I think it's just his wife's opinion. I'm a native speaker and I don't think "football" sounds old. But I agree that in the first place, everybody would automatically just say "foot".

Thank you, Hassan. It was just a TV show with fictional characters. But they were native French speakers, so I value their opinions on whether words are a bit out of date. As far as whether people still use words, I'd rather hear from a native speaker than a linguistic expert!

A mon avis le foot n'est qu'une abréviation de football; en plus la femme de cet politicien n'est pas une spécialiste linguistique pour dire qu'un mot est démodé ou non, elle a juste exprimé son opinion. On peut utiliser le foot en conversation amicale, mais professionnellement on doit utiliser le football.