# Why is football called soccer and american football called football? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2003, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717 "2003-01-05T03:41:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IMF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6de8d8/32.png) [@IMF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IMF)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/1 "2003-01-05T03:41:54Z")
Why is football called ‘soccer’ and american football called just ‘football’ in USA, if the game is 90% of the time played with the hands, and that thing they throw around are not really a ball? What is the etimology of the word soccer (the game consisting of hitting a ball with your foot, hence, the real football)? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/2 "2003-01-05T03:46:53Z")
Soccer comes from “Association football”. Dunno about the rest. ---
**Author:** ![IMF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6de8d8/32.png) [@IMF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IMF)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/3 "2003-01-05T03:54:10Z")
As far as I know, in England they call football just ‘football’. Spanish word for football is ‘futbol’ and the portuguese word for this sport is ‘futebol’. Germans call it Fussball. Actually in spanish as well as in portuguese, the name has nothing to do with the words ‘foot’ and ‘ball’ in their native language. They are ‘phonetic translations’ of the english name. Italians apparently don’t have the same etimology, since football is ‘calcio’. Go figure… ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/4 "2003-01-05T06:50:18Z")
American football is an offshoot of rugby football which was often just called football, despite the fact that the hands interact with the ball much more often than the feet. The practice of calling the game football carried over to the modified game. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/5 "2003-01-05T06:57:08Z")
“Football” is a catch-all term which encompasses several various “codes” of the sport. Here in Australia alone, Rugby League, Rugby Union (Rugby), Australian Rules, and soccer are played. Whichever one is called simply “football” depends on which is the most popular in your given state, or which you may personally follow. American football is known here as “gridiron”. In short, they’re all "football (or even “futbol”). It depends where you are, and what you like. Your prefered code is “football”, and the others are known by their various names. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/6 "2003-01-05T08:57:42Z")
As said before soccer is really just slang for association football (orginating at the same time as the slang term for rugby “rugger”). American football is an offshot of the Rugby code All variations trace their roots back to the games played in the English public schools in the 19th century. IIRC very early on their was a schism between those favouring the Cambridge (the univesrity) rules (later association) and those favouring the Rugby (one of Englands premiere public schools) rules. Austrailian and American football were both home grown variations mainly based on (almost entirely in the case of American football) the game played at Rugby College. Here is a list of the different codes of football and the dates of their codifications: American 1880’s Association 1863 Austrialian/Victorian 1859 Gaelic 1884 Rugby league 1895 Rugby Union 1871 ---
**Author:** ![nani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58956e/32.png) [@nani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nani)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/7 "2003-01-05T09:02:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by IMF \* > \*\*As far as I know, in England they call football just ‘football’. Spanish word for football is ‘futbol’ and the portuguese word for this sport is ‘futebol’. Germans call it Fussball. Actually in spanish as well as in portuguese, the name has nothing to do with the words ‘foot’ and ‘ball’ in their native language. They are ‘phonetic translations’ of the english name. Italians apparently don’t have the same etimology, since football is ‘calcio’. Go figure… \*\* Actually, the term _futbol_ is a barbarism, and is technically not proper Spanish, though it is used everywhere without fail. The proper term, according to _La Real Academia Española_, the Royal Spanish Academy, the correct term is _balon pie_, literally “Foot Ball” However, I have never in my life heard any Spanish speaker use it in conversation, and not only that, most people did not even know it existed. As to why they use _futbol_, well, it sounds much better, it is easier to write and say, and if they had to do a phonetic translation, well, it would be natural to use english, right? PS I assume Portuguese to be the same, although, not knowing portuguese (hich, as any cultured person knows, is merely vulgarized Spanish), I can not say for sure. PPS I don’t know what the Italian _calcio_ means. Whether it actually means Foot ball or not is something I can’t answer. ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/8 "2003-01-05T10:44:14Z")
American football should be called handmelon. You use hands to play it, and the “ball” isn’t spherical. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/9 "2003-01-05T11:57:00Z")
Who says balls have to be spherical? Soccer balls sure aren’t. And the sport isn’t called footsphere. My dictionary says a ball is “a round or roundish body or mass: as a : a spherical or ovoid body used in a game or sport.” And an American football is definately “roundish.” So nyah. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/10 "2003-01-05T12:33:53Z")
Soccer balls ARE spherical from FIFA The ball is: spherical made of leather or some other suitable material of a circumference of not more than 70 cm (28i ins) and not less than 68 cm (27 ins) not more than 450 g (16 oz) by weight and not less than 410 g (14 oz) at the start of the match of a pressure equal to 0.6 - 1.1 atmosphere (600 - 1100 g/cm^2) at sea level (8.5 lbs/ sq in 15.6 lbs/sq in) ---
**Author:** ![Zagadka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zagadka/32/7272_2.png) [@Zagadka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zagadka)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/11 "2003-01-05T13:53:26Z")
Erm, back to this silly debate? I think “football” left the realm of a technical definition a century ago and became a vague term applied to a number of sports in the same family (namely, two teams on a rectangular field pushing a ball towards the opponent’s end) based on infinitely variable house rules over the years. Baseball and basketball both took up using the basic gameplay or scoring mechanisms, but let no one knock tetherball, dodgeball, or kickball (probably a better name for soccer-football than anything else). The short answer to the OP is that soccer never caught on in America, likely for several reasons, and America being America, we don’t care what anyone else calls it. I’d still prefer rugby, though. > [@](#): > > Main Entry: 1ball > Pronunciation: 'bol > Function: noun > Usage: often attributive > Etymology: Middle English bal, from Old Norse bollr; akin to Old English bealluc testis, Old High German balla ball, Old English blAwan to blow > Date: 13th century > 1 : a round or roundish body or mass: as a : a spherical or ovoid body used in a game or sport b : EARTH, GLOBE c : a spherical or conical projectile; also : projectiles used in firearms d : a roundish protuberant anatomic structure; especially : the rounded eminence at the base of the thumb or big toe ---
**Author:** ![IMF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6de8d8/32.png) [@IMF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IMF)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/12 "2003-01-05T18:54:19Z")
> [@](#): > > The short answer to the OP is that soccer never caught on in America, likely for several reasons, and America being America, we don’t care what anyone else calls it. I’d still prefer rugby, though. Well, following the rationale, people should call it **soft rugby** , otherwise you would offend the english people, since rugby is more intense and they don’t use any protection pads or helmet. And you know America is a continent, right? ---
**Author:** ![IMF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6de8d8/32.png) [@IMF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IMF)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/13 "2003-01-05T19:04:14Z")
> [@](#): > > PS I assume Portuguese to be the same, although, not knowing portuguese (hich, as any cultured person knows, is merely vulgarized Spanish), I can not say for sure. Weird you say that… Portuguese have more vocabulary that Spanish (in fact many words in portuguese are used in spanish, but still, Portuguese language have more names or synonyms for a specific thing than Spanish) and they both come from the same root, which is Latin. Of course you knew that. But still, this is a off-topic commentary, so, let’s not waste our times trying to elect what language is more ‘vulgarized’. And in portuguese there isn’t a word with portuguese or latin root for ‘futebol’. It is indeed a phonetic translation. ---
**Author:** ![Amok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@Amok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amok)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/14 "2003-01-05T19:41:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by IMF \* > > And you know America is a continent, right? No, it isn’t. There’s a North America and a South America, but there’s no continent named just America. ---
**Author:** ![Birefringence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Birefringence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birefringence)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/15 "2003-01-05T19:49:29Z")
Come on people it’s a joke. Football in the U.S. _should_ be called something else. I have now suggestions now, but give me a minute. European Football _soccer_, is named perfectly, as the whole game is played with the feet contacting the ball. US football, feet only come into contact with the ball on 2 seperate occasions. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![IMF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6de8d8/32.png) [@IMF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IMF)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/16 "2003-01-05T21:52:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Amok \* > \*\*No, it isn’t. There’s a North America and a South America, but there’s no continent named just America. \*\* You’re right, but still, you understood my point. Nevertheless there was an America once (being its name given after Amerigo Vespucci, the italian explorer who first reported the lands discovered by Columbus was in fact a continent), and geography teaching around the globe are not uniform on defining continents, so let’s not argue about that. The point is that there is no such country named America. But, again, we (or I, this is my fault) started to discuss something that has nothing to do with the etimology of a sport called ‘football’. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Kepi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kepi/32/7251_2.png) [@Kepi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kepi)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/17 "2003-01-06T03:10:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by IMF \* > The point is that there is no such country named America. But, again, we (or I, this is my fault) started to discuss something that has nothing to do with the etimology of a sport called ‘football’. Since you’ve hijacked your own thread, I would like to point out that there is a country named the “United States of **America** ” whose name is commonly shortened to simply **America**. Sort of like the country that is officially named “Republica Federativa do **Brasil** ” (or in English, “Federative Republic of **Brazil** ”) whose name is commonly shortened to simply \*\* Brasil\*\* (or **Brazil** ). ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/18 "2003-01-06T03:39:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by IMF \* > \*\*You’re right, but still, you understood my point. Nevertheless there was an America once (being its name given after Amerigo Vespucci, the italian explorer who first reported the lands discovered by Columbus was in fact a continent), and geography teaching around the globe are not uniform on defining continents, so let’s not argue about that. The point is that there is no such country named America. \*\* Logically, then, there is also no such country as Brazil, as Kepi points out. Not is there a Mexico, although there is a country called “Mexican United States,” nor is there any country called “Great Britain,” nor is there a country called “Germany,” nor is there a country called “Russia,” nor is there a country called “China.” In fact, almost every country name ever used on this board is wrong, according to your logic, except “Canada,” because the official name of Canada is just Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Zagadka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zagadka/32/7272_2.png) [@Zagadka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zagadka)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/19 "2003-01-06T03:59:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by IMF \* > \*\*You’re right, but still, you understood my point. Nevertheless there was an America once \*\* Erm, enough of that. There are several names for each nation - typically an “official” verson, a “common” version, and depending on the country, versions in the native language and English for international use. “America” is as much a proper name for the nation as “France” or “Germany” is. Or “Iraq”. Or any other country. But that has been covered. Back onto the topic, American football can be called whatever Americans want to call it. Like I said, they are more like a family of sports than any one sport. And a side note, I wouldn’t follow the generalization that rugby is rougher than American football. They are rough in different ways - rugby is certainly tooth and nail, but there are a lot more highly concentrated nasty hits that result from a lot of long passes and the like. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717/20 "2003-01-06T04:08:19Z")
Okay, so half of the OP question is answered. Now, anybody got the dope on this: _What is the etimology of the word soccer_? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-football-called-soccer-and-american-football-called-football/146717.md?page=2)