Football is probably the most popular sport in the world.

In many countries of the world it is known by the term 'football' or a word very similar to it.

In Spanish it is called 'fútbol'.

In French it is said and spelt the same way as in British English, 'football'.

In Russian, it is known as 'футбол' which is pronounced 'football'.

However in the USA and in Ireland it is not called 'football' but 'soccer'.

Why?

Well the modern game which is now known as 'football' or 'soccer' is just one form of the game played with a round ball.

Strictly speaking this form of the game is 'association football'. So when it went to the USA, the Americans called it 'soccer' after the 'socc' in 'association'.

And so it has stayed that way.

There are various rival claimants as to who really invented football (soccer) including both the Chinese and Italians.

However the current version of the game with 22 players, 11 on each side, and a referee and goal boxes originated in Britain and has spread all over the world.

Despite its global popularity the irony is that in other English-speaking countries such as America and Australia, other forms of football are more popular than 'soccer'. In the USA 'American football' is more popular than soccer whilst in Australia, 'Australian rules football' is more popular than soccer.

Soccer though is huge, and billions watch it through out the world and some of the top soccer players earn tens of millions of dollars a year.