| TENUOUS | Weak soccer team, one short, all but eliminated in US |
| GENERA | Cut short all-purpose biological groups (6) |
| ORIENTAL | Korean, for example, appears in London soccer team, one on top of league |
| TENDRIL | Team one short train endlessly and shoot to gain support |
| OXFORD | Eight nil: football team, one short, cross |
| ELEVATE | Promote team one short at breaks |
| LATEX | Team's one short after dead rubber |
| QUEENSPARKRANGERS | Two Scottish soccer teams, one English |
| TENPOUNDS | Football team, one short, walks heavily - 3 (3,6) |
| FASTEN | Join football administrators' team, one short? |
| MATCHUP | Dull blockhead, male eliminated in one-to-one competition |
| MEASLES | Infection briefly eliminated in the UK in 2017 thanks to vaccination (7) |
| HOTPANTS | Shorts all the rage? Nonsense (3,5) |
| SOUNDMIXING | Academy Awards category eliminated in 2021 ... or a hint to interpreting four clues in this puzzle |
| AUSTRALIA | Only Test playing team other than Bangladesh to be eliminated in the preliminary league stage |
| SAT | Wasn't eliminated in a game of musical chairs |
| DAWN | Republican eliminated in tense beginning (4) |
| OUTOFIT | Eliminated in match following away round |
| MUNGO | Felt waste must be eliminated in the country |
| CRIED | First pair eliminated in decider wrongly announced |
