I guess that the origin of the name 'Soccer' comes from the words 'Association Football'. This goes back to the mid 19th century or so when the rules of many ball games were being formulated - rugby football and tennis are some. The story goes that a group of Public (ie private!) Schools in England got together to draw up standard set of rules for the age old game of two teams kicking a round ball. This group formed an 'Association' of schools - hence the name 'Association Football'.