liguilla y repechaje (soccer)

[RodrigoBel]

Hola,

Me gustaria saber como se dice "liguilla" y "repechaje" en Ingles. Son dos terminos que se utilizan mucho en el soccer. Por ejemplo:

"Chile clasifico al repechaje para ir al mundial de futbol".
(I'm just dreaming ok?).

"La liguilla de descenso la jugaran los ultimos cuatro equipos del torneo"


Gracias,
Rodrigo

 

[fenixpollo]

liguilla: playoffs (enlace)

repechaje: lo puedes explicar? no aparece en el DRAE.

 

[Keikikoka]

Repechaje = playoff

At the playoff, Chilie qualified to go to the World Soccer (Tournament?)

I'm not sure about "liguilla." I think it means "elimination rounds."

 

[RodrigoBel]

Gracias Keikikoka y Fenixpollo por sus respuestas.

Veamos, Keikikoka dice que "repechaje = playoffs" y Fenixpollo dice que "liguilla = play-offs". Me estoy dando cuenta que ambos terminos significan lo mismo. . Tiene razon.

Lo que sugiere Keikikoka, "liguilla" = "elimination rounds" tambien suena bien.

Fenixpollo, repechaje es, por ejemplo, cuando los ultimos, digamos, cuatro equipos de un torneo de futbol juegan un cuadrangular para definir quien desciende a segunda division. Lo mismo que liguilla aparentemente.

Saludos,
Rodrigo

 

[Masood]

"liguilla" = "elimination rounds"
En inglés británico, por si acaso lo necesitas, diríamos informalmente 'knock-out rounds'.

 

[RodrigoBel]

Gracias Masood.

Me quedo entonces con que: liguilla=repechaje=playoffs=elimination rounds=knock-out rounds.

Saludos,
Rodrigo

 

[fenixpollo]

Otras opciones:
championship tournament = el torneo completo, incluyendo la liguilla y el campeonato

first-round playoffs = first-round elimination = 8 equipos, por ejemplo (o 16 o 32, etc.) juegan y la mitad quedan eliminados. A veces se describen por la region que va a jugar; por ejemplo, todos los equipos del occidente van a competir, entonces la liguilla se llama Western Region Playoffs o algo asi.

second-round playoffs = second-round elimination = 4 equipos, por ejemplo, o la mitad de los que jugaron en la primera ronda, juegan para ver quien va a jugar en el campeonato.

championship game = el partido de campeonato

knock-out rounds se entiende perfectamente en los Estados Unidos, pero no se usa mucho.

 

[RodrigoBel]

Muchas Gracias Fenixpollo. Se agradece la completa explicacion.

Saludos,
Rodrigo

 

[yang_gui_zi]

I realize this is an old thread, but I think the overall conclusion is misleading and so I thought the record should be set straight (particularly as "liguilla" is now starting for the Clausura 2007 in Mexico).

The following thread is much closer to correct:
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=250364

I believe that in Mexican soccer/futbol the terms "liguilla" and "repechaje" are closest to the American football terms of "playoff" and "wildcard," respectively.

In American football, if a team doesn't win their own division, they still have a chance to go to the playoffs as a "wildcard" team. This is based on the team's season win-loss record, compared across the whole league.

In Mexican soccer, there is a similar system. The first 2 teams from each group are in the playoffs automatically. But also other teams have a chance to qualify if their season record (in this case, points total) is good enough (specifically, if it is better than any of the top 2 teams in the other divisions). This is called "repechaje" - it is a form of "repesca" and is derived from the idea of trying to "fish" again - in other words, to get a second chance. (I think...Spanish-speaking natives correct me if I am wrong on that).

There are some differences - for example in American football, the number of "wildcard" positions is always the same. In Mexican soccer, the number of teams qualifying for repechaje is variable depending on the overall situation at the end of the season. But the idea is the same - it is a "second chance" to qualify for the playoffs, based on your record versus the overall league, even if you did not qualify by having a high enough position in your own division or group.

In American football, the "playoffs" are considered to start with the wildcard games. Thus, "wildcard" is more specific than "playoffs". That is, all wildcard games are considered to be playoff games; but only the first round of playoff games are wildcard games. I think the same should be true of "liguilla" and "repechaje", but I am not 100% sure. One could, for example, take the opposite point of view -- that the playoffs don't really start until the wildcard/repechaje round is finished. Some individuals in America may think that way too, but most do not -- especially those whose teams made it to the playoffs as a wildcard! This counts as "going to the playoffs" in their minds, for sure.

Incidentally, the use of the word "wildcard" in English is taken from the word for a card (naipes) that can take any value during play. In a similar manner, the "wildcard" playoff spots are not reserved in advance for any specific division, but can be filled by teams from any division depending on the season results. So the term "wildcard" in both cases means something that is unknown and is to be filled in or designated later.

 

[yang_gui_zi]

OK, after reading further news stories about the current playoffs in Mexican futbol, I can say with some certainty that at least in Mexico, they do not consider "repechaje" to be a part of the "liguilla"; rather, the "liguilla" is considered to start after the "repechaje" is concluded, and the final 8 teams are selected. All the news stories I have seen on Yahoo use it this way.

This is opposite of the usage of "wildcard" in USA football, where wildcard games are usually considered to be just a part of the playoffs (i.e., the first round).

But still, despite this difference, I think the two ("repechaje" and "wildcard") are close translations of each other. In fact, the difference that exists is really a difference between the usage of the words "playoffs" and "liguilla," not a difference between "repechaje" and "wildcard."

Well that is probably more than anyone would ever want to know about these words.

 

[AnotherStephen]

It's an old thread I know.

I've got from one book of mine that liguilla means a round-robin tournament. I don't know if they have the term in the USA but here in the UK and probably the rest of the Commonwealth a round-robin is where every team plays every other team.

An example would be in the opening round of the Football World Cup where teams are divided into eight groups of four countries. In each group every team plays every other team once.

 

[yang_gui_zi]

Stephen,

I can't speak for other geographies, but in Mexico's Primera league, the liguilla is definitely not round-robin. It is effectively(*) just a single-elimination tournament (or, as you Brits say, "knock-out" rounds). So I don't think translating "liguilla" as "round-robin" is really correct. Perhaps "liguilla" is more general (such as the word "playoff" in English), and does not indicate one way or another the structure of the playoff. I don't know. But I think I can conclude from the usage in Mexican soccer that it does NOT specifically mean round-robin, at least in common usage in Mexico.

And to answer your English question - yes, I think "round-robin" is generally understood in the USA and has the same meaning, although I believe that it is less commonly used here than in England. It sounds a little British to me. However, as far as I know there is no separate word to describe this in the USA. Probably the reason that the term is less common here is simply that that format is not nearly as often used. Such a tournament structure is very common in soccer (especially, as you say, for early playoff rounds -- in World Cup and almost any other soccer tournament). But soccer itself is not common here. There is no major sport here (that I can think of) using that format.

(*) There is one additional complexity - each round is really two games played on different days. But since the scores are added, the end result is the same as playing one 180-minute game with a 2 or 3 day rest in the middle. So it is effectively a single-elimination tournament.

 

[Niners12]

Another expression for "liguilla", in reference to the World Cup or European Cup, and the most common, would be "group stage". 4 teams in a group, and each team plays each other team once... the same idea as the round-robin, except that the top two go on to the next round.

 

[AnotherStephen]

Diccionario de la lengua española © 2005 Espasa-Calpe S.A., Madrid:

liguilla

1. f. dep. Competición en la que intervienen pocos equipos, de manera que todos juegan contra todos

This is definitely what in Britain and other parts of the English-speaking world we would call a round-robin tournament. Every team plays against every other team.

 

[amrhc5]

Un equivalente para los norteamericanos sería algo como:
repechaje: playoff game or wild-card game
liguilla: Major League

 

[yang_gui_zi]

Stephen: That dictionary definition seems narrower than actual usage. In Mexico they call the soccer playoffs "liguilla" even though it is not round-robin. It is structured as a simple binary tree -- what you British call "knock-out rounds," I believe.

amrhc5: I disagree that "liguilla" is like "Major League." At least in the USA, the latter means the top division or league (parecido a la "Primera Division", o "Primera A"). It is never used to mean "playoffs." But in Mexico "liguilla" specifically means "playoffs."

 

[DANTECH]

On Tuesday, in South America, the World Cup qualifying games for Russia 2018 ended. Four countries qualified directly, and now, Peru, the country that ended up in the fifth position, is going to play the "repechaje/repesca" with New Zealand. Two teams from diferent parts of the world get a second and last chance to clasify to World Cup Russia 2018. Just two teams, just two games. I don't think we can call that "liguilla (plays off)" when only two teams are going to play to get to the World Cup Russia 2018.

Please, feel free to correct my English.

 

[quethibum]

En este caso también es playoff Dantech (mira esta página de Nueva Zelanda):
Peru confirmed for Intercontinental Playoff

 

[DANTECH]

Gracias por el dato quethibum.

Thanks for the info.