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Football Phrase of the Week: Ending Their Hopes

In this week’s football phrase we see the expression, ‘Ending Their Hopes‘ after the final day of the season in England and Germany. You can read a transcript of this post below, while you can also view our glossary of football terms 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@lingualcaster.com.

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DF: Hello everyone. This is Damian from the Languagecaster team and I hope you are all well. Sorry for the slight delay in posting this but welcome to the football phrase of the week which of course is when we look back at some football language from the weekend. And today we see the phrase, ‘to end the other team’s hopes‘.

Stinger: You’re listening to Languagecaster (from an Arsenal fan)

DF: That’s right, most of the 2024-25 European domestic season is over – no more league games until August. But before we get to the transfer window or the FIFA Club World Cup in June, or the Women’s Euros, let’s look back at some stories from the final weekend of the season.

Firstly, we will look at England’s Nottingham Forest who almost qualified for next year’s Champions League but ultimately had to settle for the Europa Conference League after finishing 7th in the Premier League. Before their final match against Chelsea, who are also vying for a place in the Champions League, Forest need a win and hope that Aston Villa or Newcastle will drop points in their match for Forest to qualify for next season’s Champions League. This would be a remarkable achievement as it would be the first time Forest had been involved in this competition since their glory days in 1979 and 1980; they won the European Cup twice. Even more amazing was the fact that Forest almost collapsed; they almost got relegated last season – they finished 17th – so this is a great turnaround for them. However, Chelsea beat Forest 1-0 and so on ending their hopes qualify for the Champions League. Forest had hopes of qualifying before the match but… this hope is lost or ended when Chelsea beat them.

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Another example of hope ends comes from Germany where Arminia Bielefeld – a team from the third tier – managed to reach the final of the German Cup (that’s the Pokal). This was an incredible feat – they even beat reigning champions Leverkusen and three other Bundesliga teams in the previous round – but sadly they were unable to beat Stuttgart in the final. Stuttgart ending their hopes.

Example

1. Third division side Arminia Bielefeld saw their hopes of a fairy tale end with their stunning run to the German Cup final ended by top team Stuttgart in Berlin.
2. The defender’s goal in the second half saw Enzo Maresca’s side finish fourth in the Premier League and ending Forest’s own hopes to return to Europe’s top flight

Stinger: You’re listening to Languagecaster (from Ferencvaros fans)

Do you know of any other similar words or phrases used to describe this phrase? And how would you say this phrase in another language you know? Let us know by posting a post in our forums or in the comments section below this post on Languagecaster.com.

Enjoy all the football this week and see you later on our regular weekly language podcast when we’ll talk about the Champions League final and of course explain more football language. See you again. See you.

Related Vocabulary

Glossary of Football Language