On Apple devices, it’s rendered as a classic black-and-white 32-panel ball: bold black pentagons, white hexagons, crisp seams, soft gray shading, and a faint top-left highlight that gives it a slight 3D tilt. No motion lines, no brand marks—just pure PE-class nostalgia meets Champions League nights.
Culturally, it reads as a shared world language—think vuvuzelas, stoppage-time nerves, penalty shootouts, and kids knuckling shots in the park. Depending on the combo, it can come off flirty (“fancy a kickabout?”), theatrical (“red card energy”), or adorably wholesome (“new boots who dis”). It also fuels the eternal GOAT discourse (Messi vs Ronaldo), sparks “it’s coming home” optimism, and triggers salty VAR rants in the group chat.
As shorthand for the beautiful game, it covers everything from a sleepy Sunday five-a-side to full-on World Cup chaos. People drop it to announce kickoff, cheer a top-bin screamer, or mourn a last-gasp equalizer—often paired with a trophy, a national flag, or a skull for maximum drama. Used playfully, it can mean “I’ll pass” or “stop dribbling around the question,” and, ironically, it lands when your cardio is strictly couch-to-fridge. Toss it into Stories for matchday vibes, caption those pickup invites, or meme about office “own goals.”
Definition
The familiar black and white inflated ball commonly used to play American soccer. iEmoji old name: Soccer or Football Icon.
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Emoji History The emoji code/ image log of changes.
This emoji was part of the proprietary / non-standardized emoji set first introduced by Japanese carriers like Softbank. These emojis became part of the Apple iPhone starting in iOS 2.2 as an unlockable feature on handsets sold in English speaking countries.
In iOS 5 / OSX 10.7, the underlying code that the Apple OS generates for this emoji was changed.
The code generated for this emoji was changed slightly in iOS 7 / OSX 10.9 (a variation selector was added) advising the OS to display character emoji style instead of black and white text when available. We don't mind Apple, thank you! We just love our emojis! [Sources 11438-emoji-var.pdf 13.7 Variation Selectors (unicode.org)]
Emoji General Information
Twitter Emoji Popularity (Rank)
114 of 2393
Apple/iOS Picture
Google Android Picture
Google Hangouts Picture
Twitter.com Picture
LG Emoji Picture
Samsung Emoji Picture
Phantom Open Emoji Picture
Not created yet
ASCII Conversion
"Short Code" Name
:soccer:
Keywords
European, Football
Unicode Category Information
Unicode Category
Miscellaneous Symbols
Unicode Range
2600–26FF
Unicode Subcategory
Sport Symbols
Proposed Unicode Information & Notes
Unicode Category
Activities/work/entertainment
Unicode Subcategory
Sport Symbols
Names & Annotations
SOCCER BALL Temporary Notes: soccer ball, or player
