Donald Trump Wants America to Call Soccer 'Football', Suggests NFL Name Change
Outside the US, the sport Americans call soccer is almost universally known as football, while 'American football' is used to distinguish the gridiron code.
President Donald Trump said that the United States should drop the word 'soccer' and start referring to the sport as 'football,' suggesting that, if his idea is accepted, the National Football League might even need to consider a new name.
Speaking at the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw on Friday, he said, "When you look at what has happened to football in the United States, which is soccer in the United States, we seem to never call it (football) because we have a little bit of a conflict with another thing that’s called football.
"But when you think about it, shouldn’t it really be called … this is football, there’s no question about it. We have to come up with another name for the NFL. It really doesn’t make sense when you think about it, added Trump in his speech."
Outside the US, the sport Americans call soccer is almost universally known as football, while 'American football' is used to distinguish the gridiron code.
The US governing body’s naming history reflects this confusion: it was originally the United States Football Association, later became the United States Soccer Football Association, and finally settled on United States Soccer Federation in 1974 to avoid overlap with American football.
The NFL, meanwhile, has used the name National Football League since 1922, when it rebranded from the American Professional Football Association. Over the following decades, the league grew into the country’s dominant sports competition, leading U.S. charts in attendance, television audiences and advertising revenue, and Trump has long identified as a fan, recently attending a Washington Commanders game and appearing on a national broadcast.
Meanwhile, Trump was awarded the new FIFA peace prize at the 2026 World Cup draw.
Trump, who has openly campaigned for the Nobel Peace Price, had been heavily favoured to win the newly created FIFA prize. He and FIFA president Gianni Infantino are close allies, and Infantino had made clear that he thought Trump should have won the Nobel for his efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza.
Trump thanked his family, including his wife, first lady Melania Trump, and praised the leaders of the other two host nations, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, in his brief remarks, saying the coordination with the countries has been 'outstanding.'
