American football is called “football” because it inherited the name from older 19th‑century “football” games like rugby and association football, which were played on foot (not on horseback) and originally involved much more kicking than today’s gridiron game.

Quick Scoop: Core Reasons

  • The word “football” originally meant games played on foot, as opposed to mounted or jousting games, not “only using your feet.”
  • American football grew out of rugby football and association football (soccer) , both already called “football” in the 1800s.
  • U.S. colleges adopted rugby-style rules in the 1870s , and rulebooks from 1876 onward already used the term “football,” so the name stuck even as the style changed.
  • Early American games featured more kicking (field goals and dropkicks were central and often worth more than touchdowns), so the name matched the gameplay more closely than it does now.
  • Over time, passing and running took over, but by then “football” was culturally entrenched as the sport’s name in the U.S.

A Brief Origin Story

In mid‑19th‑century England, “football” was a messy family of local games: some allowed handling the ball (leading to rugby), others restricted it to the feet (leading to association football, later nicknamed “soccer”). Both fell under the umbrella of “football” because they were played on foot, advancing a ball toward a goal.

When rugby‑style football crossed the Atlantic, American colleges experimented with the rules in the late 1860s and 1870s. Games like the 1869 Rutgers–Princeton matchup still involved a mix of kicking and carrying, closer to rugby than to modern NFL play. The sport’s early identity was “rugby football,” and nobody felt a need to rename it; it was simply another kind of football.

How It Became Its Own Thing (But Kept the Name)

In the 1870s–1880s, American rules diverged sharply from rugby:

  1. Colleges formally adopted rugby‑style rules and codified them under the general label “football” around 1876.
  1. Innovator Walter Camp (often called the “Father of American football”) introduced:
    • The line of scrimmage
    • The system of downs
    • Standard 11‑player teams and a new scoring system

These changes slowly turned rugby‑like contests into a distinct sport: American (gridiron) football. But the code still sat inside the broader “football” family in people’s minds, so the inherited name remained.

Meanwhile, kicking was more central than today: field goals were heavily emphasized, and dropkicks were common. Only later, as the forward pass spread and touchdowns grew in value, did the game become dominated by hands and passing rather than the foot.

“Football” vs “Soccer” Naming Confusion

Globally, the association‑football branch won the popularity contest, so in most countries it became simply “football.” In North America, the rugby‑derived code became dominant, so people there just called that version “football” instead.

In Britain, the association game was originally often called “association football” or “soccer” (from “assoc‑”). The U.S. picked up the word “soccer” from the British and kept using it to distinguish association football from its own gridiron “football.” That’s why:

  • In the U.S. and Canada:
    • “Football” = American (gridiron) football
    • “Soccer” = association football
  • In most of the rest of the world:
    • “Football” = association football
    • “American football” = the U.S. code, treated as a niche variant

So Why Is It Still Called “Football” Today?

Even though American football now uses hands far more than feet, the name persists because:

  • It’s part of a historical family name for codes of football played on foot, descending through rugby.
  • The term “football” was locked into official rules and culture by the late 19th century.
  • Kicking (kickoffs, punts, field goals, extra points) is still strategically important, preserving a link to those older kicking games.
  • Language is conservative: once a sport is popular and commercially branded under a name, changing it is virtually impossible.

You can think of it like an old house that has been renovated many times: the layout and rooms are different now, but the street address—the word “football”—never changed.

Mini FAQ: Quick Answers

  1. Was American football ever mainly played with the feet?
    It always mixed kicking and carrying, but earlier versions relied more on kicks and valued field goals more heavily than today.
  1. Is American football “wrongly” named?
    Historically no: it’s one of several “football codes,” just like rugby football, Gaelic football, and association football, all sharing the same broad label.
  1. Why don’t Americans just call it “gridiron”?
    “Gridiron” exists as a descriptive term, but the mass‑market name “football” became culturally dominant long before there was a need to disambiguate globally.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.