Learn Hardcore French: Le match de football va durer une heure. - The soccer game is going to last an hour.

Le match = the match, referring to a specific match that the speaker and listener both know about (e.g. tonight’s game).
Un match = a match, referring to some match, not yet identified.

In your sentence, using le match implies a particular football match that has already been mentioned or is obvious from context (for example, the one on TV this evening).

Why do we say le match de football and not something like le football match?

French does not generally put a noun directly in front of another noun to modify it, the way English does (football match, car keys, chicken soup, etc.).

Instead, French typically uses:

noun + de + noun

So:

match de football = football match
clés de voiture = car keys
soupe de poulet = chicken soup

So le match de football literally means the match of football, which corresponds to English the football match.

Why is it de football and not du football?

When one noun specifies or classifies another noun (as in match de football, verre de vin), French normally uses de without an article.

match de football = a match whose type is football
une tasse de café = a cup of coffee (coffee-type cup content)

You use du/de la/des when you mean some (amount of) something, not when you are classifying another noun:

Je joue du football. = I play (some) football / I play football.
Je bois du café. = I drink (some) coffee.

Here football is specifying the type of match, so you use de: le match de football.

What tense is va durer, and how is it formed?

Va durer is the near future in French, called le futur proche.

It is formed with:

aller (to go) in the present tense + infinitive of the main verb.

Pattern:

je vais durer
tu vas durer
il / elle / on va durer
nous allons durer
vous allez durer
ils / elles vont durer

In your sentence:

va = 3rd person singular of aller (il/elle/on)
durer = infinitive of durer (to last)

So Le match de football va durer une heure. = The football match is going to last one hour.

Could we say Le match de football durera une heure instead of va durer? What’s the difference?

Yes, that is grammatically correct:

Le match de football durera une heure. = The match will last one hour.

Difference in nuance:

va durer (near future) often feels more immediate, spoken, and concrete, like English is going to last. It’s very common in everyday speech.
durera (simple future) can sound a bit more formal, neutral, or written, like English will last.

In practice, both are perfectly acceptable; most everyday conversation prefers va durer.

Why is durer used and not a verb like être (e.g. Le match va être une heure)?

In French, to say how long something lasts, you normally use durer:

Le film dure deux heures. = The film lasts two hours.
La réunion va durer trente minutes. = The meeting is going to last 30 minutes.

Using être to express duration (Le match va être une heure) is not correct French.

If you don’t want to use durer, the natural alternative is often prendre (to take [time]) with an impersonal subject:

Le match va prendre une heure. = The match is going to take an hour.
Ça va prendre une heure. = It’s going to take an hour.

But with le match as the subject, durer is the standard verb.

What does durer literally mean, and how is it used?

Durer means to last or to go on (for a certain length of time).

Typical uses:

Le match dure une heure. = The match lasts one hour.
La réunion a duré trois heures. = The meeting lasted three hours.
Ça ne va pas durer longtemps. = It’s not going to last long.
Rien ne dure éternellement. = Nothing lasts forever.

It is almost always used with a time expression (minutes, hours, days, etc.) or an adverb of duration (longtemps, toujours, etc.).

Why is it une heure and not un heure?

Because heure (hour) is a feminine noun in French:

une heure
la première heure
une demi-heure

Some time-related nouns are masculine (e.g. un jour, un mois, un an), but heure is feminine, so it takes une and la, not un and le.

When do we say heure and when heures (with an s) in expressions like this?

General rule:

1 hour → une heure (singular, no s)
2 or more hours → deux heures, trois heures, etc. (plural, with s)

Examples:

Le match va durer une heure. = It’s going to last one hour.
Le match va durer deux heures. = It’s going to last two hours.
La réunion a duré quatre heures. = The meeting lasted four hours.

With heure as a clock time, it’s similar:

Il est une heure. = It’s one o’clock.
Il est deux heures. = It’s two o’clock.

So in your sentence, une means there is only one hour, so heure stays singular.

Could I say pour une heure instead of just une heure?

Not in this sentence. Pour une heure would sound odd here.

Le match va durer une heure. = The match is going to last one hour.
(States the actual duration.)

Pour une heure is used more when you talk about intended duration or a time limit, often with verbs like partir, s’arrêter, se garer:

Je me gare ici pour une heure. = I’m parking here for an hour.
On s’arrête pour une heure. = We’re stopping for an hour.

With durer, you normally give the duration directly: durer + [length of time], without pour.

Can I replace le match de football with le match de foot?

Yes. Le foot is the usual informal / spoken word for football (soccer) in French.

Le match de football va durer une heure. (more neutral or formal)
Le match de foot va durer une heure. (more colloquial, everyday)

Both are correct; foot is what you will most often hear in casual conversation.

Is there anything special about the pronunciation in Le match de football va durer une heure?

A few points:

match: the t and ch combine to give a sound like English “match”; the final -ch is pronounced [ʃ] and the t is silent.
de: usually pronounced [də] but often reduced in fast speech, almost like [d].
football: French speakers typically say something like [fut.bɔl], not exactly like many English accents.
va durer: there’s usually no strong liaison; it’s [va dy.ʁe].
heure: the h is silent and the e is like [œʁ]; une heure is [yn œʁ].

So the whole sentence, fairly naturally, is roughly:
[lə matʃ də fut.bɔl va dy.ʁe yn œʁ].