# Please explain these soccer team names to an ignorant American **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 30, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284 "2010-03-30T01:18:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/1 "2010-03-30T01:18:41Z")
As an American, I’m used to most of our pro sports team names to be pretty easy to decipher. They’re usually either objects (Spurs), animals (Bulldogs), minorities mistakenly honored in a way they don’t like (Redskins), or related to the area of their origin (Lakers, from the original team city in Minnesota, state of a thousand lakes). Which is why I find it a bit odd that some of the biggest and richest soccer teams have very odd names, at least by our standards. In the spirit of international goodwill, please fight my ignorance on the following teams: **Chelsea** A soccer club with a girl’s name? WTF? When I first hear about this team years ago, I thought I had misheard it. But apparently, that’s the name, Chelsea. Is this the original owner’s daughter or something? That would be like a team in the NFL being named “Betty”. It must mean something in another language right? Right??? :eek: **Real Madrid** I’ve heard of teams named for something famous around their hometowns, but never a team whose actual name is the hometown. I’ve never heard it simply called Madrid (unless we’re speaking strictly about cities, like London vs. Madrid). It’s always Real Madrid. Is there a Fake Madrid somewhere in the minor leagues? Or is my understanding flawed and it would it be accurate if I were to simply call the team Real? **Manchester United** And here’s it is again the other way around. It’s always Manchester United, or Man U., but I’ve never heard it just called the United. Being one of the most famous, popular, and richest teams in the world, I don’t think there would be many instances in which this team would be accidently confused with some other one, especially if we’re talking about soccer. Also making things weirder is that this is one of the few teams I know whose name isn’t a material object, but a term describing a concept. I don’t know if they were trying to be creative with the name or all the other teams simply took all the cool sounding animal names first ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/2 "2010-03-30T01:24:25Z")
Chelsea is the name of a [district in London](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea,_London) (listen to the the lyrics to **Cabaret** ). I assume the team was based there, at least to start. Manchester United differentiates it from the other team from Manchester, Manchester City. The names, BTW, aren’t like team names in the US; they derive from the official names of the clubs (for instance, there’s the New York Metropolitan Baseball Club, known as the Mets. If they were named like British soccer clubs, they’d be New York Metropolitan.) ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/3 "2010-03-30T01:28:54Z")
**Chelsea** More unusual is why people name their daughters after a chalk wharf. In this case, [Chelsea](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea,_London) is a specific location from which the team took its name. **Real Madrid** Your question of ‘means something in another language’ would be apposite here. _Real_ means ‘royal’ in Spanish. I actually thought this was going to be about the odd practice of naming teams in the US to sound like the European teams. Many teams use ‘FC’ (Football Club) even though we don’t call it football. There’s D.C. United which appears named after Manchester’s team, and most absurd is Real Salt Lake. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelQReilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@MichaelQReilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelQReilly)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/4 "2010-03-30T01:34:07Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > **Chelsea** > > I actually thought this was going to be about the odd practice of naming teams in the US to sound like the European teams. Many teams use ‘FC’ (Football Club) even though we don’t call it football. There’s D.C. United which appears named after Manchester’s team, and most absurd is Real Salt Lake. DC isn’t alone in that regard, there are about 64,000 soccer teams named united. Newcastle United, West Ham United, Sheffield United, Leeds United, etc, etc… ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/5 "2010-03-30T01:42:18Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > (Lakers, from the original team city in Minnesota, state of a thousand lakes) Off by a factor of [10](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota). ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/6 "2010-03-30T01:57:24Z")
Some teams named United are because two former clubs merged. Not so with ManU, but still. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/7 "2010-03-30T02:06:59Z")
Most European soccer teams are named after their location. That can be a city (ex: Liverpool Football Club) or a district within a city. London, for example, has a large number of teams, but no “London FC.” Instead you get teams like Chelsea FC and West Ham United, both named after areas within London. Real Madrid used to be called Madrid FC, but added the “Real” when King Alfonso XIII conferred a royal charter on the team in 1920. There are a few other teams in Spain that have a royal charter and the “Real” prefix as well. Traditionally, Real Madrid is one of the two biggest clubs in Spain (the other being FC Barcelona), so many people refer to them simply as “Real,” (using the Spanish pronunciation) and everyone knows who they mean. It’s similar with Manchester United. There are a lot of “Uniteds” in England, including Newcastle United, Leeds United, and West Ham United, but many people refer to Manchester United simply as “United” and people know who they mean. I have London Times articles from the 50s through the 70s and they often refer to Man U as just “United.” ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/8 "2010-03-30T03:26:05Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > I actually thought this was going to be about the odd practice of naming teams in the US to sound like the European teams. Many teams use ‘FC’ (Football Club) even though we don’t call it football. I’ve heard it callled “football” plenty. “Soccer” is more common and helps prevent confusion with American football. Within the context you hear “FC” being used, no one confuses it with gridiron. > [@panamajack](#): > > There’s D.C. United which appears named after Manchester’s team, and most absurd is Real Salt Lake. As has been pointed out, “United” is a very common name. I’ll give you “Real Salt Lake”. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/9 "2010-03-30T04:01:17Z")
I did not know about **Real Salt Lake**. That is very silly. Thanks. I may rename myself **Real Attack from the 3rd Dimension**. . ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/10 "2010-03-30T04:32:37Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > **Real Madrid** > I’ve heard of teams named for something famous around their hometowns, but never a team whose actual name is the hometown. I’ve never heard it simply called Madrid (unless we’re speaking strictly about cities, like London vs. Madrid). It’s always Real Madrid. Is there a Fake Madrid somewhere in the minor leagues? Or is my understanding flawed and it would it be accurate if I were to simply call the team Real? 😃 it really cracks me up that you would think it’s real, I’m sorry… Anyway, it’s pronounced Ray-All’ (not very accurate, but it gives you an idea - it’s two syllables), meaning royal, and there’s a number of other reales, such as Zaragoza and Mallorca; In European football (as opposed to the Spanish League) it’s often referred to as Madrid, but there’s also Atletico Madrid (which is not as great but still pretty competitive Europe-wide). Incidentally, there’s a habit in international football reporting (even UEFA does it) to add the name of the city to a club’s name if it’s not already there, which leads a lot of people to believe there’s teams such as Feyenoord Rotterdam, Juventus Turin or Hertha BSC Berlin - but that’s not actually these teams’ names. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/11 "2010-03-30T06:08:55Z")
For American team names, there’s also blue-collar profession common in the area, such as the Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers, and now-defunct Houston Oilers. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/12 "2010-03-30T06:34:57Z")
> [@I'm Not Dennis Bergkamp](#): > > Traditionally, Real Madrid is one of the two biggest clubs in Spain (the other being FC Barcelona), so many people refer to them simply as “Real,” (using the Spanish pronunciation) and everyone knows who they mean. On the other hand, in Spain we speak of “la Real” (Real Sociedad de Fútbol de San Sebastián) but nobody speaks of “el Real” or “Real”, because that would be ambiguous; too many masculine Reales. Other than Pamplona’s Osasuna, I think most of the teams in La Liga’s higher divisions include the name of the town in their own name. Espanyol used to be “of Sarrià” because it got founded when Sarrià was an independent town, now its official name is “Real Club Deportivo Espanyol de Barcelona”; RCD Mallorca; Barcelona Fútbol Club; Celta de Vigo; Recreativo de Huelva; Sporting de Gijón… ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/13 "2010-03-30T09:18:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > For American team names, there’s also blue-collar profession common in the area, such as the Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers, and now-defunct Houston Oilers. This is true of other clubs in the UK and Europe. They often have their genesis in blue-collar industrial areas and the names sometimes follow. Possible the best example would be [Arsenal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenal_F.C.), They started life as the works team of the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, London. More obscure, but famous in the eyes of U.K. football fans are [Billingham Synthonia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billingham_Synthonia_F.C.). As a young boy I thought they had a very pretty name until I found out that it actually stood for “synthetic ammonia” ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/14 "2010-03-30T14:43:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > For American team names, there’s also blue-collar profession common in the area, such as the Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers, and now-defunct Houston Oilers. Don’t forget the SF 49ers and the Seattle Mariners. I don’t think the Vikings, Buccaneers, Pirates or Raiders wear a tie to work, though, so you might count them too. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/15 "2010-03-30T15:23:19Z")
As to Real Salt Lake: > [@](#): > > Dave Checketts and SCP Worldwide partners Dean Howes, Kenneth Munoz, Michael McCarthy, and Chris Bevilacqua chose Real Salt Lake for the team’s name because they desired to associate the team with a successful soccer club, Real Madrid, as well as to develop a brand that was clearly associated with association football. > > Other team names considered were Salt Lake City Highlanders, Salt Lake Soccer Club, Alliance Soccer Club and Union SLC.[1], and the choice of Real Salt Lake was initially met with derision in the fan community. Many fans thought the name should more accurately reflect the Salt Lake area.[citation needed] In the passing years, the criticism from local fans and the media has waned, and the club has instituted a formal relationship with Real Madrid.[2] The team colors are claret red, cobalt blue, and Real gold.[3] Which still seems pretty stupid. One of the clubs in Tampa changed it’s name to RSL Florida because it has some sort of association with that club. Can’t recall now what they used to be called. Our local club is HC United, short for Hillsborough County United, which did unify at least two different clubs and maybe three. > [@I'm Not Dennis Bergkamp](#): > > It’s similar with Manchester United. There are a lot of “Uniteds” in England, including Newcastle United, Leeds United, and West Ham United, but many people refer to Manchester United simply as “United” and people know who they mean. I have London Times articles from the 50s through the 70s and they often refer to Man U as just “United.” So of course the movie, _[The Damned United](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226271/)_, is about Manchester United, similar to Damned Yankees being about the NY Yankees\*. FYI, this stars the guy who plays Wesley on _30 Rock_. \*[Or not](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_United_A.F.C.#1961.E2.80.931975:_The_glory_years). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/16 "2010-03-30T16:02:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Don’t forget the SF 49ers and the Seattle Mariners. I don’t think the Vikings, Buccaneers, Pirates or Raiders wear a tie to work, though, so you might count them too. And the Dallas Cowboys; it wasn’t meant to be an exhaustive list. On the other hand, there weren’t any 49ers any more in San Francisco at the time the team was formed, nor Raiders or Buccaneers in Oakland or Tampa Bay, and there were never any Pirates or Vikings in Pittsburgh or Minnesota, so I think those are something of a different category. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/17 "2010-03-30T16:20:51Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > On the other hand, in Spain we speak of “la Real” (Real Sociedad de Fútbol de San Sebastián) but nobody speaks of “el Real” or “Real”, because that would be ambiguous; too many masculine Reales. ¡Vamos Donostiarras! ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/18 "2010-03-30T18:07:38Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > So of course the movie, _[The Damned United](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226271/)_, is about Manchester United, similar to Damned Yankees being about the NY Yankees\*. FYI, this stars the guy who plays Wesley on _30 Rock_. > \*[Or not](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_United_A.F.C.#1961.E2.80.931975:_The_glory_years). No, it’s not, but the book [Legends of United](http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Legends-of-United/David-Meek/e/9780752875583/?itm=39&USRI=manchester+united) is. “United” is not exclusively reserved for Manchester United, but my experience is that, on a national level, it refers to Man U more often than not. As I mentioned above, the Times archives repeatedly refer to Man U as simply “United.” It’s probably different locally, so that I wouldn’t be surprised that in Sheffield for example, “United” means Sheffield United and distinguishes them from Sheffield Wednesday (another great team name). The Damned United is an excellent film, by the way, based on an equally excellent book by David Peace. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/19 "2010-03-30T19:33:52Z")
**Sheffield Wednesday** - is my favorite bizarre football team name. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/20 "2010-03-30T20:00:34Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > and there were never any Pirates or Vikings in Pittsburgh or Minnesota, so I think those are something of a different category. In the case of the Vikings, the name was undoubtedly meant to reflect the Scandinavian heritage of many Minnesotans, which is, undoubtedly, a different category. 🙂 The Pirates’ nickname (they were originally known as the “Alleghenies”) may have come from the team’s raiding of players from a rival league during the 1890s. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284.md?page=2)