This seems to really get under the skin of a lot of British to the point where I don't get why none of them ever bother to look it up. The term "soccer" is of British origin NOT American. It's an English slang term from the early twentieth century. It is short for "Association Football" aka what is now called simply "football" in Britain ("soccer" meaning "association"). So many English, Scot and Irish rag on about Americans making up the "improper" word 'soccer' without ever realizing it's their own damn word. It's a little irritating to be honest.

The answer to the first question comes from www.tetrabrazil.com:
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”With the advent of a national association in England, any soccer played under its jurisdiction was called association football. As time passed the word association was abbreviated to assoc., which eventually gave way to the word soccer, the game's common name in North America.”

The reason football dominates American college games is found at http://www.soccer-for-parents.com/us-soccer-history.html:
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"The College Era, and Rules Consolidation, 1862-1875
Collegiate play resumed on a regular basis after the Civil War. Rules varied widely among different schools and communities; Princeton played with 25 players, some people even played a game with innings, with a victory going to the first team to score a fixed number of goals (a la volleyball). In 1866, Beadle & Company of New York published a set of rules for both Association Football (soccer) and the "Handling game" (Rugby). The first intercollegiate game using rules resembling modern game was played on November 7, 1869 in New Brunswick, NJ between Princeton and Rutgers (Rutgers won 6-4). This game used the London Football Association's 1863 rules which called for, among other things, 25 players, a field 110 meters x 70 meters, a 24 foot wide goal, movement of the ball allowed with all parts of the body (including hands, ball could be batted or held, but not carried or thrown). First team to score 6 points won. Interestingly, this same game is also generally recognized as the first GRIDIRON FOOTBALL game as well.

Soccer was also taken up at this time by Yale, Columbia and Cornell, and reintroduced to Harvard in 1871 in a hybrid form known as the Boston Game, a version which also allowed the throwing and carrying of the ball. At this time, football was still played by a number of different and conflicting rules. In 1873, inspired by the English Football Association's rules unification, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, and Rutgers met in New York to draw up a uniform set of rules based on the London 1863 rules. They established 20 players on a team, a field measuring 400 feet x 250 feet, 25-foot wide goal, 6 goals to win, and a point scored by passing the goal past the goal posts. Carrying the ball was prohibited. Shortly after the first game under these rules, a Yale victory over Princeton, an English team, the Eton Players visited New Haven and played Yale, to whom they lost 1-2, in the first Anglo-American international match. Yale was persuaded to adopt the English custom of 11 players to a side, and subsequently argued for its universal adoption, which was generally achieved by 1880.

Meanwhile, Harvard had become more interested in the Rugby form of the game, and looked for competition against similarly oriented teams. When they happened upon McGill University of Montreal, who had also adopted those rules, the two teams played the first intercollegiate rugby match in 1874. The second of these games was played with an oval ball under English Rugby Association rules, and marks the evolution of soccer into the modern gridiron game. A fateful event which would forever change the fortunes of American soccer took place in 1875 when Yale Harvard and bridged the game gap to play a match under special concessionary rules, which included both goals and tries (later touchdowns), and a 15 man roster. Harvard won 4 goals to none and 4 tries to none. Yale reassessed their position after this humiliation, and decided to adopt the Rugby code. Princeton, (who had watched the game as observers) were impressed enough to follow suit. In 1876, Harvard, Princeton and Columbia formed the Intercollegiate Football Association using Rugby rules. Stevens, Wesleyan and Penn soon followed, and the end of 1876 had signed the death knell signed for collegiate soccer in the US."

Dear Word Detective: I would be interested to learn the origins of the word "soccer." As a Brit currently living in the US, I am often dismayed to hear the term used to describe a sport that I, and many of my countrymen, have always known as "football." Is usage of the word "soccer" within the US simply a way of distinguishing the "beautiful game" from the altogether less appropriately-named sport of American Football (which, to my understanding, is played almost exclusively with one's hands)? -- Pete Collins, via the internet.

You know, as much as I like this question, I can't quite get over the feeling that I'm being set up. After all, I live about 35 miles from Columbus, Ohio, home of the OSU Buckeyes football team, and people around here are bananas (to put it politely) about football. Skeptics on the subject of Buckeye supremacy have, in fact, been known to disappear without a trace along with their household pets. But what the heck, since I've never had the sense God gave cole slaw, I'll stick my neck out and agree that "soccer" is a far more intelligent, skillful and interesting game.

It's true that the game known as "football" in most of the world (not just the UK) is known as "soccer" in the US, but we didn't just pull the word out of the air so that we could call our quasi-gladiatorial extravaganzas "football." In fact, you Brits actually invented the word. "Soccer," when it first appeared in the 1890s, was spelled "socca," which was short for "association" or "association football," meaning football played according to the rules laid down by the British Football Association. It was also called "socker" until the current form "soccer" appeared around 1895.

The "er" suffix of "soccer," incidentally, was often used in late 19th and early 20th century slang, and can also be found in the transformation of the name of the British game "rugby" (named after the Rugby School in England) into the popular term "rugger." Rugby, incidentally, is a sport similar to American football, but played without the helmets and elaborate padding used in American stadiums.

from The Word Detective's website

Because in the UK it's the only football they play, where as in Ireland we have Gaelic football,America has American football and Australia has Australian rules football,so we differentiate the footballs by calling what the UK calls football soccer!Except Rugby which is known as rugby football!

Coz its called Football in england (Im English)

Because in other countries it is. You play it with your foot. God, read a paper.

What kills me is that you play american football with your hands...that makes no sense. You hardly every kick the ball unless it's kickoff or field goal.

cuz it is called so everywhere except in USA...

Football was one of the first sports played in the USA. However americans wanted to show their independence from Britain and so decided not to play any popular British sports. Baseball maybe British but was designed as a children's sport and not to be played by adults and thus has never been regarded as an adult sport in Britain.

Traditionally american "jocks" have made hating football one of their most popular pastimes. In the USA they have even created anti football websites paid for by american sports coaches to deter young americans from playing football.

Football was termed a communist sport by these "jocks" as another attempt to try to deter other americans from watching or playing football.

However in the 1990's america had it's first world cup and football has grown and grown ever since. Even with almost professional anti football journalists, coaches, radio presenters the sport of football has become the most played sport in america along with basketball, overtaking baseball, gridiron and ice hockey.

Football may well be played by millions of americans but has still very few spectators. This mainly due to the USA inability to produce top quality footballers. The standard of footballers in the USA is increasing but as of yet the USA has never produced a world class footballer.

I guess the question that has to be asked is why has america never produced quality footballers?

Most probably because american sports are one dimensional, meaning a player only has to learn one skill to be good at a professional level. Whereas in football you need to be a complete athlete and have high levels of technique and creativity.

American sporting culture has sadly been dominated by steroids for the last 20 years, whereas in football steroids would give a player no advantage at all. So americans will have to change their whole sports culture in order to gain respect as a footballing nation.

It's not, it's called football. Why is soccer called football outside of America? lol

Because we already HAVE a sport called football in North America.