Credit: Kyi HtetLin
By Bob McDonnell
As the 2026 FIFA World Cup comes to an end, Bobservations feels the urge to weigh in. I’m not a fan of soccer and haven’t watched a minute of these contests or any soccer matches, for that matter.
As a “word guy,” I did notice that the sport is called soccer in some places and football in others. So, which is it? Surprisingly, both names are correct, and the distinction has more to do with history than geography.
Around the world, the game is known mainly as football. From England and Brazil to Germany and Japan, the name reflects the simple fact that the sport is played mostly with the feet. With more than 250 million players in over 200 countries, it is the world’s most popular sport.
So where did the word “soccer” come from? Surprisingly, it originated in England in the late 1800s. Several forms of football were played then. The game we know today in America as “soccer” was formally called “association football” after England’s Football Association, founded in 1863.
To distinguish it from rugby football, Oxford students developed a slang abbreviation. They shortened “association” to “assoc” and added the popular “-er” ending, creating the nickname “soccer.” Seems like a stretch to me. Rugby players received similar treatment, with their game often called “rugger.”
For decades, people across Britain used both football and soccer interchangeably. Newspapers, schools and the broader sporting community swapped the terms without hesitation. Who knew?
The terminology split kicked in as the sport spread across the globe. In places where no other kind of football existed, people just called the game football and moved on. But in countries where another version already ruled the landscape, fans needed a different name to keep things straight.
The United States is the best example. As American football grew in popularity, the word “football” became firmly associated with the gridiron game. To distinguish the international sport, Americans kept using “soccer,” a name they inherited from the British.
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and South Africa did the same since each had its own version of football.
Today, an interesting twist has emerged. Americans still say soccer, but modern Britain has largely returned to football. Many British fans now view “soccer” as an American term, even though its origins are unmistakably English.
In the end, neither word is wrong. Football is the international name recognized by the sport’s governing bodies and used by most of the world. Soccer remains the practical term in countries where another football dominates.
Whether you call it football or soccer, the beautiful game remains the same: 22 players, one ball and a passion that unites billions of fans across every continent. You can see it every time the World Cup rolls around.
Thanks for letting me “pitch” in—see what I did there?—on this topic.