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How to say football scores in English?



“What’s the score?”



You might hear this a lot in the next couple of months as everyone goes football mad over the World Cup.

Or at least until their team gets knocked out.

But how do you answer the question “What’s the score?”

It seems easy, doesn’t it?

But there are very specific ways to talk about football scores in English. Here they are:





How to Say Football Scores in English:

A Draw

 


OK. So no one won the match. How annoying!

We can describe this result generally:

It was a draw.

We can also be a little more specific and mention the teams:

Scotland drew with England.

Or we can say it with numbers. There’s a rule for describing draws: we just say the number and add “all.”

one all

two all

three all

… or eighteen all — if you’re watching a children’s match.




How to Say Football Scores in English:

No Goals

 


But be careful. For some secret reason known only to the football masters, we don’t say “zero all.”

For a start, when talking about football scores, we don’t say “zero,” but we say “nil” instead.

Secondly, we don’t do the “all” trick, but just say it how it’s written:

nil nil




How to Say Football Scores in English:

One Team Wins

 

Say the larger number first — and remember to say “nil” instead of “zero.”

If you want to say who won the match, you can add “to” and the name of the winning team:

two nil to Scotland

You can also use the verbs “beat” or “defeat”:

Scotland beat England two nil.

Scotland defeated England two nil.

Or you can forget about the score and just say who won.

You can use a verb:

Scotland won.

Or a noun:

a win for Scotland

If you’re feeling more like focusing on the embarrassment for England, which you might, then you can focus on the fact that they lost, again with a verb:

England lost.

Or a noun:

a defeat for England





How to Say Football Scores in English:

One Team Wins (By a Lot)

 


In the unlikely event of this score, there’s another verb we can use to show the huge difference between the number of goals.

It really shows how amazingly Scotland won and how badly and embarrassingly England lost.

That verb is “thrash.” Yep — like thrash metal. But with football.

We tend not to add the score with this one, just focusing on how dramatic the result is:

Scotland thrashed England!

You can also speak more generally about the results, especially dramatic ones like these, with words like “victory”:

a victory for Scotland

Or “triumph”:

a triumph for Scotland

The word “resounding” is also used with extreme results. You can use it for the winners:

a resounding victory for Scotland

For losers, we can use the phrase “crushing defeat”:

a crushing defeat for England




OK. Now you know how to say football scores in English.


As the World Cup enters its first stages, listen out for that question: “What was the score?”

You’ll know how to answer.



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