Trump says he wants to ditch the word ‘soccer’. Does America finally understand football? | OneFootball

The world’s most popular sport continues to be plagued by a linguistic divide, a debate recently reignited by U.S. President Donald Trump. While much of the globe refers to it as football, Americans stubbornly cling to the term ‘soccer’.

Speaking at the Club World Cup final in New Jersey last Sunday, The President light-heartedly suggested he could issue an executive order to align the United States with the rest of the world. "I think I could do that," he quipped with a smile during an interview with host broadcaster DAZN.

Despite the tone, the comments underscore a persistent question, particularly as the U.S. plays an increasingly significant role in the sport. Why do Americans insist on a different name? Mr Trump himself acknowledged the challenge, stating: "They call it football, we call it soccer. I’m not sure that change could be made very easily."

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First lady Melania Trump, President Donald Trump, FIFA President Gianni Infantino and his wife Leena Al Ashqar watch the second half during the Club World Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and PSG in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) (AP)

Soccer keeps growing in the U.S. and so does its influence on the sport. It is co-hosting the men's World Cup with Canada and Mexico next year — the third year in a row that it stages a major tournament after the 2024 Copa America and this summer's Club World Cup.

Other factors are keeping soccer more often in the U.S. consciousness -- and perhaps they will make saying ”football" more commonplace in a tough sporting landscape.

One of the greatest players of all time, Lionel Messi, plays for MLS team Inter Miami; the popularity of the Premier League and Champions League is booming; and the documentary series “Welcome to Wrexham” about a low-level Welsh club co-owned by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, has attracted new eyeballs.

Despite “soccer” being widely associated with the U.S., it is commonly accepted that the word was actually coined in Britain, perhaps as far back as the 1880s.

The exact date when it was first used is not known, but it is believed “soccer” was derived from “association football,” which was the first official name of the sport.

The charity English Heritage says the nickname may have first been used by pupils at the iconic Harrow School to “distinguish the new association game from their older pursuit, known as ‘footer.’”

Numerous versions of football began to flourish, often involving handling a ball more than kicking it. One example dating back to the 1600s and still played today in England is Royal Shrovetide. Rugby is another example.

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FIFA President Gianni Infantino interacts with U.S. President Donald Trump following the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Final match between Chelsea FC and Paris Saint-Germain at MetLife Stadium on July 13, 2025 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

The English Football Association was created in 1863 and drew up codified rules for associated football to set it apart from other versions being played elsewhere in Britain and, from there, soccer as we know it was born.

Dr. Stefan Szymanski, a professor of sport management at the University of Michigan, wrote the book “It’s Football, Not Soccer (And Vice Versa)” and explored the origins of the name. In a lecture to the American University of Beirut in 2019 he said soccer was “very clearly a word of English/British origin.”

“And bear in mind that the name ‘association football’ doesn’t really appear until the 1870s," he said, “so it appears really very early on in the history of the game and the word 'soccer' has been used over and over again since it was coined at the end of the 19th century.”

Soccer was a commonly used term in Britain

“Soccer” is not a commonly used term in Britain these days but that has not always been the case.

It was the title of a popular Saturday morning television show, “Soccer AM,” which ran from 1994 to 2023 on the Premier League's host broadcaster Sky Sports.

England great and 1966 World Cup winner Bobby Charlton ran popular schools for decades, titled “Bobby Charlton's Soccer School.”

And Matt Busby — Manchester United's iconic manager who won the 1968 European Cup — titled his autobiography, which was published in 1974, “Soccer at the Top, My Life in Football."

That book title suggests the terms “soccer” and “football” were interchangeable in British culture at that time.

Szymanski suggested the problem some people have with “soccer” isn't the word at all. But rather that it is specifically used in America.

“It’s when Americans use this word that we get the outpourings of distress and horror, and one of the most popular thoughts that people throw at this is to say that American football is not really football,” he said in his lecture.

He argued that given the overwhelming popularity of the NFL in the U.S. it makes perfect sense to differentiate between soccer and its own version of football.

Not just Americans call it soccer

The use of the word “soccer” is a bit more confused in other countries.

Australia, which has its own Australian rules football along with both rugby codes, commonly uses the term and its national men's team are known as the Socceroos. It's soccer federation, however, is called Football Australia.

It's a similar situation in Ireland, where Gaelic football is popular. The term “soccer” is used but the national soccer team is still governed by a body called the Football Association of Ireland.

Canada, like the U.S. simply calls it soccer, which clearly distinguishes it from the NFL and Canadian Football League.