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The referee officiates in a football match

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Association football, more commonly known as simply football or soccer, is a team sport that is played between two teams of 11 players using a spherical ball. It is played by approximately 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies, making it the world's most popular sport to date. The game is played on a rectangular field called a pitch with a goal at each end. The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposition by moving the ball beyond the goal line into the opposing goal within a time frame of 90 minutes or more.

Football is played in accordance with a set of rules known as the Laws of the Game. The ball is 68–70 cm (27–28 in) in circumference and known as the football. 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. Players are not allowed to touch the ball with hands or arms while it is in play, except for the goalkeepers within the penalty area. Players may use any other part of their body to strike or pass the ball and mainly use their feet. The team that has scored more goals at the end of the game is the winner; if both teams have scored an equal number of goals, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extra time or a penalty shootout, depending on the format of the competition. Each team is led by a captain who has only one official responsibility as mandated by the Laws of the Game: to represent their team in the coin toss before kick-off or penalty kicks.

Football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA; French: Fédération Internationale de Football Association), which organises World Cups for men and women every four years. The men's FIFA World Cup has taken place every four years since 1930, with the exception of 1942 and 1946 tournaments, which were cancelled due to World War II. Approximately 190–200 national teams compete in qualifying tournaments within the scope of continental confederations for a place in the finals. The finals tournament is held every four years and involves 32 national teams competing over four weeks. It is the most prestigious men's football tournament in the world, and the most widely viewed and followed sporting event in the world, exceeding the Olympic Games. Similarly, the FIFA Women's World Cup has been played every four years since 1991, though football has been played by women since it has existed. A record-breaking 1.12 billion viewers watched the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France. (Full article...)

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Chelsea players applaud their fans after a 1-0 win against Watford on March 30, 2007

Chelsea Football Club are an English professional football club based in west London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier in English football.

In 2005, Chelsea's centenary year, the club became Premiership champions in a record-breaking season, League Cup winners with a 3–2 win over Liverpool and reached the Champions League semi-finals. The following year, they were again League Champions, equalling their own Premiership record of 29 wins set the previous season. They also became the fifth team to win back-to-back championships since the Second World War and the first London club to do so since Arsenal in 1933–34.

Chelsea's home is the Stamford Bridge football stadium in Fulham, west London, where they have played since their foundation. Chelsea are one of the best-supported clubs in the United Kingdom, with an estimated four million fans. (Full article...)

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Gilberto Silva

Gilberto Aparecido da Silva, commonly known as Gilberto Silva, is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder.

He began his football career in 1997 with América Mineiro, where good form earned him a move to Atlético Mineiro in 2000. He became a star player for Atlético, playing for three years in the Brazilian Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. He came to particular prominence when he helped the Brazilian national team win the 2002 FIFA World Cup, playing in all seven of Brazil's matches.

In August 2002, for a fee of £4.5 million, he joined Arsenal with whom he won the 2004 FA Premier League, and two FA Cup trophies. In his first five seasons with the club he played 208 games and scored 23 goals, including scoring Arsenal's first competitive goal at the newly built Emirates Stadium on 19 August 2006. He was made vice-captain of Arsenal in 2006 and is contracted to the club until June 2009. In 2007 he was selected as Brazil captain for the Copa América tournament, which Brazil went on to win. (Full article...)

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The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA /juːˈeɪfə/ yoo-AY-fə; French: Union des associations européennes de football; German: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. It administers football, futsal and beach soccer in Europe as well as Israel in Asia and the Euroasian transcontinental countries of Russia, Turkey, Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, and Kazakhstan. It is one of six continental confederations of world football's governing body FIFA. UEFA consists of 55 national association members. Because of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, FIFA and UEFA suspended all Russian national representative teams and club teams from any FIFA and UEFA competitions.

UEFA represents the national football associations of Europe, runs nation and club competitions including the UEFA European Championship, UEFA Nations League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Europa Conference League, and UEFA Super Cup, and controls the prize money, regulations, and media rights to those competitions. (Full article...)

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... that footballer Megan Wynne played for Tottenham Hotspur while also working full-time in the club's human resources department?
... that Irish sportswoman Carol Breen has played internationally in both association and Australian rules football?
... 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 Rachel Rowe made her international debut for Wales while still working as a guard in the prison service?
... 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 Leon Legge became a professional footballer despite suffering from epilepsy from the age of 16?
... that footballer Sean Morrison was described as being "45 minutes from death" before undergoing emergency surgery?
... that the 2008 FA Cup Final between Cardiff City and Portsmouth holds the record for the highest attendance for a football match at the new Wembley Stadium, with 89,874?

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West Bromwich Albion F.C.

Credit: en.wikipedia user Garry Towns

Supporters of West Bromwich Albion invade the pitch after the final whistle to celebrate the "Great Escape" of avoiding relegation on the last day of the 2004-05 season. Albion were the bottom placed team in the Premiership but beat Portsmouth 2-0, giving them enough points to move above the other low-lying teams in the final standings.

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I eat football, I sleep football, I breathe football. I'm not mad, I'm just passionate. — Thierry Henry

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

Image 1Alex Morgan and Stefanie van der Gragt battle for the ball during the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final in Lyon, France (from Women's association football)
Image 2Mia Hamm (left) battles with German defender Kerstin Stegemann. (from Women's association football)
Image 3Kuopion Mimmifutis (KMF), a women's football club of Kuopio, Finland in 2006 (from Women's association football)
Image 4Illustration of Parker's Piece, (1907) (from History of association football)
Image 5Japanese high-school girls playing football in their traditional hakama with one team wearing sashes. (c. 1920) (from Women's association football)
Image 6Iran vs Turkey in 2010 Youth Olympics (from Women's association football)
Image 7Harrow School team of 1867. (from History of association football)
Image 8Drawing of the first international game by artist William Ralston (from History of association football)
Image 9From 1866 to 1883, the laws provided for a tape between the goalposts (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 10An 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 11Representation of a football match from the book Athletics and football, 1894 (from History of association football)
Image 12When 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 13Sheffield F.C. (here pictured in 1876) is the oldest association club still active, having been founded in 1857 (from History of association football)
Image 14The Royal Engineers team who reached the first FA Cup final in 1872 (from History of association football)
Image 15"North" team of the British Ladies' Football Club, 1895 (from Women's association football)
Image 16Old Etonians v Blackburn Rovers match. Illustration by S.T. Dadd, c. 1871 (from History of association football)
Image 17Cristiano Ronaldo is widely considered the top goalscorer of all time. (from List of footballers with 500 or more goals)
Image 18A Welsh women's football team pose for a photograph in 1959 (from Women's association football)
Image 19FC de Rakt DA1 (2008/2009) (from Women's association football)

Selected World Cup

The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May to 21 June in Mexico, it was the first World Cup tournament held outside Europe and South America, and as a result it was also the first held in North America. Teams representing 75 nations from all six populated continents entered the competition, and its qualification rounds began in May 1968. Fourteen teams qualified from this process to join host nation Mexico and defending champions England in the 16-team final tournament. El Salvador, Israel and Morocco made their debut appearances at the final stage.

The tournament was won by Brazil, who defeated another two-time champion, and UEFA Euro 1968 winner Italy, by 4–1 in the final. Furthermore, during the tournament, Brazil also had to defeat another two-time champion (who were) South American champions Uruguay, by 3–1 in the semi-final, and defending champions England 1–0 in the group stage. This is currently the only time that the winning team defeated the European and South American champions alongside the tournament's defending champions. (Full article...)

List of selected World Cups
1930 FIFA World Cup 1934 FIFA World Cup 1938 FIFA World Cup 1950 FIFA World Cup 1954 FIFA World Cup 1958 FIFA World Cup 1962 FIFA World Cup 1966 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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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 after winning the 2004 Football League Second Division play-off Final, some of the Brighton & Hove Albion players dropped the trophy while celebrating and damaged it? (2 March 2021)
... that the 2008 FA Cup Final between Cardiff City and Portsmouth holds the record for the highest attendance for a football match at the new Wembley Stadium, with 89,874? (16 January 2021)
... that some of the Sheffield Wednesday team participated in a conga on the M4 motorway after winning the 2005 Football League One play-off Final? (19 February 2021)
... that Claude Callegari gained cult-hero status among English football fans for his speeches about Arsenal? (24 April 2021)
... that when Irene del Río was called up to the Spain women's national football team squad, she was the only player who did not compete in the country's top division? (28 April 2021)
... that Crewe Alexandra were promoted back to the second tier of English football for the first time in 101 years when they won the 1997 Football League Second Division play-off Final? (27 March 2021)