Americans call the sport known as football in most of the world soccer to avoid confusion with their own popular sport, American football (the one with helmets, tackling, and forward passes).
Here’s the full story in simple terms:
The Word “Soccer” Actually Started in England (Not America!)
- In the 1860s, England created official rules for the game we now call football. It was officially named Association Football (after the Football Association founded in 1863).
- At the time, there were multiple “football” games:
- Association Football → kicking-focused, no carrying the ball with hands.
- Rugby Football → carrying the ball allowed, more physical.
- British students (especially at Oxford and Cambridge) loved shortening words with “-er” slang:
- Rugby Football → “rugger”
- Association Football → “assoc” → “assoccer” → shortened to “soccer” (around the 1880s–1890s).
- So “soccer” is a British invention — a casual nickname for Association Football.
Why Did It Stick in America (and Not in Britain)?
- In Britain, by the early 1900s, Association Football became so dominant that people just called it “football” (or simply “the football”). “Soccer” faded away as a common term there.
- In the United States, things went differently:
- American colleges adopted rugby-style rules in the late 1800s, evolving into American football (gridiron football), which became hugely popular.
- The kicking-only version (Association Football) arrived too, but it stayed a smaller sport.
- To tell the two apart, Americans kept calling the kicking game “soccer” (the old British nickname) and the hand-heavy one simply “football”.
- The governing body in the US even changed its name over time: from United States Football Association (early 1900s) → United States Soccer Football Association (1945) → eventually just U.S. Soccer.
Bottom Line
- “Soccer” is not an American invention — it’s British slang that Britain mostly stopped using.
- Americans use “soccer” because their main “football” is the completely different sport (🏈), so they needed a clear way to say “the one with feet mostly” (⚽).
- In places like Canada, Australia, Ireland, and South Africa (where other “footballs” like Aussie Rules or Gaelic exist), “soccer” is also common for the same reason.