Football or Soccer? Why the World Can’t Agree on the Name

Fans of Great Unifying Sport Divided on What To Call It

A clash as ferocious as any on the pitch rages: Is it “football” or “soccer”?

Most of Europe, Africa, Asia and South America call it “football.” A not insignificant number elsewhere uses “soccer,” which, notably, sprang up from the very place that birthed the game, Great Britain. But even Britons, by and large, say “football.” 

Confused? 

While some see the debate as lighthearted fun, others consider it a serious matter of cultural identity. Ahead of this edition of AramcoWorld, reader Michael W. Roberts of Australia and Sri Lanka warned us against getting off on the, er, wrong foot because of the multiple games called football: “‘Football’ means SOCCER and/or RUGGER,” he wrote, “not Footie [Australian rules football]!! So there.” 

To avoid creating an international incident, a little historical knowledge might help.

The game as we know it, according to History.com, began in 1863, when England’s Football Association wrote down a set of rules. Played under those rules, the game became known as “association football” to distinguish it from “rugby football,” a variation that allowed players to carry and run with the ball.  

“Linguistically creative students at the University of Oxford in the 1880s distinguished between the sports of ‘rugger’ (rugby football) and ‘assoccer’ (association football),” Encyclopedia Britannica explains. “The latter term was further shortened to ‘soccer’ ... However, ‘soccer’ never became much more than a nickname in Great Britain. By the 20^th century, rugby football was more commonly called rugby, while association football earned the right to be known as just plain football.”

Today “soccer” comes in handy where other forms of football exist: The United States and Canada play gridiron football; Ireland plays Gaelic football, and Australian rules football is derived from rugby, Britannica notes. 

The love of those games makes it hard to imagine the differing monikers ever disappearing. Still, you certainly can’t go wrong with “football”—a game played with the feet, after all.