How To Call Soccer In Different Languages?

Soccer, as a sport, has tremendous popularity all over the world. It has great fame throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, South America, and Central America.

Around the world, across over 200 countries, soccer has about 3.5 billion fans. It is estimated by FIFA, going by registered players and referees in leagues worldwide, that there are about 270 million players in the sport.

Just as the sport’s fan base cuts across continental lines, the sport has diverse ways to refer to it in different languages. This article focuses on how the sport is officially called in different languages worldwide.

How to Call Soccer in Different Languages?

With over 6,000 recognized languages globally, soccer is pronounced in different ways.

For instance, the Japan Football Association has its official name that includes “football” but in actual practice, sakkā (サッカー), derived from “soccer”, is more popular than futtobōru (フットボール). Therefore, Nippon Sakkā Kyōkai is the JFA’s Japanese name.

In the continents of North & South America, the official and national languages include English, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French. However, this does not undermine the indigenous languages spoken by people on the continents.

Many Europeans have Spanish, French, German, English, Latin, etc., as second languages. The European Union official has and recognizes 24 languages.

The Australian continent has the highest number of rapidly disappearing languages globally. The Papuan and Austronesian are the two major language groups in the Pacific Islands. English, however, appears to be the most popular national and official language of the continent.

Official and national languages in Africa and Asia are so diverse. The African Union considers all African languages as official languages in the African continent.

Asia, a continent that also envelopes the Middle East, has its fair share of numerous languages.

For better understanding, countries will be categorized along continental lines. Here are ways some countries of the world call the game of soccer!

Note: Some countries are multilingual and may have several official languages. To avoid bias, major languages in these countries will be highlighted, together with the country’s Lingua franca, where applicable.

America

Africa

Asia and The Middle East

Australia and Oceania

Europe

Conclusion

In club tournaments, language barriers have been broken due to a common official language shared by countries from separate continents. It has also been achieved as a result of deliberate effort undertaken by the players to learn other languages to improve their entire performance.

Of a truth, the love for the game of soccer has cut across barriers. Irrespective of the name it is called globally, one cannot downplay its unifying effect.

Jay Gatz

Hi there, I’m Jay.

Soccer is everything in my life! My friends and I have created this blog with all our enthusiasm, passion, and understanding after years of playing pro soccer. Hope you will enjoy it!

Read my story here.