Why do Americans call it soccer not football? You can blame England
There's a divide on what the game is called.
Why do Americans call it soccer not football? You can blame England originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
Why Americans call the game of Football by the name soccer actually traces back to England, not the United States. The term soccer originated in Britain during the late 1800s when multiple versions of football were being played across England. Two of the most popular were rugby football and association football.
British slang shortened words or added nicknames to things. Rugby football became “rugger,” while association football was shortened to “assoc,” which later evolved into “soccer. ” Thanks to the Brits , it stuck and was adopted.
When the sport arrived in the United States, Americans already had another rapidly growing sport known as football. While the NFL controls the marketplace as we know it today, much of the world now calls it American football. To avoid confusion between the two sports, Americans continued using the British nickname to distinguish association football from their own version of football.