Soccer, Futbol, Football, Futebol.....yes, there are several names depending (obviously) on the language, but one thing is a fact, with the exception of US, the rest of the world uses 'FOOT' as part of the name, which by all means, makes complete sense when referring to a sport where you KICK a ball, yes...with your FOOT. 

So why is it that the US is using that 'SOCCER' name?

I also thought the same initially: Why the hell is the US the only country to call it SOMETHING completely different, and uses 'FOOTBALL' (American Football more specifically) as the name for a game where the ball is handled with your HANDS! WTH!!!?

I decided to give it a check, and do the research. Yes, there is an explanation and for the majority of non-US folks, the word 'SOCCER' seems to be total despair...Aha! Things start to get interesting now. Well, it happens that the word 'SOCCER' is as old as you (perhaps) could not imagine. Perhaps as old as the game itself...

AND THE BEST PART? the British came up with it...! Don't believe it? (me neither)...keep reading. 

Okay, I must be honest, this is the point where I keep thinking to myself how idiotic I've been all this time by arguing about something I did not know. Yes, I blame myself, I kept saying the same over and over (until I educated myself around the topic): Why the hell the name 'SOCCER'?

Well, back to the point, how is it possible that the origin of the word 'SOCCER' was by the British themselves.  

It all started back in the mid 1800's (It is important to mention that the game of ' Football' dates back to being played in all its variations as far as 1004 B.C.), when the British understood that the game needed official rules in order to differentiate the variations of it being played with hands vs. played merely with the foot. In fact, in the early days of the sport among the upper class of British society, the proper term for the sport was 'SOCCER'. Meaning, it was called 'SOCCER' even before 'FOOTBALL'...Wow!...and sources claim that it was approx 18 years later that 'FOOTBALL' surfaced as a name amongst the British (when the sport became more popular among the middle and lower class).

So, on October 26th, 1863, a number of teams in England decided to create a standard set of rules to be used on all their matches. This is how the rules for “Association Football' were born, using 'Association' as the distinguishing factor from the many other types of football sports in existence in England, such as 'Rugby Football'. As nicknames were highly used among school boys, Rugby started to be called 'Rugger', and 'Soccer' was given to the 'Association Football'...firstly 'Asoccer', then quickly shortened to 'Soccer', and sometimes 'Soccer Football'

Clearly, 'Football' was a sport where two versions existed: with hands (Rugby), and without hands (Soccer). This is why 'Football' was not initially appointed naturally to the one played with the foot.

And the inventor of the name? It is said to be a man called Charles Wredford Brown, who was an Oxford student around the time of Association Football’s inception. 

Attention then, 'SOCCER' is not an american invention, no. It is how 'Football' was called at its formal beginnings in England. Yes, believe it or not.

The word 'SOCCER' caught on in the United States in the first decade of the twentieth century, to distinguish the game from American football, a hybrid of Association Football and Rugby Football.

If you think this is interesting enough, and you feel like slapping this piece of info to somebody's face that keep arguing about it (like I did after I posted this ha!), then feel free to SHARE it...

Thanks for stopping by and ENJOY SOCCER!!!!!

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