wording, there was suddenly the requirement for a new noun.<\/p>\n 2007: Transitions<\/p>\n During this next period, football language advanced significantly in tactical terms.<\/p>\n Now a common phrase, \u2018transitions\u2019 were barely heard of before the mid-2000s \u2014 as evidenced by Damien Duff, a key winger in Jose Mourinho\u2019s first Chelsea side, recalling the manager\u2019s instructions to the side.<\/p>\n \u201cMourinho was big on transitions,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was probably the first time I\u2019d heard it. If you lose the ball, it\u2019s transition from defence to attack, everyone getting back into position. On the other hand, if you win the ball, it\u2019s transitioning into attack, exploding forward quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n A buzzword in coaching circles for a few years beforehand, it became more common after Mourinho\u2019s back-to-back title successes, and felt established by the time English football became overwhelmingly based around counter-attacking.<\/p>\n 2008: Tiki-taka<\/p>\n This is generally credited to Javier Clemente, who was Spain manager in the mid-1990s but is most associated with a successful stint with Athletic Club the previous decade. Oddly, Clemente intended it as a term of derision for fruitless, pointless possession play that didn\u2019t go anywhere; his style of football was about getting the ball forward quickly.<\/p>\n But when Spain passed their way to Euro 2008 victory \u2014 as it happens, under another old-school manager, Luis Aragones, who adapted his approach to suit Spain\u2019s best players \u2014 the term became recognised in England to refer to possession-based football.<\/p>\n By this point, the term was generally used positively. Later, when teams were perhaps too focused on possession, it became more of a negative again and even Pep Guardiola wanted to distance himself from it. \u201cI hate tiki-taka. Tiki-taka means passing the ball for the sake of it, with no clear intention, and it\u2019s pointless,\u201d he said in Marti Penarnau\u2019s book about his time with Bayern Munich.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t believe what people say \u2014 Barca didn\u2019t do tiki-taka!\u201d<\/p>\n 2009: False nine<\/p>\n The concept of a notional centre-forward (or \u2018No 9\u2019) dropping into deeper areas has a long and storied history, and you can find uses of the word \u2018false\u2019 in this context as long ago as the mid-1980s.<\/p>\n But in modern terms, Francesco Totti\u2019s role at Roma led to the term being popularised in 2006-07, Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s period up front for Manchester United led to an increased usage (it\u2019s strange to think Ronaldo was once considered in this mould) but then Lionel Messi\u2019s role for Barcelona towards the end of the 2008-09 treble-winning campaign meant it became acceptable to use the phrase without quotation marks.<\/p>\n \n Francesco Totti\u2026 captain, leader, false nine (Alberto Pizzoli\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n 2010: The Poznan<\/p>\n In a World Cup year, the Jabulani and vuvuzela have serious claims to this title. But something that happened later on in 2010 has had more of a legacy: Lech Poznan fans turning their back on the match, linking arms, then jumping up and down. Manchester City fans adopted it after a contest between the clubs, and have done it regularly since<\/a>.<\/p>\n It also became a regular feature of Oasis<\/a> gigs this summer \u2014 their first in 16 years, and therefore their first since City fans started doing it. Noel Gallagher described it as the highlight of the tour, and received a shirt from Lech Poznan by way of thanks.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are truly proud that such a great club as Manchester City helped to spread the name of our city and team in such a remarkable way,\u201d their letter read. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen the recordings from your concerts where you encourage Oasis fans to join in and do \u2018the Poznan\u2019 \u2014 and we have to say, it really makes a huge impression.\u201d<\/p>\n 2011: Underlap<\/p>\n These days, this is a perfectly acceptable word when a full-back runs inside a winger who is in possession, rather than the traditional run, the overlap on the outside. But when Chris Coleman said it during a brief run as a Sky Sports co-commentator in the post-Andy Gray period, Twitter exploded.<\/p>\n It stuck \u2014 and a niche word for a niche action has become a standard word for an increasingly standard action.<\/p>\n Did Chris Coleman just say \u2018underlap\u2019 to describe a full-back running past a winger on the inside?<\/p>\n \u2014 Jonathan Wilson (@jonawils) March 6, 2011<\/a><\/p>\n 2012: Tifo<\/p>\n A strange one, this. By now, it\u2019s established that this means a banner or a choreography from supporters, and clearly comes from the Italian word \u2018tifosi\u2019, meaning fans.<\/p>\n But Italians don\u2019t use the word. There is an English-language Wikipedia entry for \u2018tifo\u2019, but not an Italian-language entry.<\/p>\n Somewhat mysteriously, it entered popular usage without any real logic. The Guardian used it in a headline in 2012<\/a>, but also felt compelled to include a hyperlink on the first mention of the word in the article itself, linking to an explanation.<\/p>\n 2013: Raumdeuter <\/p>\n A phrase invented by Thomas Muller about himself. A curious player, not overwhelmingly elegant or physically remarkable or technically outstanding, Muller found fame as a right-place-at-the-right-time merchant who wasn\u2019t even a pure No 9 in the Filippo Inzaghi mould. He wasn\u2019t obviously a right-winger, or No 10 either.<\/p>\n What he was, Muller suggested, was a \u201craumdeuter\u201d; a clever pun on the German word \u201ctraumdeuter\u201d, which refers to an interpreter of dreams, and therefore essentially means an interpreter of space. It entered into wider usage during Bayern\u2019s run to European Cup success in 2013, and became semi-official when Football Manager allowed gamers to assign this specific tactical role to a player.<\/p>\n 2014: \u2018We go again\u2019<\/p>\n Steven Gerrard\u2019s post-match rallying cry after Liverpool\u2019s 3-2 victory over Manchester City is chiefly remembered for his somewhat unfortunate. \u201cThis doesn\u2019t slip\u201d, which inevitably became a running joke when Gerrard cost Liverpool the title by slipping in a subsequent game against Chelsea<\/a>. But another phrase in that speech \u2014 \u201cWe go again!\u201d \u2014 has become a standard phrase in football.<\/p>\n Interestingly \u2014 presumably because Liverpool\u2019s campaign ended in agony for Gerrard \u2014 the phrase is now generally used after defeat, as if to encourage some level of, well, bouncebackability. Gerrard wasn\u2019t originally using it in that manner; he was encouraging Liverpool to maintain the same standards after a win.<\/p>\n But, for example, when Liverpool dropped points against Leicester City in a closely fought title battle with Manchester City in 2019, Jurgen Klopp used the phrase in what has become the accepted context. \u201cEverything is fine. I don\u2019t think anybody was injured, and now we have a few days to prepare for West Ham, and we go again.\u201d<\/p>\n 2015: Gegenpressing<\/p>\n Regaining possession immediately after it has been lost.\u00a0This was initially popularised in German football, and became particularly common around the time Klopp\u2019s Borussia Dortmund side were winning back-to-back Bundesliga titles. Meanwhile, German football analysts were suggesting that England\u2019s lack of an equivalent word was not a mere linguistic shortcoming, but a tactical failing too.<\/p>\n It exploded into wider usage once Klopp took charge of Liverpool; it could simply be called counter-pressing in English, but gegenpressing is a nod to the fundamental importance of this tactical concept in German football.<\/p>\n 2016: Free 8s<\/p>\n When Guardiola arrived at Manchester City, he redeployed Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva \u2014 previously competing for the No 10 role in a 4-2-3-1, with the other forced to play from wide \u2014 as dual \u2018No 8s\u2019 in a 4-3-3. They were given the licence to push on from central midfield into the channels and make runs behind the opposition\u2019s defence.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a different role,\u201d De Bruyne told the Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. \u201cIt\u2019s all right. It\u2019s a little change, but it\u2019s all right. The coach has his own tactics. I play not as a No 10 but as a free No 8 with a lot of movement everywhere.\u201d Like Muller, by christening his own role, he\u2019s become synonymous with it.<\/p>\n \n How to fit two \u2018No 10s\u2019 into your team? Make them \u2018free\u2019 No 8s, of course (Dean Mouhtaropoulos\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n 2017: Remontada<\/p>\n Previous foreign words entered into popular usage because there was no English equivalent. \u2018Remontada\u2019 is an outlier, because it simply means \u2018comeback\u2019.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no obvious reason it became so prevalent (there is, at least, logic to \u2018cojones\u2019, because the English equivalent is a swear word) but it\u2019s a lovely word to say, so when Barcelona overturned a 4-0 first-leg defeat to Paris Saint-Germain with a 6-1 second-leg win, everyone was happy to say the Spanish version<\/a>.<\/p>\n Still, even the English only ever seem to say it in relation to Spanish sides, which seems right.<\/p>\n 2018: xG<\/p>\n When Match of the Day started displaying \u2018expected goals\u2019 figures alongside \u2018shots on target\u2019 and \u2018corners\u2019 after highlights of each match throughout 2017-18, the programme was unusually ahead of the curve.<\/p>\n There was inevitably a backlash \u2014 the phrase isn\u2019t a particularly intuitive one \u2014 but gradually everyone realised that it was, in basic terms, a \u2018shots\u2019 figure, adjusted to account for the position of the shot. xG is surely the most nerdy phrase that has entered popular usage, and marks the beginning of the period of more mathematical and technological words being used.<\/p>\n 2019: VAR<\/p>\n Introduced at the World Cup the previous year, but in the Premier League for the 2019-20 season, when it really took off.<\/p>\n Oddly, there remains something of a confusion about two things. First, whether this is an initialism or an acronym, and therefore whether it is pronounced \u2018var\u2019 or \u2018v-a-r\u2019.<\/p>\n Second, whether VAR refers to the technology being used, the official controlling the technology, or both.<\/p>\n 2020: Burofax<\/p>\n When Lionel Messi effectively handed in a transfer request at Barcelona in 2020, he did so using a \u2018Burofax\u2019, a word that had barely been heard outside Spain, and had no obvious translation.<\/p>\n This prompted everyone from AS to the Sun to USA Today to publish articles simply asking, \u2018What is a Burofax?\u2019, to which the answer was: a recorded delivery of a document that is certified by the Spanish postal service, and could be used in court to prove the receipt of the delivery.<\/p>\n Granted, no one has had much need to use it since, but Google Trends reveals the extent to which, for a week, this was the most searched-for word in football.<\/p>\n Until the 2020-21 season, few people had ever thought to put a player lying \u2018underneath\u2019 a jumping wall at a free kick. Then, suddenly, everyone was doing it. And therefore it needed a name.<\/p>\n English football went for \u2018draught excluder\u2019 \u2014 seemingly first used on Sky Sports by Alan Smith and promoted by his long-time commentary partner Martin Tyler \u2014 after the objects placed under doors to stop cold air getting in. Other countries, which seemingly have properly insulated houses, have less requirement for such devices and went for \u2018crocodile\u2019 or \u2018railway barrier\u2019.<\/p>\n This was important enough to be put to a vote by The Athletic in May 2021<\/a>, which dates this nicely.<\/p>\n 2022: Sportswashing<\/p>\n There are various instances on this list where the concept has been around for decades, but the actual word was coined a few years before it became uttered more than ever in a certain year.<\/p>\n And so 2022 kicked off with a Guardian article<\/a> simply entitled, \u201cCould 2022 be sportswashing\u2019s biggest year?\u201d This was largely because of that year\u2019s World Cup in Qatar, but also because of Saudi Arabia\u2019s takeover of Newcastle United towards the end of the previous year, and the ensuing debate over club ownership.<\/p>\n Midway through 2022, for example, it was announced that Newcastle\u2019s away kit would be in the colours of the Saudi flag.<\/p>\n \n Newcastle\u2019s 2021 takeover led to \u2018sportswashing\u2019 entering the Premier League lexicon (Oli Scarff\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n 2023: PSR<\/p>\n Unquestionably the most boring phrase on the list \u2014 short for profit and sustainability rules, which suddenly became a major talking point when Everton were deducted 10 points in the November<\/a>. Subsequent points deductions followed for both them and Nottingham Forest in 2024.<\/p>\n 2024: Swiss model<\/p>\n The concept of a league table where, unusually, everyone doesn\u2019t play everyone else \u2014 and therefore is a genuinely new concept to most football supporters.<\/p>\n Originally termed the Swiss league, Swiss model or Swiss format, the new Champions League format is officially known as the league phase, but it feels odd to refer to a \u2018league phase\u2019 in a whole competition called the Champions League, and therefore the older phrase has become relatively standard.<\/p>\n Besides, it\u2019s not a typical league phase, and therefore, when discussing the success and popularity of the new format, you do need a specific word.<\/p>\n 2025: Finishers <\/p>\n It has been a few years since some clubs started referring to substitutes as \u2018finishers\u2019 \u2014 Michael Walker\u2019s article for The Athletic in 2021 focused on the concept at AFC Wimbledon<\/a> \u2014 but it has particularly exploded this year.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-52693236-scaled.jpg\")
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2021: Draught excluder<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-1235764069-scaled.jpg\")
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