足球

Chinese picks the verb by the body part doing the work. Feet push the ball, so soccer is 踢足球. Hands hit the ball, so basketball is 打篮球 and volleyball is 打排球. Nobody says 打足球 — natives hear 'hit the soccer' and instantly clock you as translated from English. 玩足球 is worse: 玩 is for toys and games, so it sounds like you are messing around with a plastic ball, not playing a real match. “Ａ：你喜欢踢足球和打篮球吗？” (A: Do you like playing soccer and basketball?) ── [《你喜欢看老电影吗？》](/read/do-you-like-old-movies#s8)

足球 pulls double duty, exactly like 'football' in British English. 我周末踢足球 talks about the hobby, no physical object required. 我买了一个足球 talks about a countable thing sitting in a shopping bag. Context sorts it out almost every time, so don't overthink it. If you need zero ambiguity, say 足球比赛 for an actual match and 一个足球 for one ball.