How to pronounce the UEFA EURO 2024 players' names correctly
martedì 18 giugno 2024
Intro articolo
Amaze your friends with your sudden command of European languages as we guide you through the toughest player names at the finals in Germany.
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Corpo articolo
As kick-off approaches, the time has come for English speaking fans to learn how to say the UEFA EURO 2024 players' names correctly.
Be brave and try our phonetic guide to the 24 teams' toughest linguistic opponents.
Albania
The Albanian 'j' is soft like an English 'y'. The letters 'x' and 'q' do not sound much like their English equivalents.
Arlind Ajeti - A-yeti
Naser Aliji - Nas-air Al-ee-hee
Nedim Bajrami - By-rah-mee
Iván Balliu - Ba-lee-oo
Armando Broja - Bro-ya
Berat Djimsiti - Jim-shee-tee
Klaus Gjasula - Gya-soo-la
Arbër Hoxha - Ho-jar
Elseid Hysaj - El-say-d Hoo-sigh
Qazim Laçi - Cha-seem Lah-chay
Rey Manaj - Ray Man-eye
Enea Mihaj - Mee-high
Mario Mitaj - Mee-tie
Ernest Muçi - Moo-chee
Remember that a German-language 'w' is more like an English 'v'.
Marko Arnautović - Ar-now-toe-vitch
Marco Grüll - Grool
Niklas Hedl - Hay-dull
Konrad Laimer - Lime-ah
Philipp Lienhart - Leen-hart
Phillipp Mwene - M-vay-nuh
Leopold Querfeld - Kvair-feld
Marcel Sabitzer - Zarbitser
Matthias Seidl - Side-ul
Nicolas Seiwald - Zye-vald
Gernot Trauner - Trow-ner (Trow to rhyme with 'cow')
Andreas Weimann - Vye-man
Patrick Wimmer - Vimmer
Maximilian Wöber - Verber
Belgium
The 'ee' and 'ae' diphthongs are not quite the same as their English counterparts.
Timothy Castagne - Cast-anya
Koen Casteels - Cast-ells
Kevin De Bruyne - De Bruhn
Maxim De Cuyper - De Kuh-per
Charles De Ketelaere - De Kettle-ah-ruh
Wout Faes - Fass
Orel Mangala - Mon-gala
Thomas Meunier - Mun-yare
Arthur Theate - Tay-at
Aster Vranckx - Vranks
Croatia
Some simple rules make light work of Croatian pronunciations: 'š' sounds like 'sh', 'č' and 'ć' sound like 'ch' but a Croatian 'c' is more like an English 'ts'.
Joško Gvardiol - Yosh-ko
Luka Ivanušec - Iva-noo-shets
Mateo Kovačić - Kova-chitch
Nediljko Labrović - Ned-iliko
Lovro Majer - My-er
Mario Pašalić - Pasha-litch
Marin Pongračić - Pongra-chitch
Marko Pjaca - Pee-atsa
Josip Stanišić - Stani-shitch
Josip Šutalo - Shu-tallo
Nikola Vlašić - Vla-shitch
Marco Pašalić - Pasha-litch
Czechia
Some helpful tips: 'č' is like 'ch', 'š' is like 'sh', 'c' is more like an English 'ts' while 'ř' is something like 'rz'. The letter 'j' is soft like an English 'y'. A Czech 'ch' is more like a hard English 'h'.
Václav Černý - Cher-nee
Lukáš Červ - Cherf
Tomáš Chorý - Hoo-ree
Mojmír Chytil - Hit-ill
Vladimír Coufal - Tso-fal
David Douděra - Do-dyair-a
Tomáš Holeš - Hollesh
Robin Hranáč - Haran-arch
Vítězslav Jaroš - Ya-rosh
Matěj and David Jurásek - Yoo-raa-sek
Matěj Kovář - Ma-tay Ko-varz
Ladislav Krejčí - Kray-chee
Jan Kuchta - Cookh-ta
Tomáš Souček - So-check
Jindřich Staněk - Stan-yek
Pavel Šulc - Schultz
Tomáš Vlček - Vul-check
Denmark
In practice, Danish names do not sound like English speakers would like them to. The 'aa' is more like an English 'o' and 'æ' is a challenge.
Mikkel Damsgaard - Dams-gor
Kasper Dolberg - Dol-bare
Pierre-Emile Højbjerg - Hoy-be-air
Rasmus Højlund - Hoy-lund
Morten Hjulmand - Yule-man
Simon Kjær - Care
Joakim Mæhle - Male-a
Christian Nørgaard - Nair-gor
Yussuf Poulsen - Pole-sen
Jannik Vestergaard - Vesta-yor
Jonas Wind - Vind
England
Fans of the Premier League should be familiar with most of the names, but these three tend to get pronounced wrongly.
Eberechi Eze - Ez-eh (not Ez-ay)
Marc Guéhi - Gayee
Kobbie Mainoo - May-noo
France
While French is commonly taught in school in most English-speaking nations, French vowels continue to confound many English speakers.
Olivier Giroud - Gee-roo
Antoine Griezmann - Gree-ez-man
N'Golo Kanté - Con-tay
Mike Maignan - Main-yon
Adrien Rabiot - Rab-yo
Aurélien Tchouameni - Chow-a-may-nee
Marcus Thuram - Too-ram
Dayot Upamecano - Dye-oh Oopama-cah-no
The Georgian language has its own beautiful script, which is transliterated in our squads. The names can seem long and complicated, but be reassured that they sound just like they look.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia - Kva-rats-kay-lee-a
The English and German languages have plenty in common, but pronunciation is not necessarily the same. Note that the German 'w' sounds like an English 'v'.
Maximilian Beier - Buyer
Chris Führich - Fyoo-rish
İlkay Gündoğan - Eel-kai Gun-do-wan
Robin Koch - Kokh
Toni Kroos - Crose
Maximilian Mittelstädt - Mit-ulsh-tet
Florian Wirtz - Vertss
Hungary
The Hungarian language presents a major challenge to English speakers, with plenty of alien-looking consonant combinations ('cs', 'sz', 'zs', etc). Also worth noting that a Hungarian 'á' sounds like an English 'a', but a Hungarian 'a' sounds more like an English 'o'.
Kevin Csoboth - Cho-boat
Dénes Dibusz - Dee-boo-s
Dániel Gazdag - Goz-dog
Péter Gulácsi - Goo-latchy
Kristofer Horváth - Hor-vat
Ádám Lang - Long
Ádám and Zsolt Nagy - Nodj
Roland Sallai - Shawl-oi
Péter Szappanos - Sop-on-oh-sh
Dominik Szoboszlai - So-bo-slaw-ee
Italy
Plenty of English-speaking fans watch Serie A closely, so most of these names are not a mystery, but the Italian 'c' can cause confusion when paired with an 'h'.
Federico Chiesa - Key-ay-za
Gianluca Mancini - Man-chee-nee
Mattia Zaccagni - Za-can-yee
Netherlands
Vowel sounds are not necessarily what English speakers expect them to be.
Steven Bergwijn - Behr-gwine
Justin Bijlow - Bile-o
Lutsharel Geertruida - Ghere-try-da
Matthijs de Ligt - Dull-ikt
Stefan de Vrij - Duv-rye
Teun Koopmeiners - Cope-miners
Tijjani Reijnders - Rinders
Wout Weghorst - Weck-horst
Georginio Wijnaldum - Why-mal-dum
Poland
The letters 'k' and 'z' are rare in English but common in Polish, while the combination of 'zcz' in a word seems impossible outside Poland. The Polish 'ą' and 'ę' sound like 'an' and 'en' respectively.
Bartosz Bereszyński - Bere-shin-skee
Jakub Kiwior - Kiv-yor
Robert Lewandowski - Levan-dovski
Krzysztof Piątek - Pee-on-tek
Tymoteusz Puchacz - Pu-hatch
Taras Romanczuk - Row-man-chook
Bartosz Slisz - Sleesh
Wojciech Szczęsny - Sh-chens-nee
Damian and Sebastian Szymański - She-man-ski
Sebastian Walukiewicz - Val-oo-kay-vitch
Nicola Zalewski - Za-levski
Portugal
Crucial to remember that Portuguese does not sound like Spanish. Vowels can disappear in pronunciation: note that Pepe does not sound like 'Pep-ay' but 'Pep' in his native language.
João Félix - J-wow Fay-licks
João Palhinha - J-wow Pal-yeen-ya
Pepe - Pep
Rúben Neves - Rooben Nevsh
Rui Patrício - Pat-reets-yo
Romania
Written Romanian has an exciting selection of accents on letters that will mystify English speakers. The most dramatic one is 'ț' which sounds like an English 'ts'.
Daniel Bîrligea - Bur-lee-ja
Andrei Burcă - Boor-ka
Alexandru Cicâldău - Chick-al-dow
Valentin Mihăilă - Me-hi-ee-la
Vasile Mogoş - Mo-gosh
Ionuț Nedelcearu - Nedel-cha-ru
Florin Niță - Nitsa
Bogdan Racovițan - Rako-vitsan
Andrei Rațiu - Rats-u
Nicolae Stanciu - Stan-choo
Scotland
Natives of the British Isles will not be too troubled by the names of the Scotland squad, though one may need a bit of extrapolation for fans elsewhere in the world.
Kieran Tierney - Tee-er-nee
Serbia
A Serbian 'Đ' or 'đ' is approximately the same as an English 'dj' so 'Đorđe' is approximately the same as an English 'George'. The letters 'č'and 'ć' are similar to 'ch' in English ('ć' is actually slightly softer, more like 'tj') while 'j' is soft, like an English 'y'.
Veljko Birmančević - Beer-man-chevitch
Mijat Gaćinović - Gacheenovitch
Luka Jović - Yovitch
Srdjan Mijailović - Me-yay-lo-vitch
Predrag Rajković - Rye-ko-vitch
Lazar Vujadin Samardžić - Samar-jitch
Nemanja Stojić - Stoy-itch
Andrija Živković - Zhiv-kovitch
Slovakia
The letter 'Ď' is more like 'Dj' in English, while 'š' is 'sh' and 'c' is more like 'ts'.
László Bénes - Bay-nesh
Róbert Boženík - Bozhenik
Dávid Ďuriš - Joo-reesh
Norbert Gyömbér - Gyem-bear
Dávid Hancko - Hantsko
Lukáš Haraslín - Harass-leen
Patrik Hrošovský - Hroshovski
Sebastián Kóša - Ko-sha
Juraj Kucka - Cootska
Leo Sauer - Sour
Milan Škriniar - Shcreen-yar
David Strelec - Strelets
Slovenia
The letters 'č' (ch), 'š' (sh) and 'ž' (zh) are all common in Slovenian names, but a Slovenian 'c' is more like 'ts' than an English-language 'c'. A Slovenian 'j' is similar to an English 'y'.
Jure Balkovec - Balkovets
Vid Belec - Belets
Jaka Bijol - Bee-yol
Miha Blažič - Blah-zheech
Žan Celar - Tsellar
Vanja Drkušić - Derkushitch
Timi Elšnik - Elshnik
Adam Gnezda Čerin - Gnez-dah Che-reen
Jon Gorenc Stanković - Gorents Stankovich
Josip Iličić - Ilichich
Erik Janža - Yanzha
Žan Karničnik - Karnichnik
Benjamin Šeško - Sheshko
Andraž Šporar - Shporar
Benjamin Verbič - Verbitch
Adrian Zeljković - Zel-ko-vitch
Nino Žugelj - Zhoogel
Spain
Most English-speaking football fans are now familiar with the best players in Spanish football. The following names may be the most challenging pronunciations in the current squad.
Álex Baena - By-enna
Dani Carvajal - Car-va-hal
Marc Cucurella - Coo-coo-ray-a
Mikel Oyarzabal - Oh-ya-thar-bal
Fabián Ruiz - Roo-eeth
Unai Simón - See-mon (with the emphasis on the 'mon')
Switzerland
Switzerland's multiple local languages make for an exciting patchwork of pronunciations within the squad.
Michel Aebischer - Ay-bisher
Remo Freuler - Froyler
Ardon Jashari - Ya-shah-ree
Fabian Schär - Share
Silvan Widmer - Vidmer
Granit Xhaka - Jacka
Turkish names present a seemingly impossible challenge for many English speakers; we have tried to simplify the following, but it is hard to get them 100% correct on paper. Worth noting that many players have their first names on their shirt.
Abdülkerim Bardakcı - Bar-dack-cher
Barış Alper Yılmaz - Yeelmass
Bertuğ Yıldırım - Bare-too Yildrim
Ferdi Kadıoğlu - Kadogloo
Hakan Çalhanoğlu - Chalhanogloo
İrfan Can Kahveci - Kah-vedger
Kerem Aktürkoğlu - Act-er-collu
Mert Günok - Goo-nok
Mert Müldür - Mooldoor
Okay Yokuşlu - Yokushler
Orkun Kökçü - Kerkchu
Salih Özcan - Erz-jan
Semih Kılıçsoy - Kilitsoy
Uğurcan Çakır - Oorjan Chak-r
Yusuf Yazıcı - Yazidger
Zeki Çelik - Chellik
Ukraine
Ukrainian players' names have been accurately transliterated from the cyrillic script, but English speakers should note thay the letter 'y' in these names is often very close to an English 'i'.
Artem Dovbyk - Dov-bick
Mykhailo Mudryk - Moo-drick
Bogdan Mykhaylichenko - Me-high-lee-chenko
Viktor Tsygankov - Tsigankov
Oleksandr Tymchyk - Timchick