Why 'Soccer' Means 'Football' in America

As the FIFA World Cup kicks off, fans of the globe’s most popular sport tune in to watch the greatest names in the game square off. But one question continues to crop up: Why do Americans insist on calling the sport ‘soccer’, while the rest of the world calls it ‘football’?

A recent paper by University of Michigan professor Stefan Szymanski says the Brits are partly to blame.

The word 'soccer', which is believed to have originated in Britain 200 years ago, comes from the official name of the sport, 'association football'. As other versions of the game evolved to include Rugby Football. There is a possibility the Brits adopted colloquialisms to distinguish each game.

“The Rugby game was shortened to rugger, a term recognized in British English to the present day, and the association football game was, plausibly, shortened to soccer”, Szymanski writes. (Apparently, ending words in “er” was a fad back then).

Gradually, the term 'soccer' gained popularity in the U.S. to distinguish the sport from American football. By the 1980s, the Brits began to part with the period because it had become too “American”.

“In the U.S. it seems to have had a more democratic flavor – everyone used it – and more easily shifted from a colloquialism to a proper name because of the utility of distinguishing it from the other football”, Szymanski explains in his paper. “Since 1980 the usage of the word ‘soccer’ has declined in British publications, and where it is used, it usually refers to an American context. This decline seems to be a reaction against the increased usage in the US which seems to be associated with the high point of the North American Soccer League around 1980”.

Americans’ use of the term ‘soccer’ continues to incite frustration among those loyal to the game's original name. Don’t believe us? Just take Daniel Gooch’s rant on Bleacher Report, for example:
“I can’t count the number of times I have been speaking to an American and felt the urge to bang their head against the wall, so it gets into their head that they are wrong ... If you are an American it is time to put your burger down and change your ways. Ok, you can call ‘your’ sports football, but when it comes to ‘our’ football, don’t call it soccer!”.

Need another example? Szymanski points to this lecture from Beat Zimmermann, the founder of the Air Navigation Institute:
“Dear Americans Here is an important lesson for you: There is no sport called ‘Soccer’. The sport that was invented between the years 220 and 680 (yes, years with 3 digits do exist) is called Football. Nobody knows why you guys call a sport that was invented somewhat later (1869) and is played by motorbikers (that’s why they wear helmets, no?) football. It’s neither played with the feet nor with a ball. If you called it American Rugby I am sure nobody would argue”.

Well, there you have it, folks.

More etymology secrets of the English words are revealed in this article.

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