Injury time

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposing team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed goal defended by the opposing team. 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 and territories, it is the world's most popular sport.

Association football is played in accordance with the Laws of the Game, a set of rules that has been in effect since 1863 and maintained by the IFAB since 1886. The game is played with a football that is in circumference. The two teams compete to score goals by getting the ball into the other team's goal (between the posts, under the bar, and fully across the goal line). When the ball is in play, the players mainly use their feet, but may also use any other part of their body, except for their hands or arms, to control, strike, or pass the ball; the head, chest, and thighs are commonly used. Only the goalkeepers may use their hands and arms, but only within their own 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 with 1 point awarded to each team, or the game may go into extra time or a penalty shoot-out.

Internationally, association football is governed by FIFA. Under FIFA, there are six continental confederations: AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC, and UEFA. National associations (e.g. the FA in England, U.S. Soccer in the United States, etc.) are responsible for managing the game in their own countries both professionally and at an amateur level, and coordinating competitions in accordance with the Laws of the Game. The most prestigious senior international competition is the FIFA World Cup. The men's World Cup is the most-viewed sporting event in the world, surpassing the Olympic Games. The most prestigious competition in European club football is the UEFA Champions League, which attracts an extensive television audience worldwide. The final of the men's Champions League is the most-watched annual sporting event in the world.

Name

Association football is part of a family of football codes that emerged from various ball games played worldwide since antiquity. The word "association" in this term refers to the Football Association (the FA), founded in London in 1863, which published the first set of rules for the sport that same year. The term was coined to distinguish the type of football played in accordance with the FA rules from other types that were gaining popularity at the time, particularly rugby football.

The term ''soccer'' comes from Oxford "-er" slang, which was prevalent at the University of Oxford in England from about 1875, and is thought to have been borrowed from the slang of Rugby School. Initially spelt ''assoccer'' (a shortening of "association"), it was later reduced to the modern spelling. Early alternative spellings included ''socca'' and ''socker''. This form of slang also gave rise to ''rugger'' for rugby football, ''fiver'' and ''tenner'' for five pound and ten pound notes, and the now-archaic ''footer'' that was also a name for association football.

Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called simply "football" in Great Britain and most of Ulster in the north of Ireland, whereas people usually call it "soccer" in regions and countries where other codes of football are prevalent, such as Australia, Canada, South Africa, most of Ireland (excluding Ulster), and the United States. A notable exception is New Zealand, where in the first two decades of the 21st century, under the influence of international television, "football" has been gaining prevalence, despite the dominance of other codes of football, namely rugby union and rugby league.

History

Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other ball games played around the world, FIFA has described that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The history of football in England dates back to at least the eighth century. The modern rules of association football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England.

Ancient precursors

Kicking ball games arose independently multiple times across multiple cultures. The Chinese competitive game ' (, literally "kickball"; also known as ''tsu chu'') resembles modern association football as well as a mix of basketball and volleyball. This is the earliest form of a kicking game for which there is historical evidence. The game was first recorded as in exercise in the Zhan Guo Ce, a military history from the Han dynasty. ' players would pass the ball around, having to avoid it touching the ground at any point. It was then passed to a designated player, who attempted to kick it through the ''fengliu yan'', a circular goal atop 10–11 meter poles. During the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE), ' games were standardised and rules were established. The Silk Road facilitated the transmission of ''cuju'' outside of China, especially the form of the game popular in the Tang dynasty, the period when the inflatable ball was invented and replaced the stuffed ball. Other East Asian games include ' in Japan and ' in Korea, both influenced by ''cuju''. ' originated after the year 600 during the Asuka period. It was a ceremonial rather than a competitive game, and involved the kicking of a ''mari'', a ball made of animal skin. In North America, was a ball game played by the Algonquians; it was described as "almost identical to the kind of folk football being played in Europe at the same time, in which the ball was kicked through goals".

' and ' were Greek ball games. An image of an ' player depicted in low relief on a stele of in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship trophy. Athenaeus, writing in 228 CE, mentions the Roman ball game '. ' and ' were played involving hands and violence. They all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling, and volleyball more than what is recognisable as modern football.

Medieval precursors

In the Middle Ages, one notable game with similarities to modern football was ''calcio storico fiorentino'', which originated in Florence, Italy. Another medieval sport that can be considered a form of early football is '' la soule'' (or ''choule''), played in France from the 12th century, in which the ball was propelled by hands, feet, and sticks. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all modern football codes, these medieval games involved more handling of the ball than kicking it.

Modern era

The Cambridge rules, first drawn up at the University of Cambridge in 1848, were particularly influential in the development of subsequent codes, including association football. The Cambridge rules were written at Trinity College, Cambridge, at a meeting attended by representatives from Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester and Shrewsbury schools. They were not universally adopted. During the 1850s, many clubs unconnected to schools or universities were formed throughout the English-speaking world to play various forms of football. Some came up with their own distinct codes of rules, most notably the Sheffield Football Club

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