The word association was used to distinguish their specific sport from other popular games of the day such as “rugby football.” The word soccer comes from a slang abbreviation of the word association, which British players of the day adapted as “assoc,” “assoccer” and eventually soccer or soccer football.

Football is called soccer due to a linguistic journey. In 19th-century England, “Association Football” was abbreviated as “Assoccer” and later became soccer. In America, it distinguished itself from American football. Language evolves, and now we have football and soccer, both beloved names for the beautiful game.

The different names for the sports began to grow popular across Britain and the world as they spread overseas. Smithsonian Magazine reported that British fans ended up choosing to call the sport “football” in the 1980s due to Americans choosing the word “soccer.”

Soccer and football are two names for the same sport, but the difference lies in the regional terminology. Some countries call it soccer due to historical reasons and linguistic variations, while others refer to it as football, reflecting its nature of being played predominantly with the feet.