Association football club names: Difference between revisions
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|rowspan="2" valign="middle"|'''Amateur''' |
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|rowspan="2" valign="middle"|Referring to the [[amateur]] origins of the club. |
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|style="text-align: left"|[[FK_Austria_Wien#Foundation_to_World_War_II|Amateure SV]] |
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Revision as of 15:29, 27 July 2008
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Football club names are a part of the sport's culture, reflecting century-old traditions. Club names may reflect geographical, cultural, religious or political affiliations — or simply be the brand name of a club's primary sponsor. Because of the British origin of the sport, many clubs, even outside Europe, have their names written in English.
Formation of the name
Common components
A club's name is usually composed of two or more of the following elements, in most cases in the language of the club's home country:
- a word describing the type of entity that runs the club (or ran it when it was founded), such as "Club", "Association", "Society", "Centre", "League", "Union", etc. More recently some clubs are regular commercial enterprises[citation needed] and may have this reflected in their names.
- a word indicating that the club is associated with some sport(s), usually (but not always) including football. Examples are "football", "athletics", "exercises", "sports", etc.
- a geographical name associating the club with some place (usually the town or region where it plays home matches). Examples: "Paris", "Milano", "Recife", "Croatia", "Goiás" or, alternatively, a word that associates the club with something else (a religious, cultural or political tradition). Sometimes the name of the town or the country may be written as in English (AC Milan).
- a proper name, mascot or nickname, like "Cruzeiro" "Betis", or "Crusaders".
- in Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands some clubs are associated with the monarchy like Real Madrid.
- some football clubs (especially in Austria and eastern Europe) also have sponsors in their club names.
Official names often also contain common component (prepositions, conjunctions, etc.) (See List of common club name components section).
In Europe, many (if not most) clubs are named after their towns or cities (e.g. "Deportivo La Coruña", "Liverpool FC", "Hamburger SV", etc. In South America, clubs are more likely to have proper names than to bear the city's name. Some clubs, like Hansa Rostock or Torpedo Moscow may have both.
Common versus official usage
It is not uncommon for a club to be known in common usage by a name other than its official name, or the name on the badge.
Official names may reflect the instances where two different clubs with exactly (or more or less) the same name, prompting one or both to be suffixed with a geographical distinction. Famous instances of this are PFC CSKA Moscow and CSKA Sofia; Dynamo Moscow, Dynamo Kyiv, Dynamo Dresden and Dinamo Tbilisi; América de Cali (Colombia) and Club América (Mexico).
Other clubs are more usually known by nicknames or contractions of their full names, for instance, Vasco da Gama is usually called simply "Vasco", F.C. Internazionale Milano is contracted to Inter, Sporting Clube de Portugal are often called Sporting. Manchester United is ofted shortened to Man United (or even Man U), and Lyon used instead of Olympique Lyonnais.
Some clubs are commonly referred to by their initials, such as QPR, for Queens Park Rangers.
In a few cases there are even common misconceptions about the official name of the club. A common example being Glasgow Rangers and Glasgow Celtic, where their proper official names are simply Rangers F.C. and Celtic F.C. Another misunderstanding is Belfast Crusaders where the proper name is just Crusaders F.C.
Club names referring to a profession or education
Club names referring to a profession
Club names referring to education
Club names referring to days and dates
Club names referring to the club's specific origins
| Topic | Meaning | Country | Clubs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Angels | After their original home ground, the Angel Ground, itself named after a nearby hotel. |  England
|
Tonbridge Angels F.C. |
| Argyle | Named after The Argyle Tavern or Argyle Terrace, both in Plymouth. | England
|
Plymouth Argyle F.C. |
| Ittihad | Arabic for "the union", meaning the merger of clubs or clubs founders |  Israel
|
Ittihad Bnei Sakhnin |
 Libya
|
Al-Ittihad (Tripoli) | ||
 Saudi Arabia
|
Al-Ittihad (Jeddah) | ||
| Dons | Named after the nickname of MK Dons' predecessors, Wimbledon F.C. | England
|
Milton Keynes Dons F.C. |
| North | Clubs that originated 'north' of a specific place | England
|
Glossop North End A.F.C., Preston North End |
| East | Orient = from the East, Leyton is in East London | England
|
Leyton Orient |
| Park Avenue | The club originally played at the Park Avenue ground | England
|
Bradford Park Avenue A.F.C. |
| Rangers (Glasgow) | The club founder saw the name Rangers in a Rugby annual |  Scotland
|
Rangers F.C. |
| Homeless | Rovers, Wanderers. Excursionistas translates roughly as "The Voyagers". Originally a team without a home ground | various | Blackburn Rovers, Bristol Rovers, Tranmere Rovers, Albion Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Bray Wanderers, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Sliema Wanderers, Montevideo Wanderers, Santiago Wanderers, Excursionistas, Wanderers F.C., Wycombe Wanderers |
 Republic of Ireland
|
Sligo Rovers | ||
| Scotland
|
Raith Rovers | ||
| Mohun Bagan | The club was named after the palace, Mohun Bagan Villa, that was the site of the club's first ground |  India
|
Mohun Bagan |
| Trinity | The club was formed in 1873 by the vicar of the Holy Trinity Church | England
|
Gainsborough Trinity F.C. |
 Paraguay
|
Sportivo Trinidense | ||
| United | Often (but not always) refers to the result of a merger. "Pers-" is short for "Persatuan," Indonesian for "United". |  Indonesia
|
Persib, Persik Kediri, Persipura Jayapura |
| various | Manchester United, Newcastle United, West Ham United, D.C. United, Colchester United, Rotherham United, Sheffield United, Carlisle United, Leeds United, Limavady United, Ayr United, Dundee United, KVSK United, Tampere United, Yerevan United, Unión de Santa Fe, União de Leiria, União São João | ||
| Stanley | Named after the Stanley Arms on Stanley Road, Accrington. | England
|
Accrington Stanley |
| Villa | Named after Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel in Aston, Birmingham. | England
|
Aston Villa |
Club names referring to an ethnic, social, national or religious background
Club names referring to geographical features
Club names referring to specific geographical features
Club names referring to plants
Club names referring to real or mythical creatures
Club names referring to real or mythical people
Club names referring to sport
Sports societies
Club names referring to values and ideals
Club names referring to natural phenomena
Unknown
- Central Sports Club
- Central United
- Colne Dynamoes
- Shepshed Dynamo
- FC Krylya Sovetov Samara (Krylya means wing in several Slavic languages)
- Maltby Main F.C. Main mine shaft?
- Orlando Pirates — named after the Johannesburg-area neighbourhood where the club was founded
- Rapid (Rapid Bucureşti, Rapid Vienna, Rapid JC)
- Berwick Rangers, Queens Park Rangers, Stafford Rangers, Rangers de Talca
- Sporting: Sporting Lisbon, Sporting Braga, Sporting Covilhã, Sporting Gijón, Sporting Cristal - A sporting club or 'sport' in general?
Initials
Initials presented in this table are presented with dot punctuation, this is for representation only, several clubs use the initials without dots, e.g. FC.
| Initials | Examples | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1. FC Kaiserslautern, 1. FC Nuremberg, 1. FC Köln | 1. FC stands for First Football Club |
| A.C. | A.C. Milan, A.C. Siena | A.C. is the abbreviation for Associazione Calcio, Football Association in Italian. |
| A.F.C. | Leeds United A.F.C., Sunderland A.F.C., Workington A.F.C., Barrow A.F.C., A.F.C. Liverpool | Association Football Club. Usually used to distinguish association football teams in towns where other football codes such as Rugby football are also commonly played. |
| A.F.C. Bournemouth | Athletic Football Club | |
| AFC Wimbledon | No official meaning; some have used "Association Football Club" or "A Fan's Club". Also could mean Alternate Football Club when the original club ceases to exist. e.g. AFC Wimbledon was formed after the original Wimbledon F.C. became the MK Dons. | |
| A.S. | A.S. Roma, A.S. Livorno Calcio, A.S. Monaco, A.S. Saint-Etienne | A.S. is the abbreviation for Associazione Sportiva, Sport Association in Italian. It also means Association Sportive in French |
| A.Z. | AZ | Alkmaar Zaanstreek – from the 1967 merger of Alkmaar '54 and FC Zaanstreek |
| B.K. | Rosenborg BK | Ballklub – "Ball Club" in Norwegian |
| C.A. | CA Boca Juniors, CA River Plate | Club Atlético |
| C.D. | C.D. Chivas USA, C.D. Feirense | Club Deportivo (Spanish), Clube Desportivo (Portuguese) |
| C.F. | CF Atlas, CF Estrela da Amadora | Club de Fútbol (Spanish), Clube de Futebol (Portuguese) |
| C.F.R. | CFR Cluj | Căile Ferate Române, the Romanian state railway system |
| e.V. | FC Bayern München e.V., Karlsruher Sport-Club Mühlburg-Phönix e.V., 1. Frauen-Fußball-Club Turbine Potsdam 71 e. V., Fußballsportverein Frankfurt 1899 e.V. | e.V. is the abbreviation for Eingetragener Verein, meaning registered club |
| F.C. | Toronto F.C., F.C. Dallas, FC Barcelona, Sevilla FC, Puebla FC | Football Club in various languages |
| F.F.C. | 1. FFC Frankfurt | Frauenfußballclub (= Women's football club) |
| F.K. | FK Crvena Zvezda, FK Atlantas | F.C. in various countries |
| F.S.V. | FSV Frankfurt | Fußballsportverein - German for Football Sport Association |
| J.K. | Helsingin JK, JK Viljandi Tulevik | F.C. in Finnish and Estonian |
| Beşiktaş J.K. | Jimnastik Kulübü, Turkish for "Gymnastics Club" | |
| MSV | MSV Duisburg | German: Meidericher Sportverein (Meiderich Sport Association) |
| N.K. | NK Dinamo Zagreb, NK Drava Ptuj | F.C. in Croatian and Slovenian |
| P.F.C. | PFC CSKA Moscow | Professional Football Club |
| R.C. | R.C. Strasbourg, R.C. Lens | Racing Club |
| R.C.D. | RCD Mallorca, RCD Espanyol | Real Club Deportivo |
| R.S.C. | R.S.C. Anderlecht | Royal Sporting Club |
| S.C. | S.C., SC Bastia, Sahel Sporting Club | Sporting Club |
| S.G. | SG Wattenscheid 09 | German: Sportgemeinschaft (= Sport Community) |
| S.K. | SK Brann, Lierse S.K., Fenerbahçe S.K., Galatasaray S.K. | Sport/Sporting Club in various languages |
| SpVgg. | SpVgg Unterhaching | German: Spielvereinigung (= Games Association) |
| S.S. | S.S. Lazio, S.S. Murata | S.S. is the abbreviation for Società Sportiva, Sport Society in Italian. |
| S.S.C. | S.S.C. Napoli | S.S.C. is the abbreviation for Società Sportiva Calcio, Football (Soccer) Sport Society in Italian. |
| S.V. | Hamburger SV | SV is the abbreviation for Sport Verein, meaning Sports Association |
| T.S.G. | TSG 1899 Hoffenheim | German: Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft (= Gymnastics and Sport Community) |
| TSV or TuS | TSV Crailsheim, TuS Koblenz | German: Turn- und Sportverein (= Gymnastics and Sport Association) |
| U.C. | U.C. Sampdoria, U.C. AlbinoLeffe | U.C. is the abbreviation for Unione Calcio, Football Union in Italian. |
| U.S. | U.S. Città di Palermo, U.S. Lecce | U.S. is the abbreviation for Unione Sportiva, Sport Union in Italian. |
| VfB | VfB Admira Wacker Mödling, VfB Auerbach, VfB Einheit zu Pankow, VfB Eppingen, VfB Fichte Bielefeld, VfB Fortuna Chemnitz, VfB Hermsdorf, VfB Hüls, VfB Lübeck, VfB Oldenburg, VfB Pößneck, VfB Stuttgart | German for Verein für Bewegungsspiele (association for exercise games) |
| VfL | VfL Bochum, VfL Gummersbach, VfL Halle 1896, VfL Klafeld-Geisweid 08, VfL Osnabrück, VfL Wolfsburg | German for Verein für Leibesübungen (association for physical exercises) |
| VfR | VfR Aalen, VfR Bürstadt, VfR Mannheim, VfR Schlesien Breslau, VfR Wormatia Worms | German for Verein für Rasenspiele (association for lawn games) |
| V.V. | Maastrichtse VV, K. Sint-Truidense V.V. | (F.C. in Dutch) |
References
- ^ This men's team is owned and operated by Brigham Young University, whose athletic nickname is Cougars. However, it does not participate in NCAA competition, instead playing in the USL Premier Development League. The BYU women's soccer team does compete in the NCAA structure.
- ^ Club named after suburb of Dolphin's Barn
- ^ "Histórico". NetVasco. Retrieved 2007-06-23.