Football is regarded as the most popular sport in the world, but over in America people refer to it as ‘soccer’, know why is football called soccer in the US
As we all know, English is the most widely spoken language in the world. However, English itself is divided into two types: British English and American English.
Explained Why Is Football Called Soccer In America, Its History, Origin And Meaning
Sooo is it called Football or Soccer…..??
— Castro1021 (@Castro1021) November 25, 2022
Is it called soccer or football?
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) November 25, 2022
Although both versions of English are quite distinct, there is always a constant rivalry between fans when it comes to what the sport should be called. While people in British call it as ‘Football’, the Americans call it as ‘Soccer’.
Why Do Americans Call It Soccer Instead Of Football?
Despite British football fans having a strong dislike for the term soccer, the word itself originated in Britain, and not America. To understand why Americans call it soccer instead of football, we first have to understand the origins of the sport.
It is widely accepted that the modern-day football originated from Great Britain over two centuries ago. Back in the 1800s, Rugby and football became popular in England as two different versions of the same sport. Both the sports followed different rules and regulations.
Football became quite popular among aristocratic boys. In 1863, various schools got together and established the Football Association to compete against one another. Once the Football Association was formed, people gave different names and rules for the two sports. The two sports were now called Rugby Football and Association Football.
It was from these names that the modern names for the sport slowly came into being. People gradually began calling Rugby football as “rugger” while association football was called as “assoc.”
‘assoc’ further changed to ‘socca’ which then changed to “soccer.” However, the term soccer never really became common in Great Britain.
Rugby Football eventually became known as “Rugby” and while Association Football simply remained simply “Football.” As the two sports gained more popularity across Europe, it eventually reached the shores of America during the 19th century.
A New Game
Once the two sports reached America, people merged them both into one sport. The new sport took elements from each game and quickly became more popular than either of them.
Americans called the new sport as “Gridiron football.” However, the name itself was quite unpopular and Americans slowly began to refer to it as just Football.
Eventually, Americans began referring to Association football as soccer to differentiate it from Gridiron football. Interestingly, the English used the term ‘Soccer’ in Britain for quite a long time in the 20th century.
During that time, ‘Soccer’ and ‘Football’ were ‘nearly synonymous’ in Britain, before ‘soccer’ slowly declined in the 1980s.
Football Or Soccer What Is The Right Term
Currently, fans around the world are still confused about the right term and constantly over it. While some fans argue that football should never be called Soccer, others strongly disagree. However, practically speaking from a historical and linguistic point of view, calling football as “Soccer” is not wrong.
In fact, the term football can be quite confusing owing to its different forms and soccer can be more accurate.
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