Blame the Brits, we had nothing to do with the word. I googled, there were different types of football in the 19th century when the rules of football were codified. The 'beautiful game' version, which ain't all that beautiful, became known as 'Association football' because the governing body was The Football Association, got abbreviated to Assoc football - then those effeminate English lads began calling it 'soccer'. The masculine lads continued to play rugby football, which is indeed a rough and manly game from which the greatest football of all, American gridiron football, evolved.
