Why is soccer not as popular as football in the USA?  USA originated from countries that worship the sport.?
370061
I believe that it is the nature of America.  We like movies with explosions and quick action.  We love sports that have a lot of scoring like basketball.  Soccer is boring to us, we don’t appreciate 0-0 ties.  Also, our athletes here tend to be better suited for stop and go sports.  Like sprinting rather than marathon running, football and baseball, where the action stops constantly and we can have commercials.  Having said that, I could see soccer becoming bigger, as young kids here are playing it more and more so we’ll see.  Plus the last world cup brought together a great deal of people in America b/c we actually won something for once.
377475
I really don't think that there is a lot of difference.  Soccer (futbol) is popular as much in Latin America in general as it is in Europe.  Latin America players play in the European leagues too.  I am from South America so I know how crazy we are about futbol.  Also have a lot of friends from Europe and I know they are too.  This is nothing like we see in the Unites States with sports as "American" Football or Basketball.  Soccer is the true global sport.
1028134
The reason being is becuase United States hasn't been that big in soccer untill like 10 years ago. The reason why Everyone on the other side of the world is so much better, is becuase they all grew up with it, They play and practice everyday and it has been over there for many many many years so they familirize themselves better and better where as the United States is still learning many ways and skills in soccer.
1015744
Wow!  Good question!  Coming from the US where soccer still doesn't receive the popularity I'd like to see it achieve makes it hard to answer this question.  Were I from say England, I could see why some would feel more loyal to their favorite club simply because they can become much more involved with a particular club over a considerably longer period of time than an international event that only takes place every few years.  Thinking back - I was an avid Chicago Bulls fan for many years while Michael Jordan was playing - watched or kept the stats on every game for four years.  But was I any less proud of the US Basketball Dream Team at the Olympics - No Way!  My love for soccer is equal to my love for basketball so I'll just say this.....there was a popular song many years ago that said something to the effect of "love the one your with".  Love the club, the country, and even if your country isn't playing - Love the Game!
1091724
I think it's stupid to make your argument "soccer is not popular in the US because of shootouts."  If that was a reason for soccer to not be popular, then it wouldn't be popular not ONLY in the US but in other parts of the world as well.  Why is it that US fans exclusively can't like soccer because of that?  I'm not saying that shootouts are good or that Americans should like football, but it's absolutely ridiculous to limit this reason to why Americans don't like it.  There are many other plausible reasons for why the US is not a soccer-dominated country.  We have other "American" sports (football, baseball, etc.).  It's like why Canada's hockey is so popular while hockey's not so hot in say, France.  Also, you can't compare two sports; as the cliche goes, it's like comparing apples and oranges.  Baseball and soccer both have their good/bad points, but they are completely different sports played different ways.  Baseball is definitely less physical, because you don't see the players running around every single minute of the game; most of the time they stand there and then when making plays, they run around and throw the ball.  I don't claim to be a great expert on either sport, but once again, not liking shootouts and thus not liking soccer is not a reason exclusive to American fans for not liking soccer.\n\nOkay, now to answer the other part of your lengthy question lol.  I think shoot-outs are a clean-cut way of determining the winner in a match.  You shoot goals; make them, you win.  Miss some, you lose, go home.  They test the individual skills of the players and while I do regret that they don't test the strength of a team as a whole, they do eliminate one major problem that people have with soccer matches: biased refs.  Here, the ref can't call fouls where there are none and if a goal goes in, fans can't complain that somehow the ref was paid off to look the other way.  In a sudden death match, the winners' fans would celebrate and the lowers would always see something wrong or corrupted about how they just weren't lucky.  While the argument could be made that in a normal round, this happens all the time, so why not just have that determine the end, you have to realize how difficult it is to play such a physically challenging sport as soccer for such long periods of time lol.  What if the game went on for a whole day without an end, like in Harry Potter's Quidditch?  That may not seem plausible, but it certainly would be possible.  Lastly, I think it's only fair that each team knows how much time they have to score a goal rather than just seeing who scores first.  In such a case, I can definitely see the match getting increasingly dirtier as each team must not only score/defend, they know that under no condition can they allow the other team to make a goal.\n\nxexect - About your message, sorry if I seemed harsh :/.  I'm not trying to insult you yourself, but rather, I felt that your argument was flawed.  However, judging by what you have written and your analysis on the other part of the question, I would definitely say that you're not stupid!
1050553
Because Americans don't care anything about soccer. That's not to say soccer is a bad sport - we just prefer football, baseball, and basketball.
1156396
In USA they used the word soccer to make a difference with football (american football) , but the word "soccer" is an English (British),  not an  American word.\n "Soccer" was originally called "association football" during the formation of the Football Association in England in the 1860s.  And the word soccer derived from the second syllable of the word "association".\nEnglish public schoolboys loved to nickname things, they had a tendency to add "er" to the end of many words. Association Football was better know as "assoccer" and naturally evolved into "soccer" which is much easier for a schoolboy to say. The word "football", however, was more descriptive of the game (i.e. kicking a ball with the feet!) and was the term more frequently used.  "Football" is the world standard name for "soccer".
475234
It's the most popular sport in the world.  However, it is really known as football around the world.  American's named it soccer because, well they needed a silly name to call it, since they had a sport named football that really doesn't make sense to call it football.
869522
If this is a serious question, I will give you the real answer...\n\nWhen the sport was "created" it was called "American football" because the sport of the world at that time was "football" (what is called soccer in the US).\n\nOver time, soccer became a little known sport in the US, and the "American" became unnecessary, hence American football became football.\n\nThe term soccer comes from the "Football Association"... at one time, football split into two sports: what we call soccer, and rugby.  The Football Association endorsed regular football, so those who played football became "soccers" from "asSOCiation" and those who played rugby became "ruggers"\n\nBest of luck!
989474
The most popular sport in the world is Soccer, name known for the americans, the rest of the world knows it as Football.
13538
definetly it is the sport of the world america is about the only place on the planet that doesnt rate soccer as its favorite sport
1099097
My sentiments exactly. Football (soccer) has been around far longer than American football, so I fail to see why the rest of the world should start calling football by a different name to fit in with one country. American football involves the hands rather than the feet, so why it is known as football anyway is beyond me.\n\nThe hint is in the quote you gave; ''when is the rest of the world going to get the terminology right?''  I suggest that if the whole world except one country calls them footballers, then this is the correct terminology.\n\nTo me 'soccer players' will always be footballers.
1130804
Nope.  Soccer doesn't fit in with the American mindset.  First of all, soccer is nationalistic, and the U.S. isn't.  We like to divide up and go at each other, not unite as one big team to play other countries.  Second, we're an insular nation.  Since the overwhelming number of Americans wouldn't be able to find a single World Cup participant on a map, it's unlikely they would enjoy the competition.  The rest of the world is a mystery to us.  Third, the U.S. has developed an "MTV/ADD" mindset.  Soccer is too slow for us to pay attention.  All sad, but all true.
434450
There's two parts to this:\nThe origin of American football is in the history of the world's most popular sport: soccer. When soccer -- more universaly known as "football" (which of course makes sense because soccer players use their feet) -- participants decided to change their centuries-old game with restrictions such as the no-use of hand rules, people who disliked this broke away to create rugby. In the states we have created our own version of the game under the same old name "football" with more of a rugby style, the whole time forgetting why we call it that.\n\nThe word "soccer" actually comes from England, where the   modern version of the game originated.\nIn England, there were two types of football: rugby football and association football. The slang term for rugby football was "rugger," and the slang for association football was "assoc." The word "assoc" gradually evolved into "soccer," which was much easier to say.\nWhen association football was introduced to North America, gridiron football (the type played by the NFL and in the Super Bowl) was already well established. To avoid confusion, Americans adopted the British nickname "soccer" for the new sport.
447180
Soccer is a very popular youth sport in the U.S. but the youth eventually transition into more popular sports.  What make the other sports more popular, money.  In the U.S. profit is the bottom line and if it doesn't make a profit, no matter what value it has to offer, it is ignored.
748966
In England football (soccer) was the original ball sport played in many universities and colleges. The legend is that William Webb Ellis, while playing football at Rugby School, picked up the ball and ran with it this became a splinter-game called Rugby Football. When the English football league was established a number of these rubgy football clubs decided not to join in as the league did not recognise the use of hands as a legal method of play. Rugby became a popular alternative to football (soccer) but nearly all rugby clubs were called Rugby Football clubs. The game became immensly popular in America, but without a governing body to ensure uniform rules of play the nature of the American game began to significantly diverge from the Rugby played in England. Since the term 'Rugby' refers to the place where the rules originated it is understandable that the American sport adopted the word football to describe their similar but different game. In short American football was an offshoot of English Rugby football, which is itself an offshoot of the original game of football that the Americans call soccer. The word soccer is purportedly derived from "association football" and actually originates in England, but NOBODY in England calls football soccer at all, unless we have to dumb our programs down for American audiences. \n\nI also completely agree with you that football should only refer to the english game because (1) it is the original sport, (2) the American game has little connection whatsoever with the use of the foot, and (3) outside the US everyone calls this football, that's the entire world. I thought you guys believe in democracy? Billions watch not just world cup matches, but Champions League (the world's greatest sporting competition) and domestic competitions. Oh yeah, and American football sucks!
1112860
Absolutely not!  They love football, but it is American footbale play by hand! 99% of American do not care soccer. I tried to watch Mexico against Angola yesterday and only Spanish channel show this match. During that period of time, three other sport channels were showing other sport!\n\nHow do they expect their team would advance to next round this year? US team did a very good job in 2002 World Cup. This should increase the popularity of this sport in the US. But, obviously, it is not.\n\nNone of the newspapers in the US shows the World Cup' s matches schedule. No analysis has been drawn up. \n\nUS seems to enjoy sports that other countries do not play. The biggest sport in the world, Soccer, has been intentinally igonored!