Please explain these soccer team names to an ignorant American

I don’t recognise those examples, no, but any British and I imagine Irish football fan will be familiar with names such as “Inter Milan” and “AC Milan”, despite their sounding ridiculous to followers of Italian football, where the clubs are called simply Internazionale (or just Inter), and Milan (“MEE-lan”), respectively. (Milan goes by the Anglicised name rather than “Milano” because the club was founded by British ex-pats in Italy, originally as a cricket club.)

And, of course, the invincible Ice Blacks.

Being caught in a ruck between the All Black pack and 10m of sea ice … eeekkk … but at least the playing conditions there wouldn’t be any worse than at Carisbrook. :smiley:

Count me as another who’s never heard Juventus Turin or Feyenoord Rotterdam, in neither general media use nor official use through UEFA.

Regarding Manchester United, there’s a chant “There’s only one United.” I’m a Manchester United fan, and I generally just say United when speaking or writing about them in context. I only mention Manchester when it’s in a situation such as this thread or when I meet someone who doesn’t know I’m a fan. Typically, for the other Uniteds throughout England, they’re referred to as the first part of the name, which is always (or almost always) their location. Leeds United is referred to as Leeds, Newcastle United as Newcastle, and so on. The only exception I can think of is Sheffield United, and that’s because Sheffield has 2 major clubs, whereas Leeds and Newcastle are the lone big clubs in their respective town.

Funny about Chelsea, they’re not actually in the Chelsea district of London. They’re located in Fulham, which is the name of another club, Fulham FC. The Fulham area is adjacent to the Chelsea area, if I’m not mistaken.

One thing that annoys me a bit about the American FCs (I’m referring to MLS here) is that I don’t believe these are actually clubs for fans to join. In many cases for the English clubs, they may no longer be that way, but originally, they were actual clubs with members. To my knowledge, FC Dallas does not have dues-paying members who can just show up at the gym to workout, or go to the club’s restaurant for dinner, etc. The Elks or Lions Club, they ain’t.

What a strangely specific definition of “club” you have. Nowadays, it’s mostly only Spanish and Portuguese clubs that are run by dues-paying members. (My father is a member of SL Benfica). Can I ask whether you work out at the Manchester United gym very often?

Fun Fact: American soccer clubs have been using the moniker “FC” since the old ASL of the Thirties. Back then, it meant “Field Club”.

Oh, and I have definitely heard Juventus Turin, along with “Sporting Lisbon” and “Glasgow Celtic”.

Uefa is a bit inconsistent, it has Hamburg (instead of HSV) and Marseille (instead of Olympique) but also Athletic (Club de Bilbao) and Atletico (Madrid) and Werder (Bremen) as well as Hertha (BSC). So it does happen (and it happens a lot elsewhere) and UEFA does it too.

They should *so *get William Shatner as a spokesperson.

We were chatting about this in the office.

There is a British minor team called “Racing,” in that they used to play at the racing course. Now there are important teams in Argentina, Bolivia and elsewhere also named “Racing,” no doubt after the original (almost forgotten) team.

In German soccer there is the old joke that teams are always named after things that they feel are lacking. So Eastern German teams were named Lokomotive, Energie or Dynamo, and Western German teams were named Eintracht (Unity) or Freundschaft (Friendship).

German football commentators on TV will often refer to clubs from London as “Chelsea London” or “Arsenal London”, as the name itself doesn’t tell you where the club are from. The also tend to say “FC Liverpool” which isn’t something you’d ever hear in the UK.

EVERYONE should get William Shatner as their spokesperson.

My team, Aston Villa is also named after a region of its city (Aston in Birmingham). It is a little known fact that naming a football team after the full name of the city is cursed, and will result in teams of no talent, no success, and no support.

The one I always find interesting is the Italian team, Genoa. Which is called Genoa even in Italy, despite the damn Italians calling the city Genova. I have heard the reason is that it was originally a cricket club founded by English ex-pats.

I see your Wednesday and raise you a Dangerous Darkies - the name of a South African football team from the early 90’s (link from FIFA website about Nelspruit, the town where they were based) when soccer was considered a “black sport”.

Grim

Re: the Utah Jazz, I have often wondered if it could be proven that Salt Lake City, Utah is the least jazzy of all sizeable municipalities in the entire USA. There must be a way to do that.

I was surprised when the Lakers moved here that they kept the name. I have made the suggestion that they at least be called LAkers, and you can guess the reactions.

Do immature British people giggle at ARSEnal like this immature American does? :stuck_out_tongue:

It is quite common for people to refer to them as “The Arse”, so you guess :wink:

Then there must be a city somewhere named “Clippers”. It’s the only explanation!

Dude, learn to spell ;). Hereabouts (I’m back at home), it’s amos. But you’ll have to excuse me if I refrain from yelling “amos donostiarras”, as my neighbors wouldn’t take it nicely… Osasuuuuuna, Osasuuuuuna, oé oé oeeeee… ¡que no bajamos este añooooooo!

Meringue in English, Rojo :slight_smile: