Explainer: Why Two Goals in Football Are Called a ‘Brace’

Scoring two goals in a football match is commonly referred to as a “brace,” but the origin of the term dates back centuries and has little to do with the sport itself.

The term “brace” originally meant a pair of something. In medieval England, hunters who successfully killed two birds or animals during a hunt were said to have taken a “brace.”

The expression later found its way into football, where it came to describe a player scoring two goals in a single match. While fans often associate the term exclusively with football, it has historical roots that predate the sport by hundreds of years.

Football has its own scoring terminology, with three goals known as a “hat-trick” and four or more goals often described using other football-specific terms.

Today, “brace” remains one of the most widely used expressions in football commentary and reporting whenever a player scores twice in the same game.