The word "soccer" comes from the use of the term "association football" in Britain, and goes back 200 years.
"Association football" became "soccer."
"Association football" became "soccer" in America, and what was called "gridiron" in Britain became simply "football" in America.
Photo by Getty ImagesThe interesting thing here is that Brits still used "soccer" regularly for a huge chunk of the 20th century.
Most British people stopped saying "soccer" because of its American connotations, however, UK broadcaster Sky Sports still used it to brand wildly-popular TV shows "Soccer Saturday" and "Soccer A.M."So, no, it's not wrong to call it "soccer" if you're American.