Editing Association football (section)

== Name ==
{{Main|Names for association football}}
Association football is part of a family of [[football]] codes that emerged from various [[ball games]] played worldwide since antiquity. The word "association" in this term refers to [[the Football Association]] (the FA), founded in [[London]] in 1863, which published the first set of rules for the sport that same year.<ref name="BLibrary">{{cite news |title=Football Association 1863 Minute Book |url=https://blogs.bl.uk/socialscience/2013/08/football-association-1863-minute-book.html |access-date=13 April 2025 |publisher=British Library |archive-date=13 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240913154542/https://blogs.bl.uk/socialscience/2013/08/football-association-1863-minute-book.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The term was coined to distinguish the type of football played in accordance with the FA rules from other types that were gaining popularity at the time, particularly [[rugby football]].<ref name="Etym">{{cite web |title=Etymology of "soccer" by etymonline |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/soccer |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=13 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250406093624/https://www.etymonline.com/word/soccer |archive-date=6 April 2025 |language=en |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:The Sportsman 1910-11-25 Football.png|thumb|Heading from The Sportsman (London) front page of 25 November 1910, illustrating the continued use of the word "football" to encompass both rugby and association football.]]

The term ''soccer'' comes from [[Oxford "-er"]] slang, which was prevalent at the [[University of Oxford]] in England from about 1875, and is thought to have been borrowed from the slang of [[Rugby School]]. Initially spelt ''assoccer'' (a shortening of "association"), it was later reduced to the modern spelling.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Perrigo |first1=Billy |title=Why Do Americans Call It Soccer Instead of Football? Blame England |url=https://time.com/5335799/soccer-word-origin-england/ |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=11 July 2018 |publisher=Time Magazine |access-date=11 January 2024 |archive-date=11 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240111114755/https://time.com/5335799/soccer-word-origin-england/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Clarke |first=Donald |date=3 July 2021 |title=There is no easier way to annoy a British soccer fan than referring to soccer as 'soccer' |language=en |newspaper=The Irish Times |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/there-is-no-easier-way-to-annoy-a-british-soccer-fan-than-referring-to-soccer-as-soccer-1.4608849 |url-status=live |access-date=30 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221130021358/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/there-is-no-easier-way-to-annoy-a-british-soccer-fan-than-referring-to-soccer-as-soccer-1.4608849 |archive-date=30 November 2022}}</ref> Early alternative spellings included ''socca'' and ''socker''.<ref name="Etym" /> This form of slang also gave rise to ''rugger'' for rugby football, ''fiver'' and ''tenner'' for [[Five pound note|five pound]] and [[Bank of England £10 note|ten pound notes]], and the now-archaic ''footer'' that was also a name for association football.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What's The Origin of the Word "Soccer"? |url=https://www.lexico.com/explore/whats-the-origin-of-the-word-soccer |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502083021/https://www.lexico.com/explore/whats-the-origin-of-the-word-soccer |archive-date=2 May 2021 |access-date=22 March 2021 |website=Lexico Dictionaries &#124; English}}</ref>

Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called simply "football" in Great Britain and most of [[Ulster]] in the north of Ireland,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The History of Football in England |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/inspire-me/the-history-of-football-in-england/ |access-date=2024-10-22 |website=English Heritage |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250411230501/https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/inspire-me/the-history-of-football-in-england/ |archive-date=11 April 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref> whereas people usually call it "soccer" in regions and countries where other codes of football are prevalent, such as Australia,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Manfred |first1=Tony |date=14 June 2014 |title=The real reason Americans call it 'soccer' is all England's fault |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/why-americans-call-it-soccer-2014-6 |url-access=registration |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427180816/https://www.businessinsider.com.au/why-americans-call-it-soccer-2014-6 |archive-date=27 April 2021 |access-date=27 April 2021 |website=Business Insider Australia}}</ref> Canada, South Africa, most of Ireland (excluding Ulster),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cunningham |first=John M. |title=Why Do Some People Call Football "Soccer"? |url=https://www.britannica.com/story/why-do-some-people-call-football-soccer |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131223612/https://www.britannica.com/story/why-do-some-people-call-football-soccer |archive-date=31 January 2022 |access-date=23 December 2021 |website=Britannica |language=en}}</ref> and the United States. A notable exception is New Zealand, where in the first two decades of the 21st century, under the influence of international television, "football" has been gaining prevalence, despite the dominance of other codes of football, namely [[rugby union]] and [[rugby league]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Editorial: Soccer – or should we say football – must change |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/editorial-soccer-or-should-we-say-football-must-change/3KFDIVF4JRQPOAUG23DW2ARKBU/ |website=New Zealand Herald |access-date=27 April 2021 |date=11 June 2014 |archive-date=27 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427180813/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/editorial-soccer-or-should-we-say-football-must-change/3KFDIVF4JRQPOAUG23DW2ARKBU/ |url-status=live}}</ref>