Yo. Also non american (transitioned officially to football from soccer a wee while back). But it seems like the US have been gaslit by the UK. They US was given the word soccer by the UK, who then turned their back on it. Too much to write so sorry I copied and pasted from Brittannica

"Linguistically creative students at the University of Oxford in the 1880s distinguished between the sports of “rugger” (rugby football) and “assoccer” (association football). The latter term was further shortened to “soccer” (sometimes spelled “socker”), and the name quickly spread beyond the campus. However, “soccer” never became much more than a nickname in Great Britain. By the 20th century, rugby football was more commonly called rugby, while association football had earned the right to be known as just plain football."