Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard. 

This episode is medium so we’re looking at football words and phrases you need to describe what’s happening on the pitch or words and phrases fans and commentators on TV might use. There are lots of phrasal verbs to learn at this level.

Summary 

Learn more football vocabulary with Premier Skills English. Each lesson in our Premier Vocabulary section looks at one football word or phrase. This lesson looks at the phrase long-term injury. 

You can find more lessons on the side of this page. 

Transcript 

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to Premier Skills English - Premier Vocabulary. 

Jack: Hi there! I’m Jack. We’re here to help you with your football English. Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. 

Rich: Don’t forget you can always find the transcript for all our podcasts on the Premier Skills English website. Premier Vocabulary has three different levels: easy, medium and hard. 

Jack: This episode is medium so we’re looking at football words and phrases you need to describe what’s happening on the pitch or words and phrases fans and commentators on TV might use. There will be lots of phrasal verbs to learn at this level. 

Rich: The phrase we are looking at in this episode is a long-term injury. 

Jack: A long-term injury is a phrase we hear a lot when a player suffers a serious injury. 

Rich: We’re going to look at the phrase long-term injury and the words long-term and short-term and how they are used in and out of football. 

Jack: So, we’ve already said that a long-term injury is used when a player suffers a serious injury. 

Rich: In this phrase, long-term is an adjective that is used to describe something that will happen over a long period of time or has an effect over a long time. 

Jack: Common long-term injuries include broken bones and ligament damage. One of the most serious long-term injuries is damage to your anterior cruciate ligament. It’s sometimes called an ACL injury for short. 

Rich: This is a serious, long-term knee injury. It used to end footballers careers, but nowadays a player can return from this long-term injury after 6 to 9 months. 

Jack: Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk is not playing after suffering this long-term injury in the Merseyside Derby a few weeks ago. 

Rich: We all hope he recovers quickly and gets back to his best after this long-term injury. 

Jack: We can say a player is out with a long-term injury or we can also say that a player is out long term. Both are used to say an injury is serious and he or she won’t be playing for a long time. 

Rich: The opposite of a long-term injury is a short-term injury. A short-term injury might be things like a sprained ankle or a dead leg. Players with short-term injuries will be back on the pitch after a short period of time. 

Jack: Short-term and long-term are useful adjectives to learn and use more generally to speak about things that have an effect over a short or long period of time. 

Rich: We could say that a football team’s long-term goals are to win the league or qualify for Europe while their short-term goal is to win the next match. 

Jack: Most people have short-term and long term goals. A long-term goal for a medical student might be to qualify as a doctor specialising in heart surgery. 

Rich: The same medical student’s short-term goals may include passing their end of year exams. 

Jack: What are your short-term and long-term goals? Let us know in the comments section. 

Rich: There is the final whistle! 

Jack: We’ll be back soon with more Premier Vocabulary from Premier Skills English. 

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football. 

Discuss

 Do you know a player who is out with a long-term injury?

 What are your long-term and short-term goals?