Football (Soccer)

ESL discussion questions about the beautiful game.

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  1. Who do you think is the best player in the world right now?
  2. Who is the greatest player in the history of the game?
  3. Which is the best football team in the world at the moment?
  4. Which country plays the best style of football in your opinion?
  5. Do you support a football team? Which one?
  6. Is it possible to support two football teams at once?
  7. Are you good at football yourself? What position do you play?
  8. What is your earliest football memory?
  9. Have you ever played a football video game? Does it come close to the real thing?
  10. Have video assistant referees (VAR) improved the game?
  11. Some people say that football is like religion. Do you agree?
  12. Do footballers have a responsibility to behave well off the pitch? Why is this?
  13. Why are footballers paid so much money? Are they worth it?
  14. If you were the president of FIFA, what would you do to improve the game?
  15. Why do men like football more than women do?
  16. Do you watch women’s football? Will it ever be as popular as the men’s game?
  17. Can you think of any big city rivalries in world football? Are they a good thing?
  18. Do you consider football to be the beautiful game? Why so?
  19. Why has football become so popular around the world?
  20. Will football ever go out of fashion? Why would this be?
  21. Do some people waste too much time on football?
PDF (Individual)
General
PDF (Pairs)
General
PDF (Threes)
General
PDF (Cards)
General
How to use the football ESL discussion questions

It is recommended that you download the football ESL discussion questions in PDF format using one of the links above. The best way to encourage classroom interaction is to download and print the football discussion questions in the 'pairs' or 'threes' PDF format and then divide the questions by cutting along the dotted lines. This allows students to take turns asking and answering the football discussion questions in groups of two or three. Alternatively, you could use the 'cards' format to distribute the questions to any number of students to ask and share.

It is advisable to prepare students for using these discussion questions by first introducing them to the topic of football in an interesting and engaging way. An anecdote, quiz question or a related image or video could all be used to achieve this. Depending on the level, it may also be necessary to pre-teach any challenging vocabulary related to football contained in the discussion questions.

For more ESL discussion questions, see this site's main page. There are discussion questions on a range of topics including general, grammar and business English topics.

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