Highest governing body | FIFA |
---|---|
Nicknames | |
First played | Mid-19th century England[3][4] |
Characteristics | |
Contact | Limited |
Team members | 11 per side (including goalkeeper) |
Mixed sex | No, separate competitions |
Type | Team sport, ball sport |
Equipment | Football (or soccer ball), shin pads |
Venue | Football pitch (also known as football field, football ground, soccer field, soccer pitch or "pitch") |
Glossary | Glossary of association football |
Presence | |
Country or region | Worldwide |
Olympic | Men's since the 1900 Olympics and women's since the 1996 Olympics |
Paralympic | 5-a-side since 2004 and 7-a-side from 1984 to 2016 |
Association football is a sport played between two teams. In the United States, Canada and Australia, it is called soccer. In most other English-speaking countries it is called football. Association football is the most popular sport in the world.[5]
Games like football have been played around the world since ancient times. The game came from England, where the Football Association wrote a standard set of rules for the game in 1863.
The game originated in China, for their army. The players had a very heavy ball and goals high. England took the idea of the Chinese game and changed the rules a bit and now it is the modern game we know today.
Each team has 11 players on the field. One of these players is the goalkeeper, the only player who is okay to touch the ball with their hands. The other ten are known as "outfield players". The players try to kick the ball into their opponents' goal. The team that scores the most goals wins. A match has 90 minutes of play, with a break of 15 minutes during the match. The break in the middle is called half-time. Added time may be added after half time or after 90 minutes to make up for time lost during the game because of fouls, free kicks, corner kicks, injuries, bookings, substitutions or any other time the game is stopped. A match can end in a tie, except in some competition games where one team must win. In that case, extra-time with two halves of 15 minutes each may be played, and if there is still a tie, a penalty shootout decides the winner. Sometimes extra-time is skipped and the game goes right into the penalty shootout.
Football is the world's most popular sport. It is played in more countries than any other game. In fact, FIFA (the Federation Internationale de Football Association) has more members than the United Nations. It was originally an all-male sport, but today it is played by both males and females (separately, except sometimes at primary school level).
In Europe, the main competitions to compete are the Champions League for the top teams from the top leagues in each country in Europe. Then there is the UEFA Europa League which is for the next best teams from each member country of the UEFA.
Most successful clubs are FC Barcelona and Real Madrid from Spain; Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund from Germany; Galatasaray S.K. from Turkey; Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan from Italy; Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City from England; Paris Saint-Germain from France and Al Ahly from Egypt. The most successful club in the world, in terms of domestic league results, is Rangers F.C. from Scotland, who have won more domestic league titles than any other team in the world. They have won the country's league 54 times[6] which is a world record. In May 2000, Rangers became the first team to win 100 trophies.[7][8]
Part of a series of articles on Sports | |
Summer Sports | |
Track and field athletics Football (soccer) | |
Water sports | |
Martial arts | |
Net sports | |
Ice hockey· Skating Skiing·Curling |
There are many competitions for football, for both football clubs and countries. Football clubs usually play other teams in their own country, with a few exceptions. Here are a list of some of those exceptions:
Football clubs also play other teams in their continent in competitions such as the CAF Champions League and the UEFA Champions League.
There are 6 associations (CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, CAF, UEFA, AFC, and OFC). Each association has their own continental competition between clubs and national teams. Some examples are the Copa América for CONMEBOL national teams and the Copa Libertadores for CONMEBOL clubs. FIFA organises international competitions between worldwide clubs and countries. Clubs play in the Club World Cup, and countries play for the FIFA World Cup.
The FIFA World Cup takes place every four years between national teams, and is the world's most popular sporting event, even more popular than the Olympic Games.[9] In football, there are two main competition types. In a "league", all of the teams play the same number of games, but in a "cup", teams leave the competition when they lose, until the last two teams play each other to decide the winner.