# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/41 "2010-03-31T19:02:25Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > Huh??? > > I never in my life heard Juventus referred to as “Juventus Turin”, or Feyenoord as “Feyenoord Rotterdam”. Where on earth would you have heard this? I don’t recognise those examples, no, but any British and I imagine Irish football fan will be familiar with names such as “Inter Milan” and “AC Milan”, despite their sounding ridiculous to followers of Italian football, where the clubs are called simply Internazionale (or just Inter), and Milan (“MEE-lan”), respectively. (Milan goes by the Anglicised name rather than “Milano” because the club was founded by British ex-pats in Italy, originally as a cricket club.) ---
**Author:** ![TheBoltEater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheBoltEater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoltEater)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/42 "2010-03-31T23:56:12Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > … from the country that also has the [All Whites](http://www.nzfootball.co.nz/) and the [Tall Blacks](http://www.basketball.org.nz/national-teams/tall-blacks/) And, of course, the invincible [Ice Blacks](http://www.neatorama.com/2010/03/24/the-rugby-match-at-the-bottom-of-the-world/). ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/43 "2010-04-01T01:12:51Z")
Being caught in a ruck between the All Black pack and 10m of sea ice … eeekkk … but at least the playing conditions there wouldn’t be any worse than at Carisbrook. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mkecane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@mkecane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkecane)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/44 "2010-04-01T05:02:08Z")
Count me as another who’s never heard Juventus Turin or Feyenoord Rotterdam, in neither general media use nor official use through UEFA. Regarding Manchester United, there’s a chant “There’s only one United.” I’m a Manchester United fan, and I generally just say _United_ when speaking or writing about them in context. I only mention _Manchester_ when it’s in a situation such as this thread or when I meet someone who doesn’t know I’m a fan. Typically, for the other Uniteds throughout England, they’re referred to as the first part of the name, which is always (or almost always) their location. Leeds United is referred to as Leeds, Newcastle United as Newcastle, and so on. The only exception I can think of is Sheffield United, and that’s because Sheffield has 2 major clubs, whereas Leeds and Newcastle are the lone big clubs in their respective town. Funny about Chelsea, they’re not actually in the Chelsea district of London. They’re located in Fulham, which is the name of another club, Fulham FC. The Fulham area is adjacent to the Chelsea area, if I’m not mistaken. One thing that annoys me a bit about the American FCs (I’m referring to MLS here) is that I don’t believe these are actually clubs for fans to join. In many cases for the English clubs, they may no longer be that way, but originally, they were actual clubs with members. To my knowledge, FC Dallas does not have dues-paying members who can just show up at the gym to workout, or go to the club’s restaurant for dinner, etc. The Elks or Lions Club, they ain’t. ---
**Author:** ![Piker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@Piker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Piker)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/45 "2010-04-01T05:38:36Z")
> [@mkecane](#): > > One thing that annoys me a bit about the American FCs (I’m referring to MLS here) is that I don’t believe these are actually clubs for fans to join. In many cases for the English clubs, they may no longer be that way, but originally, they were actual clubs with members. To my knowledge, FC Dallas does not have dues-paying members who can just show up at the gym to workout, or go to the club’s restaurant for dinner, etc. The Elks or Lions Club, they ain’t. What a strangely specific definition of “club” you have. Nowadays, it’s mostly only Spanish and Portuguese clubs that are run by dues-paying members. (My father is a member of SL Benfica). Can I ask whether you work out at the Manchester United gym very often? Fun Fact: American soccer clubs have been using the moniker “FC” since the old ASL of the Thirties. Back then, it meant “Field Club”. ---
**Author:** ![Piker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@Piker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Piker)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/46 "2010-04-01T05:44:15Z")
Oh, and I have definitely heard Juventus Turin, along with “Sporting Lisbon” and “Glasgow Celtic”. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2010, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/47 "2010-04-01T06:02:14Z")
[Uefa](http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/clubs/index.html) is a bit inconsistent, it has Hamburg (instead of HSV) and Marseille (instead of Olympique) but also Athletic (Club de Bilbao) and Atletico (Madrid) and Werder (Bremen) as well as Hertha (BSC). So it does happen (and it happens a lot elsewhere) and UEFA does it too. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/48 "2010-04-01T06:30:56Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > The best team name ever is the [Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokkaido_Nippon-Ham_Fighters). They should \*so \*get William Shatner as a spokesperson. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/49 "2010-04-08T07:38:06Z")
We were chatting about this in the office. There is a British minor team called “Racing,” in that they used to play at the racing course. Now there are important teams in Argentina, Bolivia and elsewhere also named “Racing,” no doubt after the original (almost forgotten) team. ---
**Author:** ![\_Undecided\_Adrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/eada6e/32.png) [@\_Undecided\_Adrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Undecided_Adrian)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/50 "2010-04-08T08:06:15Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > 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 In German soccer there is the old joke that teams are always named after things that they feel are lacking. So Eastern German teams were named _Lokomotive_, _Energie_ or _Dynamo_, and Western German teams were named _Eintracht_ (Unity) or _Freundschaft_ (Friendship). ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/51 "2010-04-08T09:13:41Z")
> [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](#): > > You often (always?) see this when the draws for the European competitions (Eoroleague and Championsleague) are made. The names on the pieces of paper that are drawn state the city names. I know they do this for clubs like Feyenoord (Rotterdam) and PSV (Eindhoven), but if I remember correctly they don’t do it in the case of AFC Ajax, since the A in AFC stands for Amsterdam already. > > These are just the dytch teams I am sure of, but I think they do it for other teams as well. German football commentators on TV will often refer to clubs from London as “Chelsea London” or “Arsenal London”, as the name itself doesn’t tell you where the club are from. The also tend to say “FC Liverpool” which isn’t something you’d ever hear in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/52 "2010-04-08T12:53:11Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > They should \*so \*get William Shatner as a spokesperson. _EVERYONE_ should get William Shatner as their spokesperson. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/53 "2010-04-08T14:02:49Z")
My team, Aston Villa is also named after a region of its city (Aston in Birmingham). It is a little known fact that naming a football team after the full name of the city is cursed, and will result in teams of no talent, no success, and no support. The one I always find interesting is the Italian team, Genoa. Which is called Genoa even in Italy, despite the damn Italians calling the city Genova. I have heard the reason is that it was originally a cricket club founded by English ex-pats. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/54 "2010-04-08T16:17:01Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > **Sheffield Wednesday** - is my favorite bizarre football team name. I see your Wednesday and raise you a **Dangerous Darkies** - the name of a South African football team from the early 90’s ([link from FIFA website](http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/destination/cities/city=57127/profile.html) about Nelspruit, the town where they were based) when soccer was considered a “black sport”. Grim ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/55 "2010-04-09T03:55:07Z")
Re: the Utah Jazz, I have often wondered if it could be proven that Salt Lake City, Utah is the least jazzy of all sizeable municipalities in the entire USA. There must be a way to do that. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/56 "2010-04-13T06:12:16Z")
I was surprised when the Lakers moved here that they kept the name. I have made the suggestion that they at least be called LAkers, and you can guess the reactions. ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/57 "2010-04-14T03:15:49Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > 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” Do immature British people giggle at ARSEnal like this immature American does? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/58 "2010-04-14T12:00:06Z")
> [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](#): > > Do immature British people giggle at ARSEnal like this immature American does? 😛 It is quite common for people to refer to them as “The Arse”, so you guess 😉 ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/59 "2010-04-14T18:47:25Z")
> [@villa](#): > > My team, Aston Villa is also named after a region of its city (Aston in Birmingham). It is a little known fact that naming a football team after the full name of the city is cursed, and will result in teams of no talent, no success, and no support. Then there must be a city somewhere named “Clippers”. It’s the only explanation! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284/60 "2010-04-14T19:27:55Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > ¡Vamos Donostiarras! Dude, learn to spell ;). Hereabouts (I’m back at home), it’s amos. But you’ll have to excuse me if I refrain from yelling “amos donostiarras”, as my neighbors wouldn’t take it nicely… Osasuuuuuna, Osasuuuuuna, oé oé oeeeee… ¡que no bajamos este añooooooo! > [@RedFury](#): > > Our nick is “Los Merengues” due to the color of our uni and a popular egg-white and sugar treat. Meringue in English, **Rojo** 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-these-soccer-team-names-to-an-ignorant-american/534284.md?page=4)