Why is football called 'soccer' in the US and Canada?

"I think it's very polite of them to apologise, but I tell them: 'It's an English word - feel free to use it.'"

— Stefan Szymanski , Academic

"When I was a child in England, the word 'soccer' was perfectly acceptable."

— Stefan Szymanski , Academic

"My intuition is that 'soccer' and 'rugger' were already being used verbally and had appeared in print earlier that year (1885) in another, as yet unidentified, publication."

— Andy Mitchell , Academic