Football Phrase of the Week: Margin

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Football Phrase of the Week: Margin

In this football phrase of the week we look at the word, ‘margin‘ and see how it is used in football. We will look at slim margin and also wide margin after PSG’s Champions League win at the weekend, as well as the phrase, ‘small margins‘. You can read the transcript for this post below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.

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DF: Hello everyone. This is Damian from the Languagecaster team and I hope you are all doing well. Apologies for the slight delay in posting this but it has been a busy weekend of football, including of course the Champions League final in which PSG finally won their first title.

So, welcome to this week’s football phrase which, of course, is when we look back at some of the football language from the weekend. And today we look at the word, ‘margin‘ and in particular the phrases, ‘biggest or widest margin‘ and ‘small margins‘.

Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (in Burmese)

DF: Yes you are listening to Languagecaster.com and that message was in Burmese.

Now, as we mentioned at the start of the show, PSG, that’s Paris Saint Germain, finally won their first Champions League title after defeating Inter 5-0 at the weekend. It was a heavy defeat for the Italian side, in fact it has been described as a thrashing (a 5-0 thrashing); a hammering and that they were taken apart. To take apart a team means that their opponents easily defeated them and scored lots of goals – the defeated team didn’t play well because their opponents were so strong, they had been taken apart. In the final, Inter were taken apart by PSG – they were thrashed 5-0.

Few people saw this result coming as normally finals are quite cagey or cautious but PSG pressed Inter from the kick off and they never stopped until the final whistle. Goals from Hakimi, Kvaratskhelia, Mayulu and a brace from Desire Doue saw PSG win by five goals: the margin was five goals. So, we could say that margin means the gap or the amount or number or the difference between the two sides.

This five-goal margin was the biggest in Champions League finals history which means that no team had ever won by this many goals before. There had been three examples of four-goal margin wins in previous finals: Real Madrid scored 7 in the 1960 final and Eintracht Frankfurt scored three so the margin was four goals. There have been two 4-0 victories in previous European Cup/Champions League finals and both involved AC Milan: In 1989 they routed Steau Bucharest 4-0 and they repeated thi scoreline in 1994 when they thrashed Barcelona 4-0 (That was the Dream Team).

We can also use the word margin to describe the difference between team positions in the league table. So, for example, if a team wins the league by a wide margin it means they easily won the title. On the contrary, if they win by a slim or narrow margin, then they only won by a small amount of points; maybe one point or maybe just goal difference. Manchester City’s famous last-minute title win in 2012 was won by the slimmest of margins; they only won the title on goal difference from Manchester United. The biggest title-winning margin in Premier League history was 19 points by Manchester City in 2018; so the gap was 19 points; the runners up were 19 points behind City.

One other example of the word ‘margin‘ being used in football is the phrase, ‘small (or fine) margins‘ which describes little things that can help to have a big effect on the result of a game. So, for example, if a team are at home they have an advantage over their opponent – a small margin. Or maybe a team has prepared set pieces or trained in a certain way in preparation to defeat their opponent and these small or fine margins give them an edge or an advantage.

Examples

1. by recording the biggest winning margin in a Champions League or European Cup final. (BBC.co.uk June 1 2025)
2. Man City v Liverpool: Tiny margins involved in Premier League’s title-defining rivalry (BBC.co.uk 2023)

Stinger: You are listening to Languagecaster (a French fan)

DF: That message was in French. I wonder can we get a PSG fan to record a stinger for us? Drop us a line if you’d like to appear on the show – just say ‘you are listening to Languagecaster’ in any language that you want!

On today’s football expression of the week we looked at the word, ‘margin‘ which refers to the gap between two teams and also the phrase ‘small margins’ which is used to describe small details that give an advantage to a winning team. Do you know of any other similar words or phrases similar to these expressions? And how would you say it in another language that you know? Let us know by dropping a post on our forum or on the comments section below this post here at Languagecaster.com.

Enjoy all the football this week. The Nations League semi finals are taking place and we’ll see you again soon when we’ll be looking at some of the language from the 2025 Club World Cup. Don’t forget we’ve just started a 2025 Club World Cup predictions competition so come along to the site and have a look. Enjoy all the football and we’ll see you soon. Bye bye.

Football Language Glossary