People are only just realising why football is called ‘soccer’ in the US – and it actually started in ENGLAND

KNOWN to most of the world as “football”, the beautiful game is almost exclusively referred to as “soccer” in the United States – but why?

You might be surprised to learn that the term actually originated in Great Britain, the so-called home of football as we know it.

GettyThe official name of the American team is the “United States Men’s National Soccer Team”[/caption]

During the Qatar World Cup the familiar football-versus-soccer debate was reigniting off the pitch.

Ahead of the England-US game, people from the respective nations took to social media to air their grievances.

So why do the Americans call it “soccer”?

It all goes back to 19th-century England.

Modern football was credited with being founded in England in 1863 when the Football Association was created.

The game was from then on known as Association Football in order to differentiate from other popular games of the time, such as “rugby football”.

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British university students at the time nicknamed it “soccer”, a twist on the second syllable of “association”.

Hence why rugby is often referred to as “rugger”.

When the sport arrived in the United States, the Americans adopted the word “soccer” to refer to the sport.

People in the United States also invented their own variant of the game that they named “football” in the early 1900s.

This would be the sport known as American football. The one that Tom Brady plays.

Sport Management Professor Stefan Szymanski declared: “Most British people stopped saying “soccer” because of its American connotations.

“However, UK broadcaster Sky Sports still used it to brand TV shows “Soccer Saturday” and “Soccer A.M.”

He also pointed to the 1973 autobiography of the legendary Manchester United manager Sir Matt Busby titled “Soccer at the Top: My Life in Football”.

While many fans around the world find the term “soccer” deplorable, many Canadians, Australians and Irish also refer to the sport as such.

So the next time you find yourself debating an American over why they insist on using the term, just remember: it was first coined in England.