Learn English Through Football Podcast: Book their place
In this week's football-language podcast we look at a phrase connected to qualifying for a competition or tournament: book their place after some recent 2026 World Cup qualifiers. You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions about the phrase or our podcast then you can contact us here.

Hello
DF: You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast.

DF: Hello everyone I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the football. My name is Damian and I am based here in London where the weather is still quite warm which is great. What is the weather like where you are?

Now, football is currently on an international break as there are 2026 World Cup qualifiers taking place all around the world; so this means there is hardly any domestic or league football happening. Instead, we have qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup tournament and remember that we only have 10 months to go until that kicks off!

And on today's podcast we will look at some language that has emerged from these qualifiers, including: to book a place. We will also look at some predictions language as we try and predict the big World Cup qualifier between Serbia and England.

Stinger: (A football fan from Ghana (Twi language))

Right, before we move on to talk about some football language, just to let you know that we are still making some changes to our site. Remember, that we are now known as learnengishthroughfootball.com after changing our domain name. This means we are no longer using languagecaster.com but don't worry you can still find us even if you still click on the old name and you will still hear and see languagecaster on many parts of our site and hear it on our podcast.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Spanish)

DF: Yes, that message was in Spanish and we will have some more stingers or messages throughout the show in different languages. Try and guess what languages they are and we will let you know what they are at the end of the show.

And of course it would be great if you could send us a message in your own language - just tell us, 'You are listening to the Learn English through football podcast' in any language that you know.

Right, here's another stinger for you and I will give you a clue, this language is spoken in Asia and their national team have already qualified for the 2026 World Cup finals next year.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Korean) 
Football Language: Book a place
http://gty.im/2233202165

OK, so the World Cup qualifiers are currently taking place - how is your country doing? Have they already qualified? Do they have a good chance of qualifying for the finals next year? Or are they already out (or eliminated)? Remember that to qualify for a tournament means that a team will play in that tournament; tey have beaten other teams to get there. So, teams that qualify for the 2026 World Cup will play in that competition next summer. We did a podcast a couple of months ago on the different...

Football Phrase of the Week: Transfer Window Slams Shut
In this football phrase of the week we look at the phrase, 'slam shut' as the transfer window finally closes in many European countries. You can read the transcript for this post below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us here.
https://media.blubrry.com/footballlanguage/content.blubrry.com/footballlanguage/FootballPhraseoftheWeek_TransferWindowSlamsShut.mp3
http://gty.im/2233247840

DF: Hello everyone. This is Damian from the Learn English Through Football team and I hope you are all doing well and that you enjoyed the football over the weekend. My favourite football team Tottenham lost at home which is always disappointing but overall we have started the season quite well; though not as well as Damon's favourite team Liverpool who have won three out of three and are top of the league. And they have signed some great players!

Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (from an Olympiakos fan)

So, welcome to this week's football phrase which is all about transfers. The transfer window in many European countries ended yesterday and this day is often known as deadline day. And so today we are going to look at the phrase 'the transfer window slams shut'.

The transfer window refers to the period of time when teams can buy and sell players and this happens twice a year: in winter and in summer. As the deadline (or final) day gets closer, the pressure increases on teams as they try to sign a player or maybe even prevent a player from leaving. There are rules about when a player can leave or join a club; there is a specific time when these deals can no longer take place. In England, for example, it was after 19:00 on September 1st. And when this time has passed, we can then say that the transfer window has ended or closed.

But of course the media (the newspapers, the internet and television) love drama and they often do this by playing with language; they are making the whole process more dramatic. And so they sometimes use the cliche, 'the transfer window slams shut'. If a window is shut it means that someone has closed it (it has been closed); but if it is slammed shut it has been closed with force and suggests that it won't be opened again for a while. And this, I suppose, is what the meaning is here; the transfer window is now closed and will not open again until January.

Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (in Dutch)

DF: Yes you are listening to Languagecaster.com, or as we are now known as, Learn English Through Football and that message was in Dutch.

OK, here are a couple of examples with the phrase slam shut:
Examples

* The transfer window slams shut across most European leagues on Monday at 2 p.m. US time (CBS.com, September 1 2025)
* The summer transfer window will slam shut at 19:00 BST on Monday 1 September, so we're taking a look back at some of the Premier League's best-ever signings... (Premier League.com, September 1 2025)

Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (in Bemba)

Learn English Through Football Podcast: Hijack a Move
In this week's football-language podcast we look at two phrases from the past week: one to do with a shock cup win and the other connected to the transfer window: cup upset and hijack a move. You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions about the phrase or our podcast then you can contact us here.

https://media.blubrry.com/footballlanguage/content.blubrry.com/footballlanguage/LearnEnglishThroughFootballPodcast_Hijackamove.mp3

Hello
DF: You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast.

DF: Hello everyone I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the football. My name is Damian and though I am usually based in London, this week I have been travelling around Spain and Portugal and it has been really interesting to see and hear lots of football language from those two countries!

I am currently in Porto in the north of Portugal and Porto, of course, are a huge club here - they have a big football history and they have won the European Cup/Champions League on two occasions. This weekend they played against current champions Sporting last night and the locals who I was watching the game with were delighted as Porto won 2-1 away in Lisbon to go top of the table.

Now, Damon, the other member of the Learn English through football team, is usually in Japan but he’s also travelling so we won’t be hearing from him in today’s show but we will be talking about his favourite team Liverpool later on in our predictions section. We will also look back at some football language from the week, including some phrases to describe the shock defeat of Manchester United in the Carabao Cup by a team from the fourth division or tier, while we also explain a phrase that has been used quite a lot in the transfer window: hijack a move.

Stinger: Al-Hilal (Sudan) football fan)

Now, before we move on to talk about the football language, we'd like to let you know that we are continuing to make some changes to our site. We are now known as learnengishthroughfootball.com as we have changed our domain name. This means we are no longer using languagecaster.com. But don't worry you can still find us even if you still click on the old name and you will still hear and see languagecaster on many parts of our site and on our podcast. Now we did this change because we felt it better reflected what we are doing; so helping learners of English to improve their listening and vocabulary through football!.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Irish)

DF: Yes, that message was in Irish and we will have some more stingers or messages throughout the show in different languages. Try and guess what languages they are and we will let you know what they are at the end of the show.

And of course it would be great if you could send us a message in your own language - just tell us, 'You are listening to the Learn English through football podcast' in any language that you know.

Right, here's another stinger for you and I will give you a clue, this language is spoken in Europe and I was visiting there earlier on in the week!

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Catalan) 
Football Language: Cup Upset
http://gty.im/2232423772
So, this week saw one of the biggest shocks in English cup football when League Two side Grimsby Town (from the fourth Show more...