Football today

Use of the word "football" in English-speaking countries

The word "football", when used in reference to a specific game can mean any one of those described above. Because of this, much friendly controversy has occurred over the term football, primarily because it is used in different ways in different parts of the English-speaking world. Most often, the word "football" is used to refer to the code of football that is considered dominant within a particular region. So, effectively, what the word "football" means usually depends on where one says it.

The name "soccer" (or "soccer football") was originally a slang abbreviation of the word "association" from "association football" and is now the prevailing term in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand where other codes of football are dominant.

Of the 45 national FIFA affiliates in which English is an official or primary language, only three (Canada, Samoa and the United States) actually use "soccer" in their organizations' official names, while the rest use football (although the Samoan Federation actually uses both). However, in some countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, use of the word "football" by soccer bodies is a recent change and has been controversial. The governing body for Rugby Union in New Zealand changed its name from "New Zealand Rugby Football Union" to "New Zealand Rugby Union" in 2006.

Use of the word "football" in non-English-speaking countries

Generally around the world today the word "football" is in widespread use as the name for association football. In Francophone Québec, where Canadian football is more popular, the sport of association football is known as le soccer and the Canadian code as le football.