Why do Americans call football 'soccer'?

The word "soccer" is believed to have originated in England in the 1800s as a nickname for "Association Football," the sport we now know as soccer. At the time, there were many different forms of football being played in England, and "Association Football" was just one of them. To distinguish it from other forms of football, people started calling it "soccer," which was derived from the word "Association."

While the term "soccer" was commonly used in England during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it eventually fell out of favor and was replaced by the more common term "football." However, the term "soccer" continued to be used in some other countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, where it remains the predominant term used to refer to the sport.

It's worth noting that in the United States, there was already a sport called "football" (what is now called American football), so the use of "soccer" was a way to distinguish it from the American version of football.