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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposition by moving the ball beyond the goal line into the opposing side's rectangular framed goal. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45 minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries, it is considered the world's most popular sport.

The game of association football is played in accordance with the Laws of the Game, a set of rules that has been in effect since 1863 with the International Football Association Board (IFAB) maintaining them since 1886. The game is played with a football that is 68–70 cm (27–28 in) in circumference. The two teams compete to get the ball into the other team's goal (between the posts and under the bar), thereby scoring a goal. When the ball is in play, the players mainly use their feet, but may use any other part of their body to control, strike or pass the ball apart from their hands or arms. Only the goalkeepers may use their hands and arms, and only then within the penalty area. The team that has scored more goals at the end of the game is the winner. Depending on the format of the competition, an equal number of goals scored may result in a draw being declared, or the game goes into extra time or a penalty shootout.

Internationally, association football is globally governed by FIFA. The national associations are responsible for managing the game, both professionally and at an amateur level, in their own countries and coordinating competitions in accordance with the Laws of the Game. The most senior and prestigious international competitions are the men's FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Women's World Cup. The men's World Cup is the most-viewed sporting event in the world, surpassing the Olympic Games. The top five European men's leagues are the Premier League (England), La Liga (Spain), Bundesliga (Germany), Serie A (Italy), and Ligue 1 (France). Attracting most of the world's best players, each of the leagues has a total wage cost in excess of £600 million/€763 million/US$1.185 billion. (Full article...)

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Arsenal Stadium, commonly known as Highbury

Arsenal Stadium was a football stadium in Highbury, North London, which was the home ground of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006. It was popularly known as Highbury due to its location.

It was originally built in 1913 on the site of a local college's recreation ground and has been significantly redeveloped twice. The first came in the 1930s from which the still-existing Art Deco East and West Stands date; the second in the late 1980s and early 1990s following the Taylor Report, during which the terraces at both ends of the pitch were removed, making it all-seater with four stands. The resulting reduction in capacity and matchday revenue eventually led to Arsenal deciding to build the Emirates Stadium nearby, which they moved to in 2006.

Its presence also led to the local Tube station being renamed to "Arsenal" in 1932, making it the only station on the network to be named after a football club. (Full article...)

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Ohno playing for Japan in the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Shinobu Ohno (大野忍, Ōno Shinobu, born 23 January 1984 in Zama, Kanagawa) is a Japanese football player who plays as a forward. Her club team, as of 2013, is Lyon.

After playing in the U-19 and U-20 teams for a short period, Ohno joined the senior Japanese national team in 2003. Her first major tournament was the 2006 AFC Women's Asian Cup, where Japan placed fourth. The following year she played in the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, but Japan fell in the group stage. She also competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, where she scored a goal in the group stage match against Mexico.

Selected association

The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the amateur and professional game in its territory.

The FA facilitates all competitive football matches within its remit at national level, and indirectly at local level through the county football associations. It runs numerous competitions, the most famous of which is the FA Cup. It is also responsible for appointing the management of the men's, women's, and youth national football teams. (Full article...)

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Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch

... that footballer Jamal Farhan, who was banned for life by FIFA after punching a referee in the head, later expressed remorse and advised fans not to imitate him?
... that Irish sportswoman Carol Breen has played internationally in both association and Australian rules football?
... that Hege Lanes Steinlund is believed to have officiated more international football matches than any other Norwegian referee?
... that after his soccer career, Steve Palacios enlisted in the United States Army and played for the United States Armed Forces soccer team?
... that footballer Billy Hardy is Cardiff City F.C.'s record appearance holder, having played in 590 matches between 1911 and 1932?
... that, during his time in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, footballer Ernie Curtis would obtain extra food by teaching his captors how to play with a ball made of paper?
... that Ryan Roberts, a defensive end for Notre Dame, was a soccer player in high school?
... that Carlton Town F.C., now competing at the eighth tier of the English football pyramid, was once denied promotion by a hat-trick scored by future England international Jamie Vardy?

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Beach soccer

Credit: Flickr user Riza Nugraha

Association football has many variants including Beach soccer. Historically popular in Brazil, the rules for the sport were codified by Beach Soccer Worldwide in 1992. Today, national teams from all confederations compete in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

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The person that said winning isn't everything, never won anything. — Mia Hamm

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The following are images from various association football-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Japanese high-school girls playing football in their traditional hakama with one team wearing sashes. (c. 1920) (from Women's association football)
Image 2Drawing of the first international game by artist William Ralston (from History of association football)
Image 3Kuopion Mimmifutis (KMF), a women's football club of Kuopio, Finland in 2006 (from Women's association football)
Image 4An early draft of the original hand-written 'Laws of the Game' drawn up on behalf of The Football Association by Ebenezer Cobb Morley in 1863 on display at the National Football Museum, Manchester. (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 5Harrow School team of 1867. (from History of association football)
Image 6The Royal Engineers team who reached the first FA Cup final in 1872 (from History of association football)
Image 7Mia Hamm (left) battles with German defender Kerstin Stegemann. (from Women's association football)
Image 8Representation of a football match from the book Athletics and football, 1894 (from History of association football)
Image 9Illustration of Parker's Piece, (1907) (from History of association football)
Image 10Sheffield F.C. (here pictured in 1876) is the oldest association club still active, having been founded in 1857 (from History of association football)
Image 11FC de Rakt DA1 (2008/2009) (from Women's association football)
Image 12"North" team of the British Ladies' Football Club, 1895 (from Women's association football)
Image 13When first introduced in 1891, the penalty was awarded for offences within 12 yards of the goal-line. (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 14Old Etonians v Blackburn Rovers match. Illustration by S.T. Dadd, c. 1871 (from History of association football)
Image 15From 1866 to 1883, the laws provided for a tape between the goalposts (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 16A Welsh women's football team pose for a photograph in 1959 (from Women's association football)
Image 17Iran vs Turkey in 2010 Youth Olympics (from Women's association football)

Selected World Cup

Official poster

The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international association football championship for senior men's national teams and held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. The planned 1942 and 1946 World Cups were cancelled due to World War II. This tournament ended the hiatus. Uruguay, who had won the inaugural competition in 1930, defeated the host nation, Brazil, in the deciding match of the four-team group of the final round. This was the only tournament not decided by a one-match final. It was also the inaugural tournament where the trophy was referred to as the Jules Rimet Cup, to mark the 25th anniversary of Jules Rimet's presidency of FIFA. (Full article...)

List of selected World Cups
1930 FIFA World Cup 1934 FIFA World Cup 1938 FIFA World Cup 1954 FIFA World Cup 1958 FIFA World Cup 1962 FIFA World Cup 1966 FIFA World Cup 1970 FIFA World Cup 1974 FIFA World Cup 1978 FIFA World Cup 1982 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 1990 FIFA World Cup 1994 FIFA World Cup 1998 FIFA World Cup 2002 FIFA World Cup 2006 FIFA World Cup 2010 FIFA World Cup 2014 FIFA World Cup 2018 FIFA World Cup 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup

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Topic discussion

6 articles

UEFA club competition winning managers, Lists of

European Cup and UEFA Champions League

UEFA Cup

UEFA Super Cup

UEFA Intertoto Cup

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

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... that thousands of football players are trafficked every year? (7 February 2021)
... that Manjappada, a supporters' group of Kerala Blasters FC, coordinated and brought forty-one busloads of their fans across Kerala to the venue for the opening match of the 2019–20 season? (26 January 2021)
... that the owner of Walsall F.C. described victory at the 2001 Football League Second Division play-off Final as the greatest day in the club's history? (20 February 2021)
... that Ipswich Town won the Football League First Division in their 1961–62 season having been promoted from the Second Division the previous season? (26 January 2021)
... that 23-year-old Michael Oliver refereed the 2009 Football League One play-off Final at Wembley Stadium the day after his father had officiated the 2009 Football League Two play-off Final? (11 March 2021)
... that AFC Wimbledon were promoted for a sixth time since their formation in 2002 when they won the 2016 Football League Two play-off Final? (6 February 2021)