This article examines the cultural and pragmatic equivalence issues that arise in the translation of football terminology between English and Uzbek. As football has evolved into a global cultural phenomenon, its terminology has acquired complex semantic, metaphorical and culture-bound meanings that cannot always be conveyed through direct lexical substitution. The study highlights how terms such as offside, playmaker, derby, nutmeg, hat-trick, pressing and their Uzbek equivalents often reflect culturally shaped interpretations of the sport, communicative norms and media discourse. Using comparative, descriptive and contextual analysis methods, the research identifies the main challenges translators face, including semantic asymmetry, culturally loaded metaphors, pragmalinguistic shifts and the lack of standardized equivalents in Uzbek linguistic practice. The findings demonstrate that achieving accurate translation requires not only linguistic competence but also a deep understanding of football culture, discourse pragmatics and the socio-communicative functions of sport-related language. The article proposes several strategies—functional equivalence, descriptive translation and pragmatic adaptation—to ensure culturally sensitive and contextually appropriate rendering of football terminology.

football terminology; translation studies; cultural equivalence; pragmatic equivalence; semantic asymmetry; metaphorical expressions; Uzbek–English contrastive linguistics; sports discourse; functional translation strategies

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