Why is it Called Soccer in America?

For a while now, if you come across an American or you are one, chances are there have been conversations that revolve around why things are so different in the U.S of A. From why they call it soccer instead of football to not using the metric system and measuring the temperature in Fahrenheit, Americans are the “black sheep,” so to say, of the world. 

Yet, while Americans are blamed for all of the weird stuff that they have, there’s one that isn't entirely their fault. The world over calls the sport football, and what many people don't know is that the moniker soccer that Americans use came from Britain. Weird, right? Soccer was used in Britain over 200 years ago, and up to the 20th century, the Brits had it within their circles. It was up until 1980 that the football name became famous when describing the sport, and the Britons stopped using “socce”  solely because of the American context. So essentially, Britain invented soccer, Americans accepted and kept it, and the Brits abandoned it because the Americans kept it. Strange, but it all makes sense now. 

The Origin of Soccer

To understand the genesis of the word soccer, we have to go back to the 1800s when ball games started becoming popular. Back then, numerous ball games that involved hitting, kicking, and throwing were known as different forms of “football.” Football, or soccer as we know it now, became an official sport in 1863 when a couple of English clubs and schools came together to form the Football Association, which came up with the standard rules of the sport. At the time, rugby was known as “rugby football,” so they had to differentiate the two; thus, the name changed to “Association Football” in England.

Then, you might wonder how “Association Football” changed into soccer. There’s no better way than to think of it in terms of evolving, just like you name your pets. People didn’t like Association Football because it was long and a mouthful, so the British players started playing with the words. It started as “assoc”, which morphed into “assoccer”, and finally settled to “soccer” or “soccer football.”

Soccer became prevalent in the U.S. because other sports began to grow, with one of them adopting the football moniker. Rugby football was more popular than football, so to distinguish the two, soccer was for the ball you kicked, and football was for the sport where you throw the ball. 

The Origin of Football

This brings us to the elephant in the room, where did “football” come from? If you ask the Brits, what the Americans call football doesn't make sense because they use their hands to play the sport anyway. Should they have used handball? Well, they could, but that’s for another sport altogether. One argument is that since the ball is oval-shaped, then the sport should be known as hand egg. That name hasn't caught up at all, and interestingly, American football, rugby and soccer all evolved from a sport that involved more kicking. 

Still, we have no idea why it didn’t change from rugby football to American rugby. One could argue that it’s called football because the length of the oval ball is approximately one foot, but that’s a stretch. In the end, we might never really know how the switch happened, but it worked. 

Safe to say that there will always be some misunderstanding when it comes to football and soccer, with both parties stating their facts that are hard to argue with. Even so, you have to give it to the Brits for this ploy; they gave the Americans the soccer name, and they constantly mock them for it. It doesn't get more fascinating than this.