CLEAN SHEET

A 'clean sheet' is a football (soccer) term, meaning a game in which the team referred to have not conceded any goals. The main purpose of goalkeepers and defenders is to keep a clean sheet.
Example: ''Team A'' beats ''Team B'' 3-0, so ''Team A'' are said to have "kept a clean sheet," as they have not conceded any goals.
The equivalent term in American English is shutout.

Contents

Origin of Term

Fantasy Football

Origin of Term

The term first appeared in the 1930s and it derived from sports reporting in which the reporter would use separate pieces of paper to record different events of the game. If one team does not let in a goal, then that team's "details of goals conceded" column would appear blank, hence leaving a clean sheet.
Alternatively the term may post back to Willy "Fatty" Foulke during his Bradford City days: Whilst playing against Accrington Stanley in February 1907, it is said that Foulke's jersey clashed with the red of Stanley and no-one could find a jersey large enough to fit him, so he played wrapped in a sheet, procured from a nearby house. Bradford won the game 1-0 and Foulke didn't dive during the match, so he kept a 'clean sheet'.

Fantasy Football

In Fantasy Football defenders and goalkeepers get awarded points for keeping a clean sheet.