Why Football is called 'Soccer'??
481378
The name of the sport in England was called "Association Football."  That was shortened in the U.S. to "Assoc. Football" then eventually to "soccer" from "Assoc."
396908
The proper name of soccer is "association football".It is said that it was played before 1000 years.There is also a belief that Soccer-like games were played in China as many as 2000 years ago.And again people say that the Romans played a game called "harpastum" which was probably the origin of modern soccer.Now, soccer has been the most popular game.At the end of the 1980's, about 12 million Americans under the age of 19 (37% of them girls) were playing organized soccer.\n\nSource-SAMM
454909
The skill of kicking a ball into a small net was used by the Chinese military during the "Han Dynasty". But it became a game more recently. Soccer actually is short for Associated Football. British college students started calling it "soccer" as a shortened word. \n\nAs for WHY soccer was invented, I guess to have a good time and to compete with other people. It improves your foot-eye coordination too...
3926
I would believe that it is called Football because of the way the ball is kicked on Kick Offs and to score extra points.  Besides that, Handball was already taken and, what else could you have called it?
1171882
I think soccer should have been named "football" as well, because MOST of the game is played with the foot.  Why not call what we call soccer "football" and what we call football (american football) soccer? It avoids calling the game "handball" like has been previously mentioned, especially because you use more than just your hands in american football. \n\nAs to WHY we don't call it football, I don't know, but it would be more logical.  Too late now...
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".
232253
Soccer, game played by two teams on a rectangular field, in which players attempt to knock a round ball through the opponents’ goal, using any part of the body except the hands. Generally, players use their feet and heads as they kick, dribble, and pass the ball toward the goal. One player on each team guards the goal. This player, the goalkeeper, is the only player allowed to touch the ball with the hands while it is in play.\n\nSoccer is a free-flowing game that has relatively few rules and requires little equipment. All that is needed to play is an area of open space and a ball. Much of the world's soccer is played informally, without field markings or real goals. In many places, the game is played barefoot using rolled-up rags or newspapers as a ball. Soccer is the world's most popular sport, played by people of all ages in about 200 countries. The sport has millions of fans throughout the world.\n\nOnly in the United States and Canada is the game referred to as soccer. Outside these countries the sport is commonly called football, or fútbol in Spanish-speaking countries, where the game is particularly popular. The official name of the sport is association football. \n\n****************************************************\n\nHistory of Soccer -\nBefore World Cup Soccer\nThe modern form of soccer originated in England in the early 1830's. The sport grew among working-class communities and was seen as a way of keeping young and energetic kids out of trouble at home and in the school; they could
1111118
Finally, a Brit who knows they created the term!!  Never thought I'd see the day!!  What was the question again?  Oh yeah, Japan calls it soccer.  Go figure.  Anyway, the terms is English loosely from the term association as in FA.  Long long story to it.  Read this stuff and it will all make perfect sense.  http://www.gavinrymill.com/origin-of-the-word-soccer.html\nHappy reading.
1054998
As an African, i say soccer match, more precisely, "Football match". \nWho told the americans they cud change the name and call it soccer when you play the game with your foot? (look at the game they call football, tell me when you ever saw the players "foot" the ball!)\nSheesh......
1153179
because "soccer" is only called soccer in the US...everyone around the world calls soccer "football" or "futbol"
461059
in Europe/south America/Africa and a part of Asia its called football.....in the USA its called soccer cuz they have another sport thats called football....of course the americans have no logic calling the american football football cuz it looks like a kind of rugby and u dont play it just with the foot....americans r idiots...
589583
You incorrectly called soccer "football."  Football is played in America and is a real sport.  Soccer is a game -- not a sport.  Anyone can kick a little ball.
310321
Soccer is what the Americans call Football in order to differentiate it from "American Football" which is a completely different game.\n\nFootball is a British invented sport with a huge worldwide following now where two teams of eleven players try to kicj a round ball into the other teams net.\n\nAmerican Football has more in common with Rugby Football where two teams of players run with, carry and throw an egg shaped ball to each other and attempt to touch it down behind the goal or kick it over the goal.\n\nRugby football was invented at Rugby School in England when someone picked up the ball during a normal game of football and ran with it.\n\nThe origins of football are thought to have been in the middle ages when baying crowds would compete to kick the severed head of someone who had been executed around the streets.\n\nNot much has changed in europe!!
819854
The 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.\n\nGreg
400122
Association football, soccer or simply football is a team sport played between two teams consisting of eleven players each. It is a ball game played on a rectangular grass field with a goal at each end. The objective of the game is to score by manoeuvring the ball into the opposing goal. Other than the goalkeepers, players may not use their hands or arms to propel the ball in general play. The winner is the team which has scored most goals at the end of the match.\n\nThe sport is known by many names throughout the English-speaking world, although football is the most common. Other names, such as association football and soccer, are often used to distinguish the game from other codes of football, since the word football may be used to refer to several quite different games.\n\nFootball is played at a professional level all over the world, and millions of people regularly go to football stadia to follow their favourite team, whilst billions more avidly watch the game on television. A very large number of people also play football at an amateur level.\n\nAccording to a survey conducted by Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), football's governing body, published in the spring of 2001, over 240 million people regularly play football in more than 200 countries in every part of the world. Its simple rules and minimal equipment requirements have no doubt aided its spread and growth in popularity. In many parts of the world football evokes great passions and plays an important role in the life of individual fans, local communities, and even nations; it is therefore often claimed to be the most popular sport in the world. Because of this it is often dubbed the World's Favourite Pastime.
1181497
Why soccer? \nI am an Englishman that has taken on himself a personal crusade to respond to comments regarding the use of the "American" word for football. I have seen them over and over again on the worldwide computer news network, USENET, in its rec.sport.soccer newsgroup where I have been an active contributor for several years. \nTo love the game of football is to love it's rich history also. It particularly disturbs me when modern fans of the game less conversed in this history do not fully understand that the word "soccer" is an English, _not_ American word derived from the second syllable of the word "association". \n\n"Soccer" was originally called "association football" during the formation of the Football Association in England in the 1860s. This was to maintain a distinction from the other football game being organised in England at the same time based on the handling codes, whilst Association Football conformed to the dribbling codes. The other football came to be known as "rugby" football, named after the Rugby School in England, where it is said that a certain young student, William Webb Ellis, picked up the ball in his hands during an association football match and ran with it over the goal line. Master Ellis asked his teacher, who was refereeing, if that was a goal. The reply was, "No, but it was a jolly good 'try'", which is where one of the rugby scoring terms comes from. Rugby Union was formally organised by 1871, but suffered another split by 1893 when Rugby League was formed. I digress. \n\nNear the end of 1863, Charles Wreford-Brown, who later became a notable official of the Football Association, was asked by some friends at Oxford whether he cared to join them for a game of "rugger" (rugby). He is said to have refused, preferring instead to go for a game of "soccer" - a play on the word "association". The name caught on. \n\nEnglish public schoolboys love to nickname things, then as much as now. The tendency is to add "er" to the end of many words. Rugby [Union] Football became "rugby", and then "rugger". Association Football was better know as "assoccer" and naturally evolved into "soccer" which is much easier for a schoolboy to say... \n\nTherefore, the word "soccer" has been used in the mother country of all football-type games since at least the mid-19th century. 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. The British exported the game, so naturally the word "football" was the name mostly used all over the world. In recent decades it has been noted that the word "soccer" is apparently increasing in usage. The word "football" still appears in formal designations, however, in for example, Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). The word "soccer" is more commonly used in several countries around the world that play other forms of football. When Australians say "football", they mean Australian Rules football instead [Well in southern states they do, in the north they mean Rugby League]. The Irish have Gaelic football. In the USA and Canada, of course, there is Gridiron football. Rugby Union, Rugby League, Australian Rules, Gaelic, American and Canadian football all owe their roots to Association football. With the exception of Gaelic Football, they all use an ovoid shaped ball. None is as popular around the world as Association football. \n\n"Football" is the world standard name for "soccer". I always used the word "football" (and still do, wherever I can). The word "soccer", however, is engrained into the origins of the modern game of association football as much as any other aspect of The Game much of the world enjoys today
1102397
Well in the French language Football is soccer and Football American is "football". Its never made sense to me why we call football football becuase you only use your feet once... yet in soccer you can ONLY use your feet... hmmmmmmmmm