Like anything that’s been around for a long time, foosball has more than a few names that it’s come to be known by. It can be easy to get confused, wondering if there’s a difference between any of the names.
This is even truer when the names are really similar in both sound and spelling, like with the words foosball and football. Want to know if there is a difference between foosball and football?
Read onward, and we’ll talk about these names and if there’s a difference.
The Difference Between Foosball and Football
There is a difference between foosball and football – in fact, they’re two completely different activities. Depending on where you’re located, football could refer to American Football, a sport popularly played in the United States.
In other countries, football often means what people in the United States call soccer.
Foosball, on the other hand, refers to a game that mimics soccer/football on a table-sized field. It’s also sometimes called table football, which might be why some get the terms football and foosball mixed up.
Other Names for the Game
Foosball is known by handful of names, both historically and currently. Aside from foosball, perhaps the most common name for the game is table football.
However, throughout the years, it’s been called by an assortment of other monikers. A lot of these other names came from a few different people who invented iterations of the game.
For instance, a French inventor named Lucien Rosengart claims to have invented a version of foosball in the 1930’s. Instead of foosball, though, he called his creation babyfoot, a game created specifically to keep children entertained during the winter.
Another inventor, Alejandro Finisterre, named his foosball-like invention futbolin.
If you’re wondering how the name foosball was settled on, you can read more about our research on the topic by clicking here.
Does it Matter What You Call It?
Now that you’ve learned some other names for foosball, it’s a perfectly fair question to ask if it makes a difference which name you use.
There might be some confusion if you refer to foosball as football. There are two other sports that also go by that name, after all: American football and soccer. For that reason, if you want to call it football, we recommend adding “table” to the front instead so it becomes table football.
That way, you’ll avoid any ambiguity as to which sport you’re referring to.
Other than that, there isn’t any reason why you couldn’t call foosball whatever makes you most comfortable. Just keep in mind how clear the term you’re using is.
Read Also: Foosball Tables With Telescopic Rods that Won’t Poke Through
Wrap Up
Sometimes, it’s important to choose your words carefully. When it comes to foosball or football, there’s a huge difference. Calling foosball football could make it unclear exactly what you mean.
Both are extremely fun activities, but foosball is played on a table and football isn’t. By saying football, you will typically make people think of American football or soccer.
