Many hardcore fans of European football would scorn the use of the term “soccer,” saying that it is a term created by Americans in order to differentiate from their own form of “football”. Most people who use “soccer” are of the argument that using the dreaded “s-word” is a better alternative as it is leaves no room for ambiguity, while the other side says “football” is the original name of the sport and should be upheld at whatever irrational cost.

But how true are these perceptions? Who coined the term soccer and what should we use? Readers of The International may have noticed the monumental shift in our last edition; my article reviewing the football season was titled “IASAS Football”, whereas last time it was called “IASAS Soccer.” In this article, I will be assessing the merits of both terms and questioning both beliefs regarding what to call this beautiful game.

The term soccer, contrary to popular belief, was not invented by Americans. Football is often referred to “Association Football”, as most fans who comb wikipedia for stats and information to sound smart and pretend to like football but don’t have the patience to watch a full match probably know. The first part of the word, “socc,” is a contraction of the term association, and the “er” is a suffix commonly used in British nicknaming.

However, the term did not stick in Britain. Their national football association is called, simply, “The Football Association,” or the FA. Of the 45 FIFA associations which use English as a primary language, 43 of them use football. Before 2005, there were 4 English speaking nations which used soccer, before Australia and New Zealand converted to the use of “football”.

These facts may not be enough to determine which name we should use, but consider the following. 95% of nations in the English speaking world refer to the sport of football, and if they didn’t use it the term would not currently exist and is rejected in its country of origin. In addition, for those who do decide to call it soccer, I recommend for them to start watching the SA Cup and enjoy playing “FISA 16”. The worldwide title is football, in the country of origin it’s called football, and it’s a sport which involves a foot kicking a ball.

Gian C