Updated date:

Apr 1, 2020

Meaning of GA, GF, GD, and Other Common Football Abbreviations

Author:: Januaris Saint Fores

Januaris is a freelance sports writer and soccer analyst. He specializes in football news and after-match analysis for sports portals.

According to my own observations, most soccer enthusiasts find it hard to understand football abbreviations and acronyms, especially the ones found in soccer league and World Cup tables. Almost all new football fans cannot understand the tables fully without consulting experienced soccer fans or getting assistance from the Internet.

This article is about football abbreviations and acronyms and what they stand for. Read on to know the full meaning of GA, GF, GD, MP, FC, FIFA, Caps, Apps, VAR, and other terms.

Examples Of Football League Tables
Jan Saints (Own work): CC-BY-2.0

What Does GA, GF, GD, and MP Mean in Football?

In brief, GA, GF, GD, and MP stand for Goals Against, Goals For, Goal Difference, and Matches Played respectively. Other common terms like Apps and Caps mean Appearances (both), which are the number of times a player has played for their country (or club) or participated in a competition.

Soccer Table Abbreviations and Their Meaning

P, Pld – Played (i.e., number of matches or games played by a team).
MP – Matches Played (sometimes used in place of P, Pld).
W – Won (i.e., number of matches won).
D – Draw (i.e., number of times a team has finished a match with an even score or tie).
L – Loss (i.e., number of matches lost).
GS – Goals Scored
F, GF – Goals For (sometimes used in place of GS).
A, GA – Goals Against (i.e., number of goals conceded by a team).
GD – Goal Difference (i.e., difference between GF and GA, and sometimes denoted by +/-). According to the tables above, team B would win under the goal difference criterion.
PD – Points Difference (i.e., difference between GF and GA, and sometimes used in place of GD).
GAvg – Goal Average (i.e., GF divided by GA). According to the tables above, team A would win under the goal average criterion.
GR – Goal Ratio (i.e., GF divided by GA, and sometimes used in place of GAvg).
Pos – Position (sometimes denoted by #).
Pts – Points (i.e., total number of points earned by a team after playing a certain number of games). A team is awarded 3 points after winning a match or one point if the game ends as a draw or tie.

Brief Analysis of a Football League Table

Teams belonging to a certain league are ranked based on their total number of points and goal difference. This means that the team at the top of the table has the highest number of points while the team at the bottom has the lowest number of points.

If two teams have the same number of points, they are ranked based on the goal difference. The team with a superior goal difference is ranked on top of the other. If it happens that the two teams have the same number of points and same goal difference, the goals for (GF) or head-to-head performance is used to separate the two teams. Concerning the head-to-head performance, the team that scored more goals when the two teams met (home and away) gets a higher ranking.

In case you are new to football leagues, most leagues feature 10-20 teams. Considering the English Premier League has 20 member clubs, each team has to play 38 games (home and away matches) before the season ends. The total number of games played in the league per season is 380 and the maximum number of points a team can earn is 114.

2016-2017 EPL Table - Final Standings
Wikipedia Commons

The table above shows Chelsea Football Club as the winners of the 2016/2017 English Premier League title. They finished the season with 93 points having won 30 matches, drawn three, and lost five. They scored 85 goals and conceded 33 which gave a goal difference of 52.

At the bottom side, Sunderland Football Club finished with 24 points after winning only six games, drawing six, and losing as many as 26. Their GF, GA, and GD were 29, 69, and -40 respectively.

In most leagues, the last three teams are relegated to a lower league division and are replaced by the top three teams from the lower division. For example, Sunderland FC, Middleborough FC, and Hull City FC were relegated and replaced by Newcastle FC, Brighton FC, and Huddersfield Town FC (play-offs winners) from the EFL Championship division.

The top teams in the major leagues qualify for major competitions. For example, Chelsea FC, Tottenham FC, Manchester City FC, and Liverpool FC qualified for the 2017/2018 European Champions League. The fifth, sixth, and seventh placed teams, which were Arsenal FC, Manchester United FC, and Everton, qualified for the Europa League, but Man United FC qualified for the Champions League after winning the 2016/2017 Europa League.

Association Football Plays and Technique Abbreviations and Acronyms

M – Marker (i.e., man-to-man coverage).	V – Volley (i.e., mid-air kick).	BH – Back Heel (i.e., when the ball is kicked using heel).
BK – Bicycle Kick (i.e., kicking the ball backward over the head).	Ca – Counterattack	CK – Corner Kick
DR – Dummy Run (i.e., running without the ball).	FK – Free Kick	GG – Give and Go (also denoted by 1-2).
In – Inswinger (i.e., curving kick).	OT – Offside Trap (i.e., putting attacking players in an offside position).	OG – Own Goal
OS – Out Swinger (i.e., kick that moves away from the goal).	PK – Penalty Kick	ST – Sliding Tackle
TI – Throw In	ZD – Zone Defense (i.e., area occupied by defenders).	BTB – Bending the Ball (i.e., causing the ball to follow a curved path).
MMM – Man-to-Man Marking	OTP – One-Touch Pass	TTB – Trapping the Ball (i.e., controlling the ball).
DRM – Dead Rubber Match (match in a series where the series result has already been decided)

Player and Team Member Abbreviations

N – Neutral	AC – Assistant Coach	AF – Advanced Forward
BC – Ball Carrier (i.e., player possessing the ball).	CD – Central Defender	CM – Central Midfielder
GT – Goaltender (i.e., goalkeeper).	LM – Linesman (i.e., assistance referee).	RB – Right-Back
TM – Target Man	CPT – Captain	DMf – Defensive Midfielder
HMf – Holding Midfielder (i.e., player who plays in the front of the central defenders).	BTBMf – Box-to-Box Midfielder

League and Match-Related Abbreviations and Acronyms

U – Unofficial	AD – Away Draw	AL – Away Loss
AT – Added Time	AW – Away Win	BS – Beach Soccer
DB – Dead Ball (i.e., when there is no play and the ball isn't moving).	ET – Extra Time	Fr – Friendly
DH – Double Header (i.e., two games played between the same two teams on the same day).	Ko – Kickoff (i.e., starting of the game).	NT – National Team
HA – Home and Away	QF – Quarter-Final	SF – Semi-Final
PR - Positions Roles	WC – World Cup	AET – After Extra Time
TO – Timeout	DFK – Direct Free Kick	DEF – Defense
BIP – Ball In Play (i.e., when the ball is within the playing field).	HTH – Head-to-Head	IFK – Indirect Free Kick
FFB – Fifty-Fifty Ball (i.e., when opposing players cause equal impact on each other when going for the ball).	OTM – Overtime Minutes	MIN – Minutes
OFF – Offside	Sub – Substitution	BOOP – Ball Out Of Play (i.e., when the ball is out of the playing field).
PSO – Penalty Shootout	Disc – Discipline	Mins – Minutes

Soccer Stats Abbreviations

AP – Attack Power	AS – Aggregate Score (i.e., sum of home and away goals).	Av – Average
LT – Livescore Table	PG – Penalty Kick Goals	PT – Prediction Table
SA – Save Average	SG – Shots on Goal	Sh – Shots
SR – Save Ratio	TS – Top Scorer	App (Apps) – Appearances (i.e., number of times a player appears for matches in a competition).
Blk – Blocked (i.e., Blocked shots).	FSL – Football Scoring List	FTS – Failed to Score
GAA – Goals Allowed Average	GWA – Game Winning Assist	GWG – Game Winning Goal
Hat – Hat Trick (also denoted by HT, see above).	OTL – Overtime Losses	OTW – Overtime Wins
MPK – Missed Penalty Kick	Pct – Shooting Percentage (i.e., goals scored per shot on the goal).	PKS – Penalty Kicks Saves
Rsl, Res – Result	SHO – Shutouts (i.e., given to the winning team if the opponents didn't score).	SOG – Shots on Goal
SOT – Shots on Target (sometimes used in place of SOG).	Stl – Steals (i.e., number of times a player has seized a ball from the opponent).	Caps – Appearances (i.e., number of times a player has played for their country).
SPct – Save Shooting Percentage

Other Soccer Abbreviations and Acronyms

Soccer Officiating and Referee-Related Abbreviations

E - Elimination, Expulsion (i.e., referee uses red card to dismiss players).
BW – Blow Whistle
EJ – Ejections (i.e., number of red-carded players in a match or league).
RC – Red Card
YC – Yellow Card
VAR – Video Assistant Referees
MO – Match Official

Soccer Field and Object-Related Abbreviations

GL – Goal Line
GM – Goal Mouth (i.e., area closest to the goal).
TL – Touch Line (i.e., outside edge of the field).
J – Jersey
Cb – Crossbar (i.e., a bar connecting goalposts).
Np – Nearpost (i.e., goalpost nearest the ball).
VF – Vanishing Foam (i.e., marker for free kicks).
GLT – Goal-Line Technology

Soccer Business Abbreviations

SI – Sports Interactive
SS – Shirt Sponsor
JD – Jersey Designer
AM – Assistant Manager
FM – Football Manager
TD – Team Doctor
TF – Transfer Fee (i.e., selling price of a player).
TN – Team Name
TW – Transfer Window
FFP – Financial Fair Play (i.e., regulations that control club expenditure).

Soccer Award Abbreviations

CC – Club of the Century
DA – Development Award
FA – Fan Award
FW – FIFPro World11
BMC – Best Men's Coach
BMP – Best Men's Player
BWC – Best Women's Coach
BWP – Best Women's Player
FPC – Female Player of the Century
COTM – Coach of the Month
POTC – Player of the Century
POTM – Player of the Match, Player of the Month
WCDT – World Cup Dream Team
WCATM – World Cup All-Time Team
WCOTY – World Coach of the Year
WPOTY – World Player of the Year

Soccer Abbreviations with Multiple Meanings

A – Away, Attack, Attacker, Assists	B – Back, Boots, Booter (i.e., kicker), Brace (i.e., one player scoring two goals), Box (i.e., rectangular area near the goal).	C – Center/Central, Corner, Cross, Coach, Clear (i.e., kick the ball out of the dangerous zone), Caution (i.e., referee uses yellow card to warn players).
D – Defender, Dribble	F – Forward, Foul, Field, Final	G – Goal, Guard, Gloves
H – Home, Header, Head (i.e., kick with head).	I – Inside, Injury	K – Kick, Kicker
O – Outside, Offside, Obstruction (i.e., blocking opponent).	P – Penalty, Pitch, Period, Promotion, Possession, Punt (i.e., long pass towering in the air).	R – Right, Referee, Relegation
S – Suspension, Sponsor, Stands, Shot, Striker, Statistics, Save (i.e., done by goalkeeper to avoid conceding), Sweeper (i.e., player who kicks the ball to eliminate threat).	T – Tackle, Ticket, Ties, Time	W – Winger, Whistle
AB, AM – Abandoned Match, Armband	AR – Assistant Referee, Advantage Rule (i.e., foul but the game doesn't stop).	BP – Back Pass, Ball Possession
CP – Catches and Punches (i.e., used by goalkeeper on the ball to prevent conceding), Center Spot (i.e., kickoff place at the center of the field).	CS – Community Shield, Clean Sheets (I.e., for goalkeeper when he hasn’t been scored against).	FC – Fouls Committed, Football Club, Football Coach, Center Forward
FP – Far Post (i.e., goalpost furthest from the ball), Football Positions.	FS – Fouls Suffered, Fouls Sustained, Full Squad, Futsal (i.e., indoor football).	FT – Fullback, Full Time
GA – Goal Area, Goals Allowed, Goals Attempted	GK – Goalkeeper, Goal Kick	GP – Games Played, Goal Post
GS – Games Started, Group Stages, Goal Scorer	HB – Halfback, Hand Ball (i.e., ball coming into contact with the hand which is also an offense).	HT – Half Time, Hat-Trick (i.e., one player scoring three goals).
LB – Left-Back, Loose Ball (i.e., when two opposing players are eligible to get the ball).	Mf – Midfield, Midfielder	PA – Puskás Award, Penalty Kick Attempts
PO – Penalty Spot, Playoff	SB – Score Board, Substitute	SL – Scoreline (i.e., match results being shown on a screen), Sideline (i.e., field border).
SK – Scissor Kick (i.e., kicking the ball forward while jumping up in the air), Spot-Kick (i.e., penalty kick).	TP – Through Pass, Team Physician, Toe Poke (i.e., kicking with the toe).	VS – Versus, Vanishing Spray (i.e., marker for free kicks).
WP – Wide Play, Wide Player (i.e., wingers and fullbacks), Wall-Pass (i.e., give the ball and go).	CF – Center-Forward, Corner Flag (i.e., flags placed at the four corners of the field).

Football Associations' Abbreviations and Acronyms

AP – Amapa (clubs from the Brazilian state).	BC – British Championship (i.e., a tournament).	D2 – Division 2
FA – The Football Association	FC – Football Club	IL – International League
MC – Major Cup	MT – Major Tournament	VI – Victory International
WI – Wartime International	AFC – Asian Football Confederation	EPL – English Premier League
FPA – Fair Play Award	ICC – International Champions Cup	CAF – Confederation Africaine de Football
CFA – Chinese Football Association	CSA – Canadian Soccer League	CSL – Canadian Soccer League
ECF – European Championship Final (i.e., a tournament).	ECP – European Championship Preliminary (i.e., a competition).	EFL – English Football League
FUR – Football Union of Russia	ICC – International Champions Cup	MSL – Major Soccer League
NCS – National Championship Series	ODP – Olympic Development Program	OFC – Oceania Football Confederation
PDL – Premier Development League	PDL – Professional Development League	PDP – Player Development Program
PLS – Premier League Soccer	PSL – Premier Soccer League	PRO – Professional Referee Organization
SAC – South American Championship (i.e., finals tournament, also known as Copa América).	SPI – Soccer Power Index	TFC – The Football Confederation
TOA – Team Owners Association	TSE – Total Sports Experience	UEL – UEFA Europa League
UCL – UEFA Champions League	USA – United Soccer Association	USC – UEFA Super Cup
USL – United Soccer Leagues	WCF – World Cup Final (i.e., a tournament).	WCP – World Cup Preliminary (i.e., a competition).
WPS – Women’s Professional Soccer	WSF – Women’s Soccer Federation	APSL – American Professional Soccer League
AYSO – American Youth Soccer Organization	CISL – Continental Indoor Soccer League	ECNL – Elite Clubs National League
FCWC – FIFA Club World Cup	FFPS – Fun-Fair-Positive Soccer	FIFA – Fédération International de Football Association
FIRA – Federation of International Robot-soccer Association	ITSF – International Table Soccer Federation	LTPD – Long-Term Player Development
MISL – Major Indoor Soccer League	MUFC – Manchester United Football Club	NASL – North American Soccer League
NCSL – National Capital Soccer League	NPSL – National Professional Soccer League	NWSL – National Women’s Soccer League
SAFA – South African Football Association	UEFA – Union des Associations Européenes de Football	USFA – United States Football Association
USSF – United States Soccer Federation	WISL – World Indoor Soccer League	WPSL – Women’s Premier Soccer League
WUSA – Women’s United Soccer Association	CMISL – Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League	NSCAA – National Soccer Coaches Association of America
USASA – United States Adult Soccer Association	CONCACAF – Confederation of North, American and Caribbean Association Football	CONMEBOL – Confederación Sudamericana de Fūtbol

FIFA is the international body that governs football.
Wikipedia Commons

Conclusion

Abbreviations and acronyms are quite prevalent in the world of FIFA soccer, but these are the most common ones. All countries in the world have sports associations, and all the associations' names are abbreviated. So there are definitely thousands of sports-related abbreviations and acronyms out there.

If you have some soccer abbreviations and synonyms not listed here, you can add them in the comments section below!

References

Mak K. "An Idiots Guide to Soccer and Soccer Gaming - Strategy Guide". Operation Sports. (2012).
Donaovon L. "Beginners Guide to Soccer". US Soccer Players (2017).
Jake D. "How to Play Soccer - Soccer Guide". The Complete Soccer Guide. (2015).
Amarikwa Q. "7 Essential Soccer Tips for Beginners". Perfect Soccer. (2016).
Ominsky D., Harari P.J. "Football Made Simple: A Spectator's Guide". Book. First Base Sports, Inc. (1994).
Nelson D. M. "Anatomy of a Game: Football, the Rules, and the Men Who Made the Game". Book. Associated University Presses. Newark. University of Delaware Press. (1996).

Questions & Answers

Question: What does it mean that the three teams will be replaced? Will these teams go to other leagues?

Answer: This means that they will go to lower leagues in the same country.

Question: What does "first-person perspective" (FPP) mean?

Answer: In gaming, it means rendering from the viewpoint of the player's character, or in simple terms, playing as if you were looking through the player's eyes.

Question: What if a football team won by default, how is that abbreviated?

Answer: It's still going to be W or W/O, W.O (walkover).

Question: What does FPP mean?

Answer: First-Person Perspective - used in gaming.

Question: How many substitutes are allowed in football?

Answer: Three, but there is a new rule that allows a fourth substitute in extra time (the additional 30 minutes). It is now applicable in world cup. I don't know if it will be applicable in league games.

Question: What does "CS" mean on SOCCERSTATS.COM?

Answer:

These letters have a number of meanings in the world of football abbreviations, but in this case, most likely it means Clean Sheets (especially for goalkeepers).

Question: What does (H) and (A) mean in ESPN soccer match performance?

Answer: H stands for Home (i.e., playing at the home ground) while A stands for Away (i.e, playing at the opponent's ground).

Question: What does GF Sports stands for?

Answer: This is a sports and entertainment company, with the GF standing for Gary Fuhrman - the founder.

Question: What's the meaning of AP in a football match?

Answer: Maybe Attack Power or Amapa clubs of Brazil

Question: Goals Scored(H) or (A) and Goals Conceded(H) or (A) from ESPN FIFA Women's World Cup Performance Stats 2019-20 I can't understand what H and A stand for?

Answer: They mean as follows:

Goals Scored (H/A) - goals scored at home ground/ away ground so far in the season (2019-2020).

Goals Conceded (H/A) - goals conceded at home ground/ away ground so far in the season (2019-2020).

Comments

Hernan on July 29, 2020:

Useful information and clarifications

WALTER OCEN ,LIRA on July 15, 2020:

2 Yrs ago j have seen ur information it very interesting & j agee it can help.

Roy on July 07, 2020:

I m beginner to football ,tqu so much ,very useful article.

Josept on March 04, 2020:

This case is very hard but you learn to me this table is very good learn.I start to beginner study .So,Thank you so much.This table is very perfect article words.Thank Mr.Janurais Saint Fores.

FOliveira on November 15, 2019:

Very usefull article. Thank you.

Ayo Joshua on November 04, 2019:

very helpful information

Abuzaid on September 29, 2019:

Thank you very much for all the help you have provided.

mpondamoshi@gmail.com on September 22, 2018:

Thanks a lot

Messi on September 22, 2018:

Good

DAB_A_RANCH on June 28, 2018:

I AGREE