Why Does America Call Football “Soccer”?

While it’s probably obvious why other parts of the world call the sport “football” (what with all the kicking of balls), you may wonder why the United States calls it “soccer” instead. Believe it or not, the word “soccer” actually originated in Great Britain. 

In the 1800s, British universities began playing different variations of the medieval game known as football. One of these versions of the game was called “association football,” which Brits called “soccer” for short. When the game was brought over to America, it was still called “soccer” and that name stuck. The Brits used “soccer” and “football” interchangeably to describe the game between 1960 and 1980, but then switched almost exclusively to “football” due to the American connotations associated with “soccer,” ironically enough.