Translating Football: Language, Authority and Meaning in the World’s Game

Football is often described as a universal language. In practice, its language is anything but universal, and nowhere is this more visible than in translation. Articles and reports about football are read by audiences who already know the game, feel entitled to judge how it is written, and react immediately when something sounds wrong. Translating Football examines why football translation is one of the most exposed and unforgiving forms of professional practice. Drawing on real cases from journalism, institutions and broadcast media, it shows how failure rarely stems from terminology or factual error, but from misjudgements of register, tone and reader expectation. Written for practitioners who already understand both football and translation, this book explores how authority is constructed, why neutrality is often a fiction, and what happens when an article meets a reader who knows exactly how football should sound.