"Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win." – Gary Lineker
Association football, more commonly known as simply football or soccer, is hands down the world's most popular sport. It is affectionately known as "the beautiful game," for the combination of grace and skill displayed by its players as they compete in a fast-paced sport to kick a spherical ball into a rectangular goal.
Billions of passionate fans follow domestic football leagues and regional club competitions each season, while every 4 years, the sport crowns a global champion at the FIFA World Cup.
📜 Football Soccer History
There is evidence of sphere-kicking games from as far back as China's Han Dynasty and ancient Greece through to medieval England. The direct ancestor of the modern game can be found in 19th century England, where a sport called "football" was popular at the nation's elite schools but owned wildly different rules at the various institutions, which included the use of the hands.
The oldest football club in existence is Sheffield FC, who were formed in 1857. Eventually, a uniform set of rules known as the “Laws of the Game” was agreed upon – most notably restricting hand use to only the goalkeeper – by the Football Association in 1863, creating the game we know today and ushering in a period of vast international growth.
The formation of the world’s first football competition and league – the FA Cup and the Football League – followed in 1871 and 1888, respectively, while England and Scotland contested the world’s first official international football match in 1872. Football’s governing body, FIFA, formed in Paris in 1904, and the first World Cup was held in 1930.
In the sport’s early days, women’s football was equally as popular as the men’s game, with matches attracting thousands of spectators; a record 53,000 fans attended a women’s game at Goodison Park on Boxing Day in 1920, the highest attendance ever seen at any football match in England at the time. However, the women’s game was outlawed on Association member pitches by the FA in 1921, a ban that would last 50 years and set women’s sport back decades.
1991 saw the introduction of the FIFA Women’s World Cup; while there is a long way to go until women’s football can match their male counterparts, the sport has been enjoying significant growth in the decades since.
Football is now a truly global phenomenon, played and spectated by fans across every corner of the world. It has permeated popular culture like few other sports with films, songs, and video games such as the popular FIFA and Football Manager series beloved by millions.
💯 Football Soccer Format & Scoring
Football is a team sport in which 2 teams of 11 players compete to kick a ball into their opponents' goal, which lies at opposite ends of a rectangular field. The game is played over 2 halves of 45 minutes apiece – plus any time added on by the referee for stoppages – and at the end of 90 minutes the team with the most goals wins.
It is played primarily with the feet – only goalkeepers are allowed to touch the ball with their hands, and only within the designated 18-yard box in front of their goal. Outfield players are only allowed to handle the ball if they take a throw-in, which returns the ball to the field if it goes out of play along the touchlines that run the length of the pitch.
Football is played at both club and international level. Football’s world governing body is FIFA, which organises the men’s and women’s World Cups every four years. Every continent also has its own authority – UEFA governs European football, for example – while each country also has its own football association that governs the sport on a national level.
Variations on the sport include a reduced number of players playing on smaller pitches, such as 5-a-side and futsal.
Disabled football is also played in a variety of categories including visually impaired football, hearing impaired football, amputee football, cerebral palsy football, wheelchair football, and more. Each has its own ruleset; for example, in visually impaired football the ball is filled with noise-making ball bearings and the goalkeeper – who is usually not blind – may not leave their area.
