Weekly Football Phrase: Semi-finalist

In this week's football phrase we explain the term 'semi-finalist' which is a phrase typically heard at the business end of the season.



* Find out more about this phrase by reading the transcript below and listening to the audio.

* You can also find many more examples of soccer vocabulary by going to our football cliches page here and our huge football glossary here.

* This post also features in our podcast show, along with a main report and our weekly predictions.





Semi-finalist

This week's English for football expression is semi-finalist which refers to the teams involved in the last four, or semi-finals, of a competition such as the FA Cup in English club football or the World Cup. To reach the semi-finals a team will usually have to win knock-out matches against many teams, including the last-16 and the quarter-finals (the last 8). Semi-finalist



* Example: Liverpool beat Blackburn in the replay of their quarter-final match to join the other semi-finalists Aston Villa, Arsenal and Reading.

* Example: The four semi-finalists at the last World Cup in Brazil (2014) were Germany, Argentina, the Netherlands and hosts Brazil.



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