history

Football (or soccer as the game is called in some parts of the world) is one of the most popular sports in Europe and America. It has a colorful and interesting history in the world of sports. Football in its current form originated in England in the mid-19th century. But alternative versions of the game existed much earlier and are part of football history.

The earliest evidence of football being played as a sport comes from China in the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC. In China, specifically during the Han Dynasty, people would grease leather balls and kick them into a small net. Recorded evidence also suggests that the ancient Romans and Greeks played ball for fun and jokes. Some evidence points to Kyoto, Japan, where kicking a ball was a popular sport.

The early growth of modern football is thought to have started in England. Some fun facts even mention that the first ball used was the head of a Danish highwayman. During the Middle Ages, the early form of football is said to have allowed for self-mutilation such as kicking, punching, biting and kicking. The main objective was to get the ball to a target point. People loved the game so much that they would gather on the field all day long. Sometimes the competition became increasingly fierce and the crowds became so wild that beatings often occurred during the game. There are accounts of soldiers being so excited about the game that they skipped archery practice to watch it.

King Edward III banned football in 1365 due to increasing incidents of violence and military leniency in the sport. In 1424, King James I of Scotland also declared in Parliament, "Na man play at the Fute-ball."

When and where exactly football originated is a question that has no exact answer. You can easily say that this popular game has been played for more than three thousand years. The birth of modern football is attributed to Great Britain. It was also known as association football, and Scotland and England were the co-founders of the regular game of football.

Few other sports display passion to the same degree as football. Arenas are packed with fans; and even more gather in front of the television, watching intently and often with great excitement.

Already at the end of the 19th century, Goodison Park football stadium in Liverpool was built for the purpose of hosting football matches in England. In 1894, the FA Cup final between Notts County and Bolton Wanderers was attended by 37,000 people. An important milestone was the completion of the construction of the almost 200,000-seat Maracana football stadium in Rio de Janeiro in 1950. No other sport has seen stadiums of such capacity built to host its games.

There were two distinct fan culture traditions in the arenas: British and South American. British fans adopted a singing tradition, with a repertoire drawn from pub and working-class songs from various areas. South Americans adopted a carnival style, including firecrackers and fireworks, as well as the precursors of modern sparklers. Fans in other countries later adopted a mixture of the two traditions.

At the end of the 19th century, there were only a few national football teams; England and Scotland had their first active teams, which played against each other in the 1870s. Today, there are 211 national associations affiliated with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport’s world governing body. Further evidence of globalisation can be seen in the increase in the number of countries participating in World Cup qualifiers, from 32 in 1934 to more than 200 in 2014.

The world regions were divided into six confederations: the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Football (CONCACAF), the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), and the Confederation of South American Football (CONMEBOL).