soccern.
/ˈsɒkə/, U.S. /ˈsɑkər/ Originally colloquial.
The game of football as played under the rules of the Football Association; cf. football n. 2b.Recorded earliest in soccer game n. at Compounds 1b.Football is the more usual term in Britain and Ireland, except in cases where it is necessary to distinguish soccer from other forms of football.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > association football > [noun]
football1863
association1867
soccer1885
footy1900
the beautiful game1977
1885 Oldhallian Dec. 171 This was pre-eminently the most important ‘Socker’ game played in Oxford this term.
1890 Longman's Mag. July 325 Were he to be asked what was his most pleasant recollection of Oxford life, [the average man] would reply, if he belonged to the later development, ‘footer’, or ‘socker’, or ‘the togger’.
1894 Westm. Gaz. 11 Jan. 7/1 The rival attractions of ‘rugger’ and ‘socker’.
1924 H. de Sélincourt Cricket Match iv. 83 However any sane person could prefer soccer to cricket the good little Horace totally failed to comprehend.
1935 Punch 24 Apr. 476/2 No one more thoroughly qualified to write the history of ‘soccer’..can be imagined.
1971 L. Koppett N.Y. Times Guide Spectator Sports xii. 193 All you need to play soccer is a ball, a field and players.
2001 Observer 15 July (Review section) 9/5 A game of soccer in the snow with both sexes and several generations joining in.
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive, as soccer ball, soccer stadium, etc.
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1891 Oxf. Mag. 4 Mar. 256/2 We had a game amongst ourselves of Rugger with a Soccer ball.
1908 School June 163/2 You find half your house more concerned with keeping abreast of the latest fashion..than in cultivating a Rugby tackle or soccer charge.
1928 Daily Mail (Hagerstown, Maryland) 23 Nov. 12/5 It is an elimination game in the state-wide soccer tournament.
1959 J. Fingleton Four Chukkas to Austral. 155 The soccer field where the players fall upon the neck of the goal-shooter.
1978 P. Marsh et al. Rules of Disorder iv. 97 The soccer terraces offer..a chance to escape from the dreariness of the weekday world.
1993 Sun 31 May 1/3 He claims Venables told him that another soccer manager..always liked a ‘bung’ to clinch a transfer.
2004 M. Fabe Closely Watched Films vi. 110 Ricci and Bruno arrive at a part of town near a soccer stadium with a game in progress.
b.
soccer club n.
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1893 Western Mail (Cardiff) 27 Apr. 3/6 Such a body would..control the whole of the ‘socker’ clubs in South Wales.
1940 Newcastle (Austral.) Morning Herald 14 Feb. 9/5 The ground would be made available alternately to the Rugby League Club and to the Soccer Club.
2014 E. Downing For Soccer-crazy Girls Only 133 When he was ten, Maradona joined a youth team in one of the biggest soccer clubs in Argentina.
soccer game n.
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1885‘Socker’ game [see main sense].
1970 New Scientist 2 July 13/1 We now accept full live coverage of soccer games in Mexico as a matter of course.
2010 N. McAvoy Coded Messages ii. 73 By the barracks where the German language students resided there was a soccer game in progress.
soccer match n.
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1889 E. Dowson Let. 21 Feb. (1967) 38 I absolutely decline to see socca' matches.
1969 Times 19 Feb. 17/2 Highlights from one of tonight's top soccer matches.
1999 S. Polimanti tr. G. Trapattoni Coaching High Performance Soccer iii. 90 No one has ever established how much energy is burnt up during a soccer match.
soccer team n.
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1892 Evening News & Post 13 Feb. (Special ed.) 1/7 The Oxford ‘Socker’ team drew with the Old Wykehamists.
1941 ‘Faugh-a-Ballagh’ 34 84/1 Its cross-country team has won nearly every Inter-Company event, while the soccer team is undefeated.
2006 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 14 June iv. 10/4 The soccer teams of different nations often play ‘friendlies’ against each other as warmups.
c. attributive. Designating clothing designed to be worn when playing soccer, as soccer boot, soccer jersey, etc.
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1899 New Cent. Rev. 5 118 A Methodist minister—who..doffed the Socker jersey.
1919 Albury (Austral.) Banner 13 June 13/4 Instead of being garbed in a Farnham soccer shirt, the prince of japers wore a weird jersey of amber and black.
1967 Washington Post 25 Apr. d3/4 Joe Pepitone diving into first base could plow up the field more than 22 men in soccer cleats.
1995 Kay & Co. (Worcester) Catal. Autumn–Winter 560/2 Soccer boots... Man-made sole, screw-in studs.
2011 M. M. Bossley Trapped (2012) viii. 62 I ran upstairs..and pulled on my soccer shorts, shin pads, and socks.
C2.
a. Adverbial and objective, as soccer-mad, soccer-playing, etc.
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1905 Boston Post 27 Nov. 4/5 England is ‘soccer’ mad.
1906 Illustr. Sporting & Dramatic News 17 Mar. 75/3 The Principality has..seriously threatened the right of England and Scotland to be considered the premier ‘Soccer’ playing countries.
1951 Sport 7 Jan. 9/1 We had the F.A. scheme to bring the big professional clubs and the soccer-playing schools into closer contact.
1998 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 11 June 54/4 In this soccer-obsessed family, Margey had a rare chance to shine.
2014 Daily Mirror 10 July 21/1 The US is kind of the one nation in the world that isn't as soccer crazy as the rest of the world.
b.
soccer player n.
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1886 Carthusian Oct. 229/2 Though so keen a ‘soccer’ player, Mr. Tancock's original game was Rugby.
1966 V. Nabokov Speak, Memory (U.S. rev. ed.) xiii. 265 A famous Soviet team of professional soccer players happened to parade in mufti.
2015 ESPN Mag. 27 Apr. 24/1 With concussions a hot topic in sports, soccer players can be reluctant to head the ball.
C3.
soccer hooligan n. originally Australian a person who engages in violent behaviour associated with or motivated by his or her support of a soccer team; cf. football hooligan n. at football n. Compounds 3.
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the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > violent behaviour > [noun] > by those attending a football match > person
football hooligan1904
soccer hooligan1967
1967 Canberra Times 10 May 38/6 (headline) Britain moves on soccer hooligans.
1976 Field 18 Nov. 989/2 They roar around, fighting and frolicking beneath like soccer hooligans.
2011 Toronto Star (Nexis) 6 Aug. gt1 A small faction of Toronto FC soccer hooligans were causing problems at BMO Field.
soccer hooliganism n. originally Australian violent behaviour of, or characteristic of, soccer hooligans; cf. football hooliganism n. at football n. Compounds 3.
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the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > violent behaviour > [noun] > by those attending a football match
football hooliganism1906
soccer hooliganism1953
1953 Argus (Melbourne) 14 July 5/3 (headline) Soccer ‘hooliganism’ must stop, says Galvin.
1996 European 30 May (European Parl. Suppl.) 1/1 There was..a call for a concerted effort to tackle soccer hooliganism with the Euro 96 championship just two weeks away.
2012 K. Young Sport, Violence & Society vi. 123 Soccer hooliganism remains an issue of real significance throughout Europe, as well as other parts of the world.
soccer mom n. North American colloquial a woman whose child plays, or whose children play, soccer; spec. (often depreciative) a suburban middle-class woman who spends a lot of time actively and enthusiastically supporting her young child or children's sporting (and other) activities.The term was popularized in media coverage of the 1996 United States presidential election as representative of an influential voting bloc and is now often used with specific cultural and political connotations; cf. quots. 1996, 2002.
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1973 Argus (Fremont, Calif.) 21 Sept. 4/1 You should see my son play—he is a tiger. [signed] Soccer Mom, Fremont.
1982 Morning Union (Springfield, Mass.) 14 Oct. 11/4 The Soccer Moms and the boys and girls raise $5,000 to $8,000 annually through door-to-door sales of candy.
1996 Washington Post 21 July c4/3 The president..is sending a message to a voter Castellanos calls ‘soccer mom’: the overburdened, middle income working mother who ferries her kids from soccer practice to scouts to school.
2002 Edmonton (Alberta) Jrnl. (Nexis) 20 May b1 Soccer moms became a sought-after demographic block. But the phrase implied a middle-brow, middle-class suburban stereotype, the comfortable stay-at-home mom behind the wheel of her SUV, ferrying her kids from soccer field to soccer field, without a lot of interest in foreign affairs or public policy.
2006 P. McLaren in O.-P. Moisio & J. Suoranta Educ. & Spirit of Time ii. vi. 109 Soccer moms in SUVs festooned with images of Old Glory..slink into the local sex shop in search of red, white and blue thongs for couch potato husbands.
Derivatives
ˈsoccerite n. (now esp. in South Africa and Sri Lanka) a soccer player.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > association football > [noun] > player
soccerite1894
1894 Cornishman 29 Nov. 8/5 Camborne soccerites are due here to-morrow (Friday) when the play a league fixture with the ex-cupholders.
1945 Gen 13 Jan. 30/1 Many Soccerites..took to Rugby.
1951 R. Campbell Light on Dark Horse 69 My father had founded the Technical College, a ‘soccerite’ school.
2013 Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka) (Nexis) 19 Dec. With former Sri Lanka soccerite Rienzie Walles leading from the front, Colombo Veterans retained the Yusoof Challenge Cup for another year.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1885