History Main / SoccerHatingAmericans

** When John Oliver explained the various FIFA corruption scandals, he acknowledged to his American audience that they might not understand how serious the situation was because "in this country soccer is something you pick up your 12-year-old daughter from," as opposed to the rest of the world where it's a religion.

Then, there's also the issue of soccer being seen as effeminate by many Americans in its potential fandom. Compared to sports like hockey, baseball or football, where the athletes often hit the balls or pucks (and occasionally each other) with large blunt instruments and/or regularly ram into each other, that sort of contact violence is comparatively lacking in soccer. There's also the [[TheatricsOfPain stereotype of soccer players "diving"]] [[MinorInjuryOverreaction to exaggerate their injuries,]] which makes them look bad when the OnlyAFleshWound mentality found in Football or Hockey is more admired.[[note]]The fact that flopping to get a foul called is ''also'' extremely prevalent in basketball usually gets ignored, or acknowledged in a "See, we don't need ''more'' of that." way.[[/note]] The fact that America's women's teams are so much more successful in international competition than their male counterparts and the sport's previously-mentioned popularity among teenage girls don't help either. Hence soccer in the United States falls victim to the GirlShowGhetto. At best, soccer is seen as acceptable for young boys, but not for older male teens or men. The sheer abundance of FootballHooligans did not help at all either, due to their extremely vocal (and at times even ''deadly'') [[SeriousBusiness opinions on their support]] of the teams, often leading to violence, making the Americans steering clear of the association football even more.

Another possibility is that the [[AHouseDivided soccer fandom is just too splintered within the United States]]. The first group are people who play the sport in childhood, but are discouraged from continuing with it because there are more lucrative sports scholarships in other sports. Athletes who have played on the women's US soccer team have mentioned this fact. The second group are immigrants who brought their love for soccer with them. They stay loyal to the soccer teams in their homelands, they'll even play the game at local parks during the weekends, but they will not attend American games. The next group after that are Europhiles who want to appear more worldly to their peers and to people outside the United States. They'll pick a European team and follow it religiously while looking dimly upon American teams due to CulturalCringe. They'll know all the statistics for their chosen team and will read the ''Daily Mail'' just to keep abreast of rankings and game results. However, they won't actually sit down and watch a game unless it's the World Cup or they are watching it with their European friends. Next, there's the group consisting of fans who only follow and watch games in the "Big Five" European leagues because they want to see the best players in the world compete and hold the view that MLS primarily consists of has-beens from those leagues staving off retirement or less skilled players who wouldn't cut it abroad. The final group is domestic soccer fans. They will follow their local professional team and will attend USSF games when given the chance. These splintered groups of American soccer fans rarely interact with each other except during the World Cup.

Then, there's also the issue of soccer being seen as effeminate by many Americans in its potential fandom. Compared to sports like hockey, baseball or football, where the athletes often hit the balls or pucks (and occasionally each other) with large blunt instruments and/or regularly ram into each other, that sort of contact violence is comparatively lacking in soccer. There's also the [[TheatricsOfPain stereotype of soccer players "diving"]] [[MinorInjuryOverreaction to exaggerate their injuries,]] which makes them look bad when the OnlyAFleshWound mentality found in Football or Hockey is more admired.[[note]]The fact that flopping to get a foul called is ''also'' extremely prevalent in basketball usually gets ignored, or acknowledged in a "See, we don't need ''more'' of that." way.[[/note]] The fact that America's women's teams are so much more successful in international competition than their male counterparts and the sport's previously-mentioned popularity among teenage girls don't help either. Hence soccer in the United States falls victim to the GirlShowGhetto. At best, soccer is seen as acceptable for young boys, but not for older male teens or men.

* ''Series/SportsNight'' has a subversion, where Dan, as a sports reporter, has to talk about association football, but has absolutely no knowledge of the sport. When he challenges Natalie to name one team, Natalie and some extras list half a dozen on the Eastern Coast alone, revealing Dan as the only one in the office who doesn't follow the sport.

For a long time, one major exception to this was the United States of America, which only loved the traditional American team sports of UsefulNotes/{{baseball}}, UsefulNotes/{{basketball}}, UsefulNotes/{{ice hockey}}, and [[UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball their own game, which they call football]] ([[UsefulNotes/SeparatedByACommonLanguage a.k.a. gridiron]]). However, since [[TheSeventies the 1970s]], numerous attempts have been made to make the sport more popular in the States, and it has slowly made some major inroads: America has [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueSoccer a fairly successful domestic league]]; the ''VideoGame/{{FIFA|Soccer}}'' video game series is incredibly popular (although ''VideoGame/{{Madden|NFL}}'' still outsells it in the US); their women's national soccer team has won four [[UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup FIFA Women's World Cups]] (including the two most recent in 2015 and 2019); the men's team has vastly improved from joke team to regularly competing with soccer-crazy Mexico for the position of top dog in the North America confederation (CONCACAF) with several of its members playing for Europe's top clubs; and many children (more girls than boys) grow up playing it. It probably helps that many chunks of the US have big Hispanic populations, who love the sport. However, in spite of all of that, soccer still lags well behind other sports in America in terms of popularity, and it has nowhere near the religious fervor it has in other countries.

The attempts to grow the sport in America have also met widespread resistance in some circles. Many Americans just plain don't like the sport -- considering it boring. And this is reflected in the media, where American characters will often go out of their way to bash the sport for all of the above (as well as the players' [[TheatricsOfPain propensity for faking injuries]]). Another problem with soccer in American eyes are the low scores. Baseball and hockey are "low scoring" if they end 3-1. In American Football, a game that does not go into double digits is considered low scoring, and in basketball, triple-digit games are a common occurrence. In soccer, the tendency over the last decades has been towards ''lower'' scores. The last thing that irks Americans about soccer (and is frequently mentioned in anti-soccer rants) is its propensity for ties. While US sports fans tolerate the occasional tie in hockey[[note]]Not anymore, the NHL and all other professional leagues use a shootout if the two teams are still tied after overtime (in the regular season, playoff games continue to play additional 20 minute periods until someone scores if the score is tied at the end of regulation). The last tie game in the NHL was on April 4, 2004. International and Olympic hockey also use the shootout[[/note]] and football[[note]]ties in American football are somewhat rare, being on the order of one or two a season, with the semi-sudden-death overtime rules of NFL heavily favoring one side winning[[/note]], they greatly prefer games where there's a clear winner, and baseball[[note]]While this is still the case, the rule change giving each team an automatic runner on second base in extra innings since 2020 has greatly reduced the frequency of inning counts in the high teens.[[/note]] and basketball[[note]]Along with college football, which is a bit controversial since marathon multi-overtime games in such contact-heavy sport increases the risk of injury. The NFL's "sudden death" overtime rules on the other hand allow for a tie (during the regular season) if nobody manages to score during the overtime period.[[/note]] will go into overtime until there ''is'' a clear winner, however long that takes.

Another possibility is that the [[AHouseDivided soccer fandom is just too splintered within the United States]]. The first group are people who play the sport in childhood, but are discouraged from continuing with it because there are more lucrative sports scholarships in other sports. Athletes who have played on the women's US soccer team have mentioned this fact. The second group are immigrants who brought their love for soccer with them. They stay loyal to the soccer teams in their homelands, they'll even play the game at local parks during the weekends, but they will not attend American games. The next group after that are Europhiles who want to appear more worldly to their peers and to people outside the United States. They'll pick a European team and follow it religiously while looking dimly upon American teams due to CulturalCringe. They'll know all the statistics for their chosen team and will read the ''Daily Mail'' just to keep abreast of rankings and game results. However, they won't actually sit down and watch a game unless it's the World Cup or they are watching it with their European friends. Next, there's the group consisting of fans who only follow and watch games in the "Big Five" European leagues because they want to see the best players in the world compete and hold the view that the MLS primarily consists of has-beens from those leagues staving off retirement or less skilled players who wouldn't cut it abroad. The final group is domestic soccer fans. They will follow their local professional team and will attend USSF games when given the chance. These splintered groups of American soccer fans rarely interact with each other except during the World Cup.

* While the American disdain for soccer is rightly depicted on this page, this trope could also have been called Soccer Hating ''Canadians''. Canadians generally don't like soccer any more than Americans do, and for many of the same reasons described above. Canada's lack of success in international soccer doesn't do the sport any favors either. Their dislike of soccer may be Justified though, as the colder climate and harsher weather make Canada unsuitable for soccer most of the year.

* A common joke among fans of the Beautiful Game is to point to American football as a NonIndicativeName, and that it should really be "handegg". After all, which of the two sports uses an object shaped like a ''ball'' and primarily requires use of your ''foot''? [[spoiler:The name "football" was derived in order to distinguish the family of sports bearing that name from sports played on horseback. "Soccer" comes from Oxford University as a shortened form of "Association Football" to distinguish it from "rugby football" or "rugger."]]

* A common internet joke for soccer fans is to point to American football as a NonIndicativeName, and it should really be "handegg". After all, which sport uses something shaped like a ''ball'' and primarily requires use of your ''foot''? [[spoiler:The name "football" was derived in order to distinguish the family of sports bearing that name from sports played on horseback. "Soccer" comes from Oxford University as a shortened form of "Association Football" to distinguish it from "rugby football" or "rugger." To be classified as a "ball" it doesn't have to be spherical and the eggs of several species are indeed perfectly round. Finally, use of the hands is part of the strategy of soccer, as the keeper uses the hands more often than not when given the opportunity and players MUST use their hands for a throw-in.]]

** "The Cartridge Family" opens with a whole slew of {{Take That}}s at the game; a soccer tournament comes to town and the crowd quickly [[FootballHooligans descends into a several-day public riot]] purely ''because they're so bored''. (There's also a [[AcceptableNationalityTargets slightly mean-spirited joke]] about the contest deciding "which is the greatest country in the world: Mexico, or Portugal?")

* Or alternatively Soccer Hating Filipinos. While the rest of Southeast Asia is mad with soccer, the Philippines, a former US colony, prefers basketball instead (or volleyball for women's sport), or if they feel like it, baseball (Due to current attempts to revitalizing the sport). Their disinterest of soccer carried on until 2010, which saw a renaissance of the sport in the country due to regional success of their men's national team who went on to qualify for their very first Asian Cup by the end of the decade. The Philippines was largely able to do this by recruiting players abroad with Filipino heritage where there is a more credible soccer grassroots program. The country followed the same path in building the squad that made the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, the first FIFA tournament ever reached by ''any Philippines team''—of the 23 members on the final squad, ''one'' was a native-born Filipina. One was born in Australia, another in Canada, two in Norway, and the rest in the States. Despite this, the Philippines still has a low opinion of the sport because its (resident) citizens regard it as expensive, which is ironic since soccer is considered one of the cheapest sports to invest in among international countries (though it should be noted that the Philippines is an economically poor nation and its national currency, the peso, is of considerably lower value compared to the currencies of other more well-off nations). Soccer, or now more known as just football in that part of the world (thanks to the Younghusband brothers' involvement in the sport, which ended up having the name change), is just viewed as a sport for the elite outside the local association football mecca in the Visayas where this trope does not apply. Common complaints of skeptics also apply in the Philippines, such as the tediously low scoring of association football matches in contrast to basketball games. Some haters even question that the fans of the game are only in it for the handsome players and pejoratively suggests that male fans are gay and generalize that fans regardless of gender don't care for the sports at all. To this day, even with the haters, it's still striving, to the annoyance of the haters (And some Filipino US football fans), right to the point that US football is less known there.

* Or alternatively Soccer Hating Filipinos. While the rest of Southeast Asia is mad with soccer, the Philippines, a former US colony, prefers basketball instead (or volleyball for women's sport), or if they feel like it, baseball (Due to current attempts to revitalizing the sport). Their disinterest of soccer carried on until 2010, which saw a renaissance of the sport in the country due to regional success of their men's national team who went on to qualify for their very first Asian Cup by the end of the decade. The Philippines was largely able to do this by recruiting players abroad with Filipino heritage where there is a more credible soccer grassroots program. Despite this, the Philippines still has low opinions of the sport because its citizens regard it as expensive, which is ironic since soccer is considered one of the cheapest sports to invest in among international countries (though it should be noted that the Philippines is an economically poor nation and its national currency, the peso, is of considerably lower value compared to the currencies of other more well-off nations). Soccer or now more known as just football in that part of the world (Thanks to the Younghusband brothers' involvement in the sport, which ended up having the name change) is just viewed as a sport for the elite outside the local association football mecca in the Visayas where this trope does not apply. Common complaints of skeptics also apply in the Philippines, such as the tediously low scoring of association football matches in contrast to basketball games. Some haters even question that the fans of the game are only in it for the handsome players and pejoratively suggests that male fans are gay and generalize fans regardless of gender don't care for the sports at all. To this day, even with the haters, it's still striving, to the annoyance of the haters (And some Filipino US football fans), right to the point that US football is less known there.

* Played with in ''[[WesternAnimation/DanVs]]''. When Dan is stuck in traffic behind a car that sports a "Soccer Mom" sticker, he angrily yells… that "educated people call it ''football'' !". Despite all the things he hates with a passion, it's possible that he's got nothing against association football.

Finally, there's also the issue of soccer being seen as effeminate by many Americans. Compared to sports like hockey, baseball or football, where the athletes often hit the balls or pucks (and occasionally each other) with large blunt instruments and/or regularly ram into each other, that sort of contact violence is comparatively lacking in soccer. There's also the [[TheatricsOfPain stereotype of soccer players "diving"]] [[MinorInjuryOverreaction to exaggerate their injuries,]] which makes them look bad when the OnlyAFleshWound mentality found in Football or Hockey is more admired.[[note]]The fact that flopping to get a foul called is ''also'' extremely prevalent in basketball usually gets ignored.[[/note]] The fact that America's women's teams are so much more successful in international competition than their male counterparts and the sport's previously-mentioned popularity among teenage girls don't help either. Hence soccer in the United States falls victim to the GirlShowGhetto. At best, soccer is seen as acceptable for young boys, but not for older male teens or men.

Funnily enough, Association Football has been the subject of the US's CyclicNationalFascination on three occasions -- in TheSeventies, when several star players (most notably Pelé) signed with the New York Cosmos; in the mid and late [[TheNineties '90s]], when the US hosted the men's and women's World Cups, winning the women's version; and in TheNewTens.

The attempts to grow the sport in America have also met widespread resistance in some circles. Many Americans just plain don't like the sport -- considering it boring. And this is reflected in the media, where American characters will often go out of their way to bash the sport for all of the above (as well as the players' [[TheatricsOfPain propensity for faking injuries]]). Another problem with soccer in American eyes are the low scores. Baseball and hockey are "low scoring" if they end 3-1. In American Football, a game that does not go into double digits is considered low scoring, and in basketball, triple-digit games are a common occurrence. In soccer, the tendency over the last decades has been towards ''lower'' scores. The last thing that irks Americans about soccer (and is frequently mentioned in anti-soccer rants) is its propensity for ties. While US sports fans tolerate the occasional tie in hockey[[note]]Not anymore, the NHL and all other professional leagues use a shootout if the two teams are still tied after overtime (in the regular season, playoff games continue to play additional 20 minute periods until someone scores if the score is tied at the end of regulation). The last tie game in the NHL was on April 4, 2004. International and Olympic hockey also use the shootout[[/note]] and football[[note]]ties in American football are somewhat rare, being on the order of one or two a season, with the semi-sudden-death overtime rules of NFL heavily favoring one side winning[[/note]], they greatly prefer games where there's a clear winner, and baseball and basketball[[note]]Along with college football, which is a bit controversial since marathon multi-overtime games in such contact-heavy sport increases the risk of injury. The NFL's "sudden death" overtime rules on the other hand allow for a tie (during the regular season) if nobody manages to score during the overtime period.[[/note]] will go into overtime until there ''is'' a clear winner, however long that takes.

* Italian comedic rock band Music/ElioELeStorieTese "homaged" in their own way the 1994 USA World Cup with their song "Nessuno allo stadio" (Nobody at the Stadium), about USA's complete lack of interest about the sport, while Europe has long since embraced it. The song also had lyrics like this one: "Look at [[RippedFromTheHeadlines Lorena Bobbitt]], think about [[GroinAttack her husband]]: how much interest do you think he holds in the World Cup? None!"[[note]]Ironically, the 1994 World Cup holds the records for highest average attendance and highest total attendance.[[/note]]

The attempts to grow the sport in America have also met widespread resistance in some circles. Many Americans just plain don't like the sport -- considering it boring. And this is reflected in the media, where American characters will often go out of their way to bash the sport for all of the above (as well as the players' [[TheatricsOfPain propensity for faking injuries]]). Another problem with soccer in American eyes are the low scores. Baseball and hockey are "low scoring" if they end 3-1. In American Football, a game that does not go into double digits is considered low scoring, and in basketball, triple-digit games are a common occurrence. In soccer, the tendency over the last decades has been towards ''lower'' scores. The last thing that irks Americans about soccer (and is frequently mentioned in anti-soccer rants) is its propensity for ties. While US sports fans tolerate the occasional tie in hockey[[note]]Not anymore, the NHL and all other professional leagues use a shootout if the two teams are still tied after overtime (in the regular season, playoff games continue to play additional 20 minute periods until someone scores if the score is tied at the end of regulation). The last tie game in the NHL was on April 4, 2004. International and Olympic hockey also use the shootout[[/note]] and football, they greatly prefer games where there's a clear winner, and baseball and basketball[[note]]Along with college football, which is a bit controversial since marathon multi-overtime games in such contact-heavy sport increases the risk of injury. The NFL's "sudden death" overtime rules on the other hand allow for a tie (during the regular season) if nobody manages to score during the overtime period.[[/note]] will go into overtime until there ''is'' a clear winner, however long that takes.

* In ''Series/CobraKai'', Johnny visits his friend Tommy in the hospital, and upon seeing him watching soccer, says "You're watching ''soccer''? It's worse than I thought."

-->'''Lasso:''' ''{screaming at ref}'' Will you explain to me how that was offside?! ...No, I'm asking you seriously, [[ThatOneRule explain offside to me]].

Finally, there's also the issue of soccer being seen as effeminate by many Americans. Compared to sports like hockey, baseball or football, where the athletes often hit the balls or pucks (and occasionally each other) with large blunt instruments and/or regularly ram into each other, that sort of contact violence is comparatively lacking in soccer. There's also the [[TheatricsOfPain stereotype of soccer players "diving"]] [[MinorInjuryOverreaction to exaggerate their injuries,]] which makes them look bad when the OnlyAFleshWound mentality found in Football or Hockey is more admired. The fact that America's women's teams are so much more successful in international competition than their male counterparts and the sport's previously-mentioned popularity among teenage girls don't help either. Hence soccer in the United States falls victim to the GirlShowGhetto. At best, soccer is seen as acceptable for young boys, but not for older male teens or men.

The attempts to grow the sport in America have also met widespread resistance in some circles. Many Americans just plain don't like the sport -- considering it boring. And this is reflected in the media, where American characters will often go out of their way to bash the sport for all of the above (as well as the players' [[TheatricsOfPain propensity for faking injuries]]). Another problem with soccer in American eyes are the low scores. Baseball and hockey are "low scoring" if they end 3-1. In American Football, a game that does not go into double digits is considered low scoring, and in basketball, triple-digit games are a common occurrence. In soccer, the tendency over the last decades has been towards ''lower'' scores. The last thing that irks Americans about soccer (and is frequently mentioned in anti-soccer rants) is its propensity for ties. While US sports fans tolerate the occasional tie in hockey[[note]]Not anymore, the NHL and all other professional leagues use a shootout if the two teams are still tied after overtime (in the regular season, playoff games continue to play additional 20 minute periods until someone scores if the score is tied at the end of regulation). The last tie game in the NHL was on April 4, 2004. International and Olympic hockey also use the shootout[[/note]] and football, they greatly prefer games where there's a clear winner, and baseball and basketball will go into overtime until there ''is'' a clear winner, however long that takes.

* Inverted in "Gad Elmaleh part en live" by French-Morrocan comedian Gad Elmaleh, who is instead a baseball-hating European.

* A subtle jab at soccer is made in Creator/JonStewart's ''Literature/EarthTheBook'', where the author attempts to explain what sports are to the hypothetical alien readers. He tries to describe the joy, with which spectators watch players score... or, in case of soccer, ''not score''.

* Creator/GarrisonKeillor on the drawbacks of living in Europe:

* Or alternatively Soccer Hating Filipinos. While the rest of Southeast Asia is mad with soccer, the Philippines, a former US colony, prefers basketball instead (or volleyball for women's sport). Their disinterest of soccer carried on until 2010, which saw a renaissance of the sport in the country due to regional success of their men's national team who went on to qualify for their very first Asian Cup by the end of the decade. The Philippines was largely able to do this by recruiting players abroad with Filipino heritage where there is a more credible soccer grassroots program. Despite this, the Philippines still has low opinions of the sport because its citizens regard it as expensive, which is ironic since soccer is considered one of the cheapest sports to invest in among international countries (though it should be noted that the Philippines is an economically poor nation and its national currency, the peso, is of considerably lower value compared to the currencies of other more well-off nations). Soccer or more known as just football in that part of the world is just viewed as a sport for the elite outside the local football mecca in the Visayas where this trope does not apply. Common complaints of skeptics also apply in the Philippines, such as the tediously low scoring of football matches in contrast to basketball games. Some haters even question that the fans of the game are only in it for the handsome players and pejoratively suggests that male fans are gay and generalize fans regardless of gender don't care for the sports at all.

* Back in 2013 and 2014, NBC promoted their Premier League coverage with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KeG_i8CWE8 Ted Lasso,]] a fictional American football coach played by Creator/JasonSudeikis picked to manage Tottenham Hotspur in England. The character would later be adapted into an Creator/AppleTVPlus series of the same name (see Live-Action TV for details).

* During one World Cup, a sports bar in New York City proudly advertised the fact that it would not be showing any games during the course of the tournament.

** In "Leap Day", Gloria is rooting for Colombia at a sports bar and gets in a fight with a Dutch fan, prompting Jay to come in and make peace. He later complained that the game ended tied at one goal each, one of which was an own goal.