What does 'Association' in Association Football Refer To?

In an effort to try and define all the different codes of football, it occurred to me that I didn't know what 'Association' refers to (in Soccer/Football, depending on where you come from).


Any idea what the association was?|||The word Association was first used buy the English when they started on official football league in the 1800's. The term 'soccer' is actually an english term when they abbreviated Association football to Assoc. football and then to Soc Football and eventually shortened again to just soccer. By definition assosiation simply means 'an organization of people with a common purpose and having a formal structure'. So, basically when England put together a official competion, the football league became known as the Football Association.