By Sophia DeCecchis
The world faces the ongoing debate of calling the sport football or soccer. Now, the popularity of the World Cup has drastically increased the frequency of this dispute.
The United States is one of the very few countries that call it soccer. The word “soccer” originated in England, even though they are known to call the sport “football”. In England, people would play a variety of versions of football. One was considered “rugby football” which has since been shortened to rugby. Soccer was originally called “association football” but was later shortened to just “football”.
British people used to use football and soccer interchangeably, but ultimately switched to football since soccer has become associated with America.
In America, Gridiron football, or American football rose to popularity. But with time, people began to just call the sport football. This is where all of the conflict and confusion began.
Sonia Mendoza, a senior at Irvington High School said, “When I’m talking to people in school, it’s soccer, but when talking to my family it’s futbol.”
With football being so popular in America, saying soccer just makes more sense in order to avoid confusion.
