[-]

Bitter_Tradition_938@reddit

You’re from Germany and you call it soccer?!

[-]

Bitter_Tradition_938@reddit

Exactly. And you think soccer is closer to that word tan football?

[-]

superpaforador@reddit (OP)

I thought the english people created a new, special term because that sport is so important to them.

[-]

superpaforador@reddit (OP)

Nope. I live next to switzerland/France. UK is far away only encounter you guys when I go there on vacation.

[-]

TarcFalastur@reddit

For context, "soccer" is a word which technically comes from the UK but everyone here hates it. It is, however, the usual word used for the sport in America.

We get a HUGE number of Americans asking us questions about things here (probably 95% of questions from non-Brits are from Americans) and we've always had a bit of a strained relationship with Americans, so when we see people coming here using American words which we don't use in the UK, we tend to start making fun of those people.

I think a lot of people also assume that all Europeans experience the same and therefore should know what is a British word and what is a American word. It can be easy to forget that other countries have other experiences.

It's not meant as criticism of you personally. You just accidentally used a word which we react to.

[-]

Bitter_Tradition_938@reddit

I rolled my eyes so hard I could see my ponytail.

[-]

Rude_Rhubarb1880@reddit

VERY

Just don’t use your Hans

[-]

Professional-Gold755@reddit

You mean football

[-]

superpaforador@reddit (OP)

Do you call it football? I n school I learned thats the american word.

[-]

BurkesRoad@reddit

Football in UK, soccer in USA.

[-]

superpaforador@reddit (OP)

I apologize.

[-]

Garybaldbee@reddit

Ok, I'm going to be mischievous here. Its 'apologise'. 'Apologize' is the American spelling. I realise this is entirely unfair. Your command of English is infinitely better than my limited German, and I congratulate you for it. There is no reason for you to know or care about the distinctions between British English and American English. I just couldn't help find it slightly amusing that you apologised for using American English with more American English 😁

[-]

superpaforador@reddit (OP)

Ooh okay. Kinda ironic. I appreciate the feedback, have to add that english always has been my worst subject so I know I am not good.

[-]

oxfordfox20@reddit

Kein Problem!

[-]

ginotombs@reddit

You went to a bad school

[-]

superpaforador@reddit (OP)

Agree

[-]

ginotombs@reddit

*fewer .... sorry. Your English is a million times better than my German

[-]

superpaforador@reddit (OP)

Dankeschön! I like that most of you guys had german in school. Pretty cool.

[-]

Drewski811@reddit

We did, but our language lessons don't start until secondary school (age 11) and even then it's of a fairly low standard, so we're doomed from the beginning.

[-]

superpaforador@reddit (OP)

Oh. Well, now I get why most of you struggle.

[-]

Zr0w3n00@reddit

Americans call American football football and football soccer.

[-]

Eragon089@reddit

football is what the rest of the world calls it. soccer is what the americans call it. american football is a whole different sport all together

[-]

Professional-Test239@reddit

In England on average 800,000 people watch a professional game every weekend.

There doesn't seem to be much enthusiasm for the upcoming World Cup compared to previous tournaments though. No idea why. General dislike of FIFA and one of the host countries perhaps.

[-]

Lister_RD_169@reddit

No idea why.

Honestly, it is because people are expecting it to be an Americanesque disaster.

Super Bowl style half time shows at the final. Extortionate prices for tickets even by modern football standards. And breaks during play. Plus general resentment to the US at the moment, and of course the fact that the games will be kicking off gone midnight over here. If it was just the last one it might be okay, but it's not.

[-]

superpaforador@reddit (OP)

Maybe it is similiar to here? Other sports becoming popular as well, so attention is spreaded wider and german team is seen as hypocrite by a few since Katar, also german football team plays bad, they are loosers.

[-]

Professional-Test239@reddit

Football has never been more popular over here. Other sports are struggling for oxygen in comparison.

[-]

rtrs_bastiat@reddit

From what I hear people aren't going to the dangers at much this year, but they'll be watching still for sure.

[-]

Garybaldbee@reddit

There is no significant decline in attendances this season. In fact since COVID crowds at every level of the game, including the smallest of local non League clubs, have been positively booming. The last time this many people regularly attended football matches in England was back in the 1950's.

[-]

rtrs_bastiat@reddit

I mean the world cup, like he mentioned in OP

[-]

jck420jck@reddit

It’s the biggest sport in the world

[-]

oxfordfox20@reddit

Agree, but it’s at the beginning of a downward curve at the moment.

The working classes are increasingly priced out of watching their own clubs, Man City and Chelsea are unpunished where smaller clubs are docked points, even watching on TV is hugely expensive. The corruption of FIFA has destroyed joy in international football, the Champions League is rigged to get Madrid v PSG every year and the owners of too many clubs are evil billionaires and petrostates bleeding the clubs dry. It’s not as much fun to watch a league when you’re doubting the integrity of the refs and the administrators.

Having said that, it’s fucking brilliant that Spurs are going down…

[-]

Garybaldbee@reddit

Look, you presumably live in Germany so far be it from me to tell you what the sentiment is in your own country, but the attendance figures would suggest that football has never been more popular than it is now in Germany. The average attendance in the Bundesliga this season so far is around 42,500 per match. That is completely consistent with the figures for pretty much the whole of the last 15 years and more than double the numbers that used to attend in the decades prior to 2000. It's the same story in the lower divisions. In fact I'm fairly sure that the average crowds in the 2.Bundesliga, which are close to 30,000, are the highest in any second division in the world.

It's understandable if there is some disillusionment with the national team due to it's relative lack of success in recent years, and a lack of interest in the World Cup thanks to FIFA's appalling management of the sport, but the strength of German football, like that in England, has always been in the intense support for the club game all the way down the pyramid. The real low in German football came with the bribery scandals of the early 1970's.

[-]

Kickkickkarl@reddit

We love Fussball just as much as you do in Germany. We might not be as good as the mighty Mannschaft but non the less we still have Three Lion's on our shirts and we try our best.

[-]

thirty1twenty1@reddit

I'm a Chelsea Customer. I wish it didn't exist.

[-]

AuroraDF@reddit

Scotland just qualified for the World Cup for the first time in almost 30 years. It's quite popular right now in Scotland. Even with folk who don't normally bother.

NoScotlandNoParty

😉

[-]

superpaforador@reddit (OP)

Oh, congrats. Hope the brits get eliminated earlier.

[-]

Agitated_Nature_5977@reddit

The Brits? There is no team GB at the world cup. Scotland and England are the Scots and the English when it comes to the world cup. Why you saying Brits?

[-]

superpaforador@reddit (OP)

I thought Brits is a synonym for england. And UK are all of you. But maybe I am wrong.

[-]

Bitter_Tradition_938@reddit

Ok, this is clearly rage bait, nobody can be this ignorant.

[-]

Agitated_Nature_5977@reddit

Yes this is completely wrong. Brits is correct when applied as a catch all for those from the UK (England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland). However if you are specifically talking about people from England then they are the English.

By saying "Brits go home early" you are effectively saying you want both England and Scotland to go home early. Which can't be the case as Scotland fans and Germans fans get on really well. A German can't possibly want the Scots to go home early. At euro 2024 we partied hard together!

[-]

superpaforador@reddit (OP)

Thank you, thats actually something useful I learned right now. Of course I want scotland to win!!

[-]

AuroraDF@reddit

Umm?

[-]

DevonSpuds@reddit

Don't know about soccer, but football is incredibly popular.

[-]

superpaforador@reddit (OP)

Whats the difference?

[-]

Fresh_Relation_7682@reddit

Soccer is short for association football, to distinguish between other forms of football (two rugby codes, American, Canadian, Australian, Gaelic). Depending on where you are, a different sport could be understood as ‘football’. E.g. my friend from New Zealand would use football for both rugby union (rugby football) and soccer/football

But since a lot of our media is from the US is a convenient way for people to take a swipe at Americans

[-]

Cloisonetted@reddit

They're being sarcastic. Soccer is US English for Fußball. British English uses 'football' but we all know what soccer means too.

[-]

superpaforador@reddit (OP)

Thanks for explaining :)

[-]

discoillusion01@reddit

Soccer is the term used in America (and often in Ireland, and probably some other places)

[-]

PassiveTheme@reddit

Don't be stupid. "Soccer" is a word used to differentiate association football from the many other forms of football played around the world. In most countries, the term "football" is used to refer to the dominant form of football in that country - which in the UK is association football, also known as soccer. But it could also refer to either code of rugby football, Gaelic football, Australian rules football, American football, Canadian football, and many other sports.

Someone from another country asking about the popularity of the sport might not know if association football is still the most popular football game in the UK, and thus choose to use a word that is unambiguous in meaning.

[-]

DevonSpuds@reddit

Don't be facetious. You know full well that pretty much the whole world except the US uses the term football for, well, football.

[-]

PassiveTheme@reddit

Not true. I have many Irish friends that call it soccer because "football" is ambiguous. My English granddad used to call it soccer because "football" could refer to rugby union or association football. The Welsh rugby union referee, Nigel Owens, is remembered for saying "this isn't soccer" when players were arguing with him. Australians and Kiwis regularly use the word "football" to refer to any one of association football, rugby league, Australian rules football, or rugby union. Canadians use it for both Canadian and American football. And that's only the English speaking world.

For someone who doesn't speak English commonly, like say a German, they may get their English language media from any one of those countries, and so may have heard "football" used to refer to many sports other than the one they want to talk about. In order to avoid any ambiguity, and also because this sub is full of Americans who might see the word "football" and decide to answer about the sport they know as football, OP chose to say "soccer" and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Grow up.

[-]

MortimerDongle@reddit

Most Anglophone countries other than the UK use "soccer", not just the US

[-]

Agitated_Nature_5977@reddit

Very popular and absolutely no risk of not being popular.

[-]

discoillusion01@reddit

How much is that trip to the WC setting you back?

[-]

Agitated_Nature_5977@reddit

About 5k for two adults including tickets. It's our summer holiday as well

[-]

OrangeBeast01@reddit

From where I'm standing, it's as popular as it ever was, maybe more so as girls are now playing more than they did.

I take my son to football twice a week in a medium sized town and there's multiple teams for the same ages, and at least 1 girls team for each age. Pubs and stadiums (outside of the Etihad) fill up even 4/5 leagues down week in, week out.

We love football.

[-]

Eragon089@reddit

still very popular. Tend to be the only sport state schools really do which probably helps and some people think your weird if you dont follow it ( i get a lot of stick for it )

[-]

Brighton2k@reddit

football (the game) is still a national obsession. football (the sport) has turned into big business and has diminished in some people’s eyes. also, the World Cup is going to be a shit show.

[-]

reformedreprobate1@reddit

A german calling football, soccer?

[-]

cjdstreet@reddit

From my perspective its not as important as it once was in the pl. Its lost its magic with fans not picking local club in favour of say man city or man utd. It seems so manufactured. Broadcasting power and thuis new trend of being obsessed with stats is to blame in my view

[-]

Nick6819@reddit

The clubs are more interested in accommodating football tourists than their own fans.

The game has changed it’s all about possession football and XG etc. The Financial Fair Play rules whilst done with good intentions have the effect of just enhancing the position of the top clubs and making it incredibly hard to break into that group.

A lot of people who grew up regularly attending games are falling out of love with it.

[-]

Drewski811@reddit

It's still incredibly popular.

There has been an undercurrent of movement towards small, local, community teams in the non league, but the commercial juggernauts of the 'big' teams aren't going anywhere.

[-]

Real23Phil@reddit

Love the sport, hate how it's managed.

[-]

qualityvote2@reddit

Hello u/superpaforador! Welcome to r/AskABrit!

For other users, does this post fit the subreddit?

If so, upvote this comment!

Otherwise, downvote this comment!

And if it does break the rules, downvote this comment and report this post!