Use of the word "football"

For more details on this topic, see Football (word).

The word "football", when used in reference to a specific game can mean any one of those described above. Because of this, much friendly controversy has occurred over the term football, primarily because it is used in different ways in different parts of the English-speaking world. Most often, the word "football" is used to refer to the code of football that is considered dominant within a particular region. So, effectively, what the word "football" means usually depends on where one says it.

Players assemble at the line of scrimmage in an American football game.

Association football is simply known as football in most countries, except where other codes of football are dominant. Examples of such countries include the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, where it is known as soccer. American football is always football in the United States. In francophone Quebec, where Canadian football is more popular, the Canadian code is known as football while American football is known as Football américain and association football is known as le soccer.^[100] Of the 45 national FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) affiliates in which English is an official or primary language, most currently use Football in their organizations' official names; the FIFA affiliates in Canada and the United States use Soccer in their names. A few FIFA affiliates have recently "normalized" to using "Football", including:

• Australia's association football governing body changed its name in 2005 from using "soccer" to "football"^[101]
• New Zealand's governing body also changed in 2007, saying "the international game is called football."^[102]
• Samoa changed from "Samoa Football (Soccer) Federation" to "Football Federation Samoa" in 2009.^[103][104]

Football codes board

Football	Cambridge rules (1848)	Association Football (1863)
			Five-a-side
			Beach (1992)
			Futsal (1930)
	Sheffield rules (1857)
			Indoor
			Paralympic
			Street
	Rugby rules (1845)
			Rugby union (1871)
				Rugby sevens (1883)
				Rugby league (1895)
					Nines
					Beach rugby
					Touch football
		American football (1869)	Arena football (1987)
		Canadian football (1861)	Flag football
	Gaelic (1887)				International rules (1967)
	Australian rules (1859)