Yonhap News
U.S. President Donald Trump argued that soccer should be called “football,” a term widely used around the world, rather than “soccer,” even in the United States.
According to AFP and the New York Post, President Trump made this remark at the 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup draw ceremony held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on the 5th (local time).
He mentioned the American expression ‘soccer’, which refers to soccer, and said, “I don’t think it’s called that often because it conflicts a little with another sport called ‘football.'”
“But if you think about it, this sport (soccer) should be called ‘football,’ and National Football League (NFL) should find a different name,” he said, pointing out that American football, called ‘football’ in the United States, is not really ‘football.’
The audience responded to President Trump’s remarks with applause, and his longtime ally, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, also cheered the mood.
In most countries around the world, soccer is called ‘football’, but to Americans, ‘football’ refers to American football, which is mainly played with the hands.
Like the United States, only Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, which have their own ‘football’ sport, use the name ‘Soccer’ for soccer.
In this situation, the debate over the names ‘Soccer’ and ‘Football’ continued for a long time. Many argue that the confusion surrounding the name arose because the United States changed the name of the soccer sport.
However, Stefan Szymansky, a professor of sports management at the University of Michigan, analyzed in his 2014 book ‘Football is not Soccer’ that the name controversy originated in England.
According to Szymansky, in England in the early 1800s, soccer ‘football’ and ‘rugby’, the predecessor of American football, were in fact the same type of game that came from the same root.
However, with the establishment of the ‘Football Association’ in 1863 and the ‘Rugby Association’ in 1871, the two sports were officially separated, and confusion arose over the name.
During this process, British students began using nicknames such as ‘rugger’ and ‘soccer’ to distinguish between the two sports. It is said that the word ‘soccer’ became widespread among American soldiers stationed in Europe during World War I and World War II.
Afterwards, in the United States, American football, which was derived from rugby, developed independently, and the sport came to be called ‘football’. The first official American football game was played in 1892.
Szymansky explained, “As soccer (soccer) has deeply penetrated American culture, there has been a backlash against the use of the word ‘soccer,’ which was used as a harmless substitute for ‘football’ in the UK.”