Word.ws English Dictionary

1-1-8

1-1-8 noun: a football formation with 1 defender, 1 midfielder and 8 strikers sometimes played in the 19th and early 20th centuries, now a derogatory reference to a team with poor defence.

Noun

1-1-8 (uncountable)

  1. (derogatory, historical) A football formation with 1 defender, 1 midfielder and 8 strikers sometimes played in the 19th and early 20th centuries, now a derogatory reference to a team with poor defence.
    • England went even further, playing 1-1-8 (eight forwards), but crowded goalmouths saw the game end 0-0.2010, Clive Gifford, “Formations”, in The Kingfisher Football Encyclopedia, 2nd edition, →ISBN, page 60
    • Both teams employed what could be considered attacking formations—Scotland (2-2-6), and England (1-1-8) […]2011, Jaime Orejan, Football/Soccer: History and Tactics, →ISBN, page 31

Questions about 1-1-8

What does 1-1-8 mean?
1-1-8 means a football formation with 1 defender, 1 midfielder and 8 strikers sometimes played in the 19th and early 20th centuries, now a derogatory reference to a team with poor defence.
What part of speech is 1-1-8?
1-1-8 is a noun.

Words near 1-1-8 in the dictionary

  1. 1,000th
  2. 1,2-naphthoquinone
  3. 1,4-naphthoquinone
  4. 1,6-Cleves acid
  5. 1,7-Cleves acid
  6. 1-1-8
  7. 1-2 punch
  8. 1-2-3
  9. 1-2-3 block
  10. 1-2-3 blocks
  11. 1-2-3ed

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: 1-1-8 (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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