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Clearly on a high from receiving the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize prior to the 2026 World Cup draw last week, Donald Trump has weighed in on the “football” vs “soccer” debate.
According to Trump, it’s time that the US stopped calling the sport “soccer” and get in line with everyone else watching football.
“When you look at what has happened to the sport, which we call soccer in the US, we never call it that because we have another conflict with a thing called football,” Trump said.
“But when you think about it, this is football, there is no question. We have to come up with another name for the other one. It really does not make sense when you think about it.”
Trump’s “other one” is a reference to the NFL (National Football League) – American Football, which has more in common with rugby than it does football.
Soccer is so-called in the US because gridiron football, now known as American football, exploded in popularity.
The national governing body for soccer was called the United States Soccer Football Association until 1974. It was then simplified the name to the United States Soccer Federation, to avoid any confusion.
The NFL has had its name since 1922.
The football vs soccer linguistic debacle is a divisive one, as most of the world calls the sport football, while the US continues to stick to soccer.
Trump’s potentially controversial comment was met, surprisingly, with a majority of positive opinions, with social media users saying he has a point…
However, the internet was less enthused about the FIFA Peace Prize going to Trump, which had people commenting how the whole thing was embarrassing and that officials were just pandering to the US President’s ego.
The 2026 World Cup will take place from 11 June to 19 July in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.