One of the most exciting aspects about soccer is the fact that it is an international game that is played in most countries around the world instead of being a game that is limited to certain geographical locations.
However, the huge influence of the soccer game that spans the entire world introduces a small conflict when it comes to “how things should be named in soccer”.
For example, the name of the game itself is different in many places around the world. It is even different in some countries that speak the same language (It’s called soccer in the US, and it’s Football in Europe and many other countries around the world)
The soccer field also has its fair share of different names around the world, which is the main focus of this article. So without further ado, let’s dive into the details.
What is the field of play called in soccer?
The soccer field is known as a pitch in Europe and in many countries around the world. The word “pitch” is used to specifically refer to the playable area (the rectangular marked area) of the field that is used to play soccer and not the grass field as a whole.
However, if you are living in America, then chances are that you haven’t heard the term pitch used a lot when referring to the soccer field of play.
In America and Canada, the soccer field is called… well, a field, a playing field.
It’s also worth noting that many soccer fans might not even recognize the word pitch if they are from the United States.
As for England, and in many other countries, the word pitch is constantly used by media outlets, game commentators, coaches, fans, and so on.
Before we move on, if you would like to learn about the reasons why the soccer pitch is usually striped, you can check this article over here.
Why is the soccer field called a pitch?
The soccer field is generally known as a pitch simply because the game originated in England, where the word pitch usually referred to “an area of ground marked out or used for play in an outdoor team game”.
In other words, the term pitch is not exclusive to the soccer field, and it is used to refer to the fields of play of other sports too.
Cricket, for example, is another sport that uses the term pitch to refer to the field of play of the game.
As a matter of fact, cricket came out before soccer did, and the game’s fields of play used to be called “Pitches” (They are still called pitches till this day)
When soccer came out in England, it was common to play soccer on the cricket pitches, because soccer wasn’t a sport big enough to have its own dedicated fields of play, especially since the soccer field is a very large one and requires a lot of space to be built.
So it only made sense to also use the term Pitch to refer to the soccer fields of play too, and today, the term pitch doesn’t just refer to the fields of play of these 2 sports only, but it also refers to any field that is marked and used to play some sort of team sports.
Since we’ve mentioned the markings of the soccer pitch several times already, you can check this article if you want to learn more about the goal box markings in soccer, and this one if you want to learn about the penalty arc marking.
CONCLUSION
At the end of the day, the whole point of using proper terms is to be able to communicate your thoughts clearly to the people around you.
The terms “Pitch”, “Field”, “Field of play”, “Playing field” and so on can all refer to the same thing when the context is the soccer sport.
Which one you want to use depends on who you are talking to. The goal here is to communicate clearly, and not to enforce one term over the other.
If you are in the United States, using the terms “field” and “playing field” might be the better option. On the other hand, it makes sense to use the term “pitch” in Europe.
With that said, we have reached the end of the article. If you are interested, you can check any of these articles that are somehow related to the soccer field in general: