Club Profiles

AFC Bournemouth club badge
Arsenal
Aston Villa Club badge
Brentford badge
Brighton and Hove Albion club badge
Burnley FC club badge
Chelsea club badge
Crystal Palace badge
Everton
Liverpool badge
Manchester City badge
Manchester United badge
Newcastle United club badge
Nottingham Forest club badge
Sheffield United badge
Spurs badge
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Kick off at a Premier League match.

Medium: Kick off

Medium: Kick off

Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

This episode is medium so we’re looking at football words and phrases you need to describe what’s happening on the pitch or words and phrases fans and commentators on TV might use. There are lots of phrasal verbs to learn at this level.

Summary

Learn more football vocabulary with Premier Skills English. Each lesson in our Premier Vocabulary section looks at one football word or phrase. This lesson look at the phrase to kick off

You can find more lessons on the side of this page.

Transcript

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to Premier Skills English - Premier Vocabulary.

Jack: Hi there! I’m Jack. We’re here to help you with your football English. Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. 

Rich: We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

Jack: This episode is medium so we’re looking at football words and phrases you need to describe what’s happening on the pitch or words and phrases fans and commentators on TV might use. There will be lots of phrasal verbs to learn at this level.


Rich: The phrase we are looking at in this episode is kick-off.

Jack: What time does the Liverpool match kick-off on Saturday?

Rich: I think it kicks off at three. 

Jack: To kick off means to start a football match.

Rich: So, kick off is a verb but can also be a noun. 

Jack: We could also say What time’s kick-off?

Rich: Kick-off is at three.


Jack: Sometimes we see kick-off as two separate words and sometimes we see it as one word, sometimes with a hyphen between the two.

Rich: This can be confusing. The most important thing to remember is whether it’s a verb or a noun.

Jack: The match kicks off at three. Here kick off is a verb phrase so we use two words.

Rich: Kick-off is at three. Here kick-off is a noun so we use a hyphen or just one word. 

Jack: In British English, we usually use a hyphen and in American English, we use one word.


Rich: We can also use kick off more generally. What time will the party kick off? 

Jack: Or at a work meeting your manager might say something like ‘I’d like to kick off by thanking you for all your hard work so far this year’.

Rich: So, kick off also means start or begin in a more general context.


Jack: Kick off is also used in an informal way meaning to become angry or violent.

Rich: You might say: It all kicked off after that bad tackle.

Jack: This means that lots of players from both teams got angry and aggressive towards each other.

Rich: Again we can use this more generally. My dad used to kick off when I arrived home late on a school night when I was a teenager.

Jack: He would get angry?

Rich: Yeah, especially if I hadn’t done any homework.


Jack: There is the final whistle!

Rich: We’ll be back soon with more Premier Vocabulary from Premier Skills English.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football.

Discuss

  • What time do matches normally kick off in your country?
  • Has a team ever scored directly from the kick-off?

Write your answers in the comments section below.

Leave a comment

Log in to leave a comment

Comments

KareemZain
07/08/2023
EG
383
points

Matches usually kick off here around 6 pm or 9 pm. I have heard that some players have scored directly from a kick-off.


KareemZain
07/08/2023 14:15
Egypt
Manchester City
383

Matches usually kick off here around 6 pm or 9 pm. I have heard that some players have scored directly from a kick-off.

Michaelsun
16/02/2022
CN
738
points

China supper football league kick off the matches at three normally.


Michaelsun
16/02/2022 04:01
China
Manchester United
738

China supper football league kick off the matches at three normally.

Roberto Avelar's picture
Roberto Avelar
21/09/2021
BR
110
points

1 - The Kick off in my country is usually at four.

2 - Yes


Roberto Avelar's picture
Roberto Avelar
21/09/2021 03:23
Brazil
Manchester City
110

1 - The Kick off in my country is usually at four.

2 - Yes

Gabriel Amaral's picture
Gabriel Amaral
23/04/2021
BR
1512
points

Normally in Brazil the matches kicks off at 9pm if it is mid week, or 4pm if it is weekend.
Not that I remember. I just remeber goals that took two or three passes after kick-off.


Gabriel Amaral's picture
Gabriel Amaral
23/04/2021 18:51
Brazil
Arsenal
1512

Normally in Brazil the matches kicks off at 9pm if it is mid week, or 4pm if it is weekend.
Not that I remember. I just remeber goals that took two or three passes after kick-off.

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
28/11/2020
UA
6577
points

One of kick-off goals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQSLRGU1gEc&ab_channel=GuardianFootball

 


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
28/11/2020 05:13
Ukraine
Liverpool
6577

One of kick-off goals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQSLRGU1gEc&ab_channel=GuardianFootball

 

Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
28/11/2020
UA
6577
points

Matches in Ukraine normally kick off at 7 pm.


Alex_from_Ukraine's picture
Alex_from_Ukraine
28/11/2020 05:10
Ukraine
Liverpool
6577

Matches in Ukraine normally kick off at 7 pm.

mat_cfc_pl
21/11/2020
PL
351
points

The matches ususally kick off at 6 p.m in my country.


mat_cfc_pl
21/11/2020 10:26
Poland
Chelsea
351

The matches ususally kick off at 6 p.m in my country.

hsn's picture
hsn
06/06/2020
TR
5558
points

I've watched some football matches that in a time less than 20 seconds a goal scored from the kick-off of the match. I think defeated team players has not warmed at that moment-:)


hsn's picture
hsn
06/06/2020 15:51
Turkey
Tottenham Hotspur
5558

I've watched some football matches that in a time less than 20 seconds a goal scored from the kick-off of the match. I think defeated team players has not warmed at that moment-:)

mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
04/06/2020
TR
6539
points

Matches normally starts at 6 or 7 pm on Saturdays
and 4 pm on Sundays in Turkey


mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
04/06/2020 13:45
Turkey
Manchester United
6539

Matches normally starts at 6 or 7 pm on Saturdays
and 4 pm on Sundays in Turkey

Vic
29/04/2020
MX
817
points

What time do matches normally kick off in your country?

Is many different times, the rule at sunday is middleday.

Has a team ever scored directly from the kick-off?

No.


Vic
29/04/2020 22:36
Mexico
Liverpool
817

What time do matches normally kick off in your country?

Is many different times, the rule at sunday is middleday.

Has a team ever scored directly from the kick-off?

No.

Gergő Nagy
28/03/2020
HU
3396
points

The Premier League matches strat at 4pm. The Champions League matches start at 8.45pm.


Gergő Nagy
28/03/2020 11:50
Hungary
Chelsea
3396

The Premier League matches strat at 4pm. The Champions League matches start at 8.45pm.

Leaderboard

Top Scorers
RankNameScore
1Alex_from_Ukraine6577
2mobeckham6539
3hsn5558
4wsanta5086
5kwesimanifest4779
6Liubomyr4417
7elghoul3988
8assemjuve3705
9aragorn19863557
10Gergő Nagy3396
Country ranking
RankNameScore
1Colombia74676
2Ukraine33869
3Spain29492
4Serbia27426
5Brazil23475
6Albania20578
7Vietnam20455
8Turkey20109
9Macedonia19074
10Bosnia and Herzegovina16333
Club ranking
RankNameScore
1Manchester United146932
2Liverpool111415
3Chelsea90252
4Arsenal86253
5Manchester City58861
6Tottenham Hotspur19474
7Newcastle United10626
8West Ham United7671
9AFC Bournemouth4915
10Crystal Palace4539

Level

3
Average: 3 (1 vote)

Goals

Learn more football vocabulary