The Referee and Fouls on the Pitch
The referee is a sudac, and a foul is a prekršaj. The football pitch is called the teren.
When using the preposition zbog (because of), the following noun phrase takes the genitive case. For example, taj oštri prekršaj (that harsh foul) becomes tog oštrog prekršaja.
| If the referee sees the foul, he will stop the match. | Ako sudac vidi prekršaj, prekinut će utakmicu. |
| The player certainly must leave the pitch because of that harsh foul. | Igrač sigurno mora napustiti teren zbog tog oštrog prekršaja. |
Offsides and Half-Time
An offside is a zaleđe, and half-time is poluvrijeme.
To describe the state of being offside or an event happening at half-time, use the locative case: u zaleđu (in offside) and na poluvremenu (at half-time).
| Our player was in offside when he received the ball. | Naš igrač je bio u zaleđu kada je dobio loptu. |
| The coach substituted the tired player at half-time. | Trener je zamijenio umornog igrača na poluvremenu. |
The Goalkeeper and the Whistle
The goalkeeper is a vratar. To talk about running to fetch or get something, use the preposition po followed by the accusative case, like po loptu (to fetch the ball).
The referee uses a whistle (zviždaljka) to stop play or end the game.
| The goalkeeper is running to fetch the ball that went off the pitch. | Vratar trči po loptu koja je izašla s terena. |
| We heard the whistle, which means that the match is over. | Čuli smo zviždaljku, što znači da je utakmica gotova. |
Ties and Extra Time
If the score is tied, use the adjective neriješen (literally "unresolved").
When a match ends in a tie, it may go into extra time, which is a produžetak. Because produžetak is a masculine noun, its locative form takes the ending -u (as in u produžetku — in the extra time).
| The result remained tied, so we watched the extra time. | Rezultat je ostao neriješen, pa smo gledali produžetak. |
| In the extra time, our team managed to win. | U produžetku je naša ekipa uspjela pobijediti. |
Kicks and Warnings
A kick is an udarac, and a free kick is a slobodan udarac.
If a player breaks the rules, they will receive a warning (opomena). Time prepositions like nakon (after) always take the genitive case, changing druga opomena to druge opomene.
| The referee gave a free kick because of the foul. | Sudac je dao slobodan udarac zbog prekršaja. |
| After the second warning, the player must leave the pitch. | Nakon druge opomene igrač mora napustiti teren. |
