Winger studied recording before kick-off (8)
I believe the answer is:
redstart
'winger' is the definition.
(redstart is a kind of bird)
'studied recording before kick-off' is the wordplay.
'studied' becomes 'read' (I've seen this before).
'recording' shows a homophone (sound like) (as it might sound on a recording).
'before' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'kick off' becomes 'start' (start of a football match).
'read' sounds like 'red'.
'red'+'start'='REDSTART'
(Other definitions for redstart that I've seen before include "winger" , "One sings" , "Singer" , "Bird (coloured opening!)" , "Songbird" .)