Why does America call Football ‘Soccer’?

Sometimes, it seems like soccer in America gets treated as a “lesser” sport. Then it feels like an insult to injury when we don’t even call it by the correct name. It’s called Football or Fußball everywhere else on our planet. And why is that? Why does America call Football Soccer? Why would we have a different name for a worldwide sport that seems unrelated to the sport itself? After all, in Fußball/Football,  you use your feet to move a ball. There’s no socking involved. Ahhhh! It turns out there IS a reason that Americans call it Soccer! And it looks like we can blame the British!

Why does America call Football Soccer?

Why does America call Football Soccer

image from pixabay… and just a recreation of an old image

Football or Fußball got its name in the mid-1860s. A version of the game involving kicking the ball into a goal had been around since the Middle Ages. But by the mid-1800s, rules were being established, and upper-class English kids played the game at posh schools. They couldn’t keep saying, “Let’s go play that game where you kick a ball into a goal” (it’s much too clunky a name), and besides, teams were being formed to play against opposing schools. They needed a name, and there needed to be some rules and regulations. Like “no intentionally kicking the other guy in the shins.”

One night, a bunch of team leaders got together and came up with a list of rules. They called their sport Association Football. They didn’t just call it Football because there was another similar sport called Rugby Football, and they needed to keep the two clearly separated.

Since it is apparently very British to call something by a shortened form of the name, over time, Rugby Football came to be called Rugger… and (for reasons known only to the guy who did it first) Association Football was shortened to Soccer. (I wonder if it was pronounced Sosser at any point?)

Time moves forward a bit

So, Why Do Americans Call Football Soccer?

In England, the term “Soccer Football” was fairly common. Still, the word Football got dropped when the game traveled across the pond to the United States. America already HAD a game called Football (confusingly enough, that game was called Gridiron in England). Since the English understood what soccer meant, it stuck.

Over time, the word “Soccer” started to slowly disappear from the British vocabulary. This coincided with the rise of Soccer popularity in the United States. Could they possibly have been a little jealous of the US success at the sport? It’s hard to believe. By the 1980s, just over 100 years after the sport was officially recognized, the word “Soccer” stopped being used, and now it is Football exclusively.

Why does America call Football Soccer

Why do Germans Call if Fußball?

Legend has it that in 1874, August Hermann and Konrad Koch organized the first Fußball Game in Braunschweig after August brought home a ball he picked up in England. (I know they were adults, but I have this mental image of a kid racing outside to meet his friend with a new ball). Shortly thereafter, the first club, the Dresden English Football Club, was founded by expat English workers in Germany. Since they didn’t play Rugby or Gridiron in Germany, all they used for the name was Football or Fußball. The game spread in popularity until, in 1900, 86 German Clubs came together to form the DFB -Deutscher Fußball Bund or German Football Association.

And it stuck. To this day, the sport is called Fußball (Fussball)

August 24, 1963, The Bundesliga is Born

In July 1962, delegates came together to vote in Germany’s top flight Professional Fußball league. The move was controversial, with the usual heated debates, but ultimately, the resolution passed 103 to 26. On August 14, 1963, sixteen teams formed the first season of the Bundesliga. Cologne won that first season! Bayern München didn’t even qualify that year. Instead, 1860 Munich did (Originally, there was a “one team per city” rule). Over the years, 57 different teams have played in the Bundesliga. 60 years later, the Bundesliga fills stadiums with fans who have come to expect skill, excitement, and especially GOALS!

Looking for More Fußball/Football/Soccer History?

Here are some of the books I have on my shelves….

The Ball is Round: A Global History of SoccerThe Ball is Round: A Global History of SoccerTor!: The Story of German FootballTor!: The Story of German FootballThe Illustrated History of FootballThe Illustrated History of FootballMen in Blazers Present Encyclopedia Blazertannica: A Suboptimal Guide to Soccer, America's Sport of the Future Since 1972Men in Blazers Present Encyclopedia Blazertannica: A Suboptimal Guide to Soccer, America’s Sport of the Future Since 1972

 

Learn German Soccer/Fußball Terms? –>German Soccer Vocabulary

Get yourself ready for the game!

 

why does america call football soccer

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