Soccer vs Football: What's the Real Difference?

When people talk about soccer, a team sport played with a spherical ball, where players use their feet to score goals within a rectangular field under the rules of the Football Association. Also known as association football, it's the most played sport on the planet. But in the U.S. and Canada, it’s called soccer. Everywhere else? It’s football. Why? It’s not a typo. It’s history.

The word football has been around since the 1400s, used for any game where you kicked a ball. But in the 1800s, British schools started splitting the rules—some let you carry the ball, others didn’t. The ones who banned handling the ball formed the Football Association in 1863. Their version stuck as association football. The ones who allowed handling? That became rugby football. To tell them apart, Brits started calling association football soccer—short for assoc. It was slang. Not a brand. Not a replacement. Just shorthand. Then, in the U.S., American football took off in the early 1900s. Suddenly, you needed a way to say which football you meant. So soccer stuck. In England? It faded. By the 1980s, calling it soccer felt American. Today, if you’re in London and say "soccer," people think you’re foreign. In Texas? Saying "football" means helmets, tackles, and fourth downs.

The rules are the same everywhere: 11 players, two 45-minute halves, no hands (unless you’re the goalie), and the ball must cross the goal line between the posts. But the culture? Totally different. In Nottinghamshire, where the Notts Senior Sports League covers local senior teams, you’ll see men and women over 50 playing with the same passion as pros. They call it football. They don’t need a label. They just show up, play, and keep the game alive. The name doesn’t change the sport—it just changes how you see it.

Some say it’s just semantics. But language shapes identity. When you say "football," you’re not just naming a game—you’re saying where you’re from. And that’s why this split still matters. Whether you call it soccer or football, the joy, the strategy, the community—it’s all the same. Below, you’ll find real stories from senior players, clear breakdowns of the rules, and why this sport still brings people together, no matter what you call it.