Football is an American sport, it only plays in the US, Soccer is a different sport which play all over the world. Since this sport using foot to play, the non-english speaking countries translated it into football. But, they are two different sports. Soccer is a team play, so it is commonly call soccer team.

Although American English, British English, Australian English, and other English dialects are all very similar, there are still significant differences in the words used by each to indicate certain things. For example, for just two English dialects: BRITISH ENGLISH World Cup sport = football person who dispenses drugs = chemist front metal flap of car = bonnet back metal compartment of car = boot dot used at the end of a sentence = full stop straps that hold your trousers up = braces someone to represent you in a court of law = barrister ... U.S. ENGLISH World Cup sport = soccer person who dispenses drugs = pharmacist front metal flap of car = hood back metal compartment of car = trunk dot used at the end of a sentence = period straps that hold your trousers up = suspenders someone to represent you in a court of law = attorney ... There are literally hundreds of words which have different meanings in different English speaking countries. There are even differences in different parts of the same country. But don't panic. If you know any dialect of English, you can pretty much go to any other English speaking country and communicate easily. But you might have a laugh if you say a word that means something quite different in that country. >> Can't we say that a football or soccer player is a footballer?? On italki, yes, if you say "football" or "footballer", most English speakers will understand what you mean, regardless of which country they are from. Especially now while the World Cup is going on. It just sounds a little odd for some of us who are accustomed to saying "soccer" or "soccer player".

Foot+ball = football. Sounds simple but the meaning changes between countries. If you say "football" in Australia you mean rugby. Rugby ("footy") is very popular here, so we use the term "soccer" to mean the other sport which many countries are good at. In the UK "football" is the game where you kick the ball with your foot... obviously. We love to argue over this. ^^ In the US, American Football is also called Gridiron (from the shape of the field: like a grid-iron). As a general world-wide term, when someone says "football" I assume it's what we call "soccer". Maybe we should all adopt the Italian word for the game: "calcio" (=kick). :-P

The game of football is any of several similar team sports, of similar origins which involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with the foot in an attempt to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer." The word football is applied to whichever form of football is the more popular in each particular part of the world, cowboy...

Two of these sports are not the same thing. Between America and Spanish Countries. In the United States, Football is an American sport (wearing a helmet and lots of padding, while running with the ball across the other side of the field, or kick off). And the other sport called soccer (travel with the ball with your feet, only the goalie is only allowed to use his hands preventing the other team for winning a point). in Spanish countries they call this "Football". America just calls it Soccer.