Today's Lineup

• The eternal debate: Football vs Soccer ⚽️

• How the debate started

• Who calls it what?

• The Verdict

• Memes 😂

The eternal debate: Football vs Soccer ⚽️

After seeing a surge in new Thunder Football Newsletter subscribers from America 🇺🇸, I thought it would be appropriate to tackle one of the most debated topics in football/soccer - and that is what we should call it.

How the debate started

Football or Soccer? Fans from different corners of the world have passionately argued about it for decades, but how did this naming conundrum even start?

Here’s the kicker: soccer is actually a British invention! In the 19th century, the term came from "Association Football" (to distinguish it from Rugby Football), with “soccer” derived from the word assoc. The British exported the game—and the name—but by the 20th century, they’d fully embraced “football.”

Meanwhile, in places like the United States, Canada, Australia, and South Africa, where other football codes like American or Aussie Rules football dominated, soccer stuck to avoid confusion. In most other nations, it’s simply called football.

The debate is so popular that Frito-Lay made a chips/crisps advert about it featuring football legend David Beckham and NFL legend Peyton Manning arguing about what to call it. Watch the ad if you haven’t already seen it 👇

Who calls it what?

The folks at Business Insider shared this world map outlining what country calls the sport but what name and whether it is a variation of Football or Soccer.

It’s clear that the majority of the world refers to the most-watched sport as football.

Yet somehow Americans still believe, now more than ever, that it’s called Soccer. Listen to them chant it in this stadium:

goalglobal

View more on Instagram

“Hey USA, if it’s called soccer, then why do more than half of the MLS teams (15 out of 29) have "Football Club" (FC or CF) in their names?” 😉

The Verdict

What do I think? 
Well, even though I’m from the Southern tip of Africa where the game is called “soccer”, I rebel against that notion and call it by its real name, as indicated in the name of this newsletter!

After all, soccer is not life, no sir. But Football is. Right Danny?

But, at the end of the day, whether you call it football or soccer, we all agree it’s the beautiful game. So, let’s save our arguments for VAR calls instead, shall we?

Memes 😂

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