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Why Americans call it soccer while the rest of the world calls it football
The answer goes back to 1848 Cambridge University students, a Rugby school in England, and an Oxford and Cambridge word fad.
PrevNextJessica Tobias//Jessica Tobias
Pyrotechnics are set off during the opening ceremony before the World Cup semifinal soccer match in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Tuesday, July 14, 2026.
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The World Cup Final is Sunday, with Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal set to face off for the trophy. Millions of Americans have been watching the sport all month — but most of them have been calling it something different than the rest of the world.
So why do Americans say “soccer” while nearly everyone else says “football”?
It all starts in 1848, when students at Cambridge University wrote the first set of rules for the game we know today. Those rules centered on kicking a ball with your foot — hence, football. In 1863, the Football Association was founded in London.
But another version of the game was gaining popularity, one where players carried the ball with their hands. That version was especially popular at a school in Rugby, Warwickshire, a town in England. Those players eventually created what became the Rugby Football Union.
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Now there were two games: association football and rugby football.
Both eventually crossed the Atlantic and arrived in the United States. In 1869, Rutgers and Princeton competed in a game considered a cross between the two — and it’s recognized as the first American football game. A few years later, a college coach helped turn it into what we think of today as American football.
Back in England, teams kept playing both rugby football and association football. Rugby Football was shortened to “Rugby” — or “Rugger.” A 1905 letter in the New York Times explained that it was a fad at Oxford and Cambridge to add “-er” to the end of many words.
That fad, however, created a problem for association football. There was no clean place to attach the “-er” ending. So a new term was born: “soccer” — a loose abbre
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So while Messi and Yamal will be playing in the World Cup Final, you can thank the British for the fact that Americans call it soccer — even if the British, and most of the world, still call it football, because of the whole foot-and-ball thing.
Sunday’s World Cup Final between Spain and Argentina will start at 3 p.m. ET
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