Why do Americans call it Soccer when the rest of the world uses football?

Perfect imperfection

Like all Brits, I have always disliked the term soccer. It is known as football all around the world. Even in Spanish it is the same pronunciation – Futbol. I always believed Americans decided to change the name to soccer so they could use football for American football. After some research I was proven wrong, it was changed by the British.

The term «soccer» itself has English origins, derived from the word «association football.» During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the sport was gaining popularity globally, and different regions began adopting their own names for it.

In England, where modern football originated, there were various types of football being played, including rugby football and association football. To distinguish between these types, people started adding suffixes to the word «football,» such as «rugby football» and «association football.» The term «soccer» came from the practice of adding «-er» to abbreviate words, as in «rugger» for rugby football.

When football began to spread globally, different countries adopted their own names for the sport. In the United States, where other forms of football (like American football) were already popular, the term «soccer» became more common to differentiate it from other football types.

As American football gained prominence, especially through college and professional leagues, the term «football» in the United States became strongly associated with the American version. Consequently, «soccer» remained the preferred term to refer to association football, helping to avoid confusion between the two sports.

At the end of the day, the words you use are not always correct or incorrect. There can be a grey area. There are and always will be cultural differences, which will result in different language being used in different places, especially as language is always evolving. The most important thing to remember is that languages are all about people understanding each other and sometimes the differences don’t matter.

By: Daniel Harvey Williams

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