What exactly is soccer?

When and where did football begin?

How many football players are there? What is the most important football event? This is an overview of the subject. Football, also known as association football or soccer, is a team sport in which two teams of 11 players compete to advance the ball into the opposing team’s goal using any part of their body other than their hands and arms. Only the goalkeeper is permitted to handle the ball, and only within the penalty area that surrounds the goal. The team that scores the most goals wins. Football is the most watched sport in the world in terms of both players and spectators. Because of its basic rules and required equipment, the sport can be played almost anywhere, from official football playing fields (pitches) to gymnasiums, streets, school playgrounds, parks, or beaches. In 2010, more than 26 billion people watched football’s premier competition, the quadrennial month-long World Cup finals, on television. According to FIFA, at the turn of the century, there were approximately 250 million football players and over 1. 3 billion “interested” in the sport.

History

In the nineteenth century, modern football first appeared in the United Kingdom. Since before the Middle Ages, "folk football" games have been played in towns and villages according to regional customs and with the most basic of rules. Legal restrictions on particularly violent and destructive forms of folk football, combined with industrialization and urbanization, reduced the amount of leisure time and space available to the working class, undermining the game's status from the early nineteenth century onward. Winter football matches between residence houses at public (independent) institutions such as Winchester, Charterhouse, and Eton, on the other hand, were adopted. Each school had its own set of rules; some allowed only very limited ball handling, while others did not. Due to the disparity in rules, public schoolboys who entered universities found it difficult to continue playing outside of with previous classmates. As early as 1843, the University of Cambridge attempted to regulate and codify the game's rules.

1848

By 1848, the majority of public schools had adopted the "Cambridge rules," which were then popularized by Cambridge alums who founded football clubs. Following a series of discussions with clubs from metropolitan London and neighboring counties, the printed football rules, which prohibited carrying the ball, were created in 1863. As a result, the rugby "handling" game was banned by the newly formed Football Association (FA). By 1870, the FA had prohibited anyone other than the goalkeeper from handling the ball. Britannica's Football Quiz How often is the World Cup held? Who is known for "bending" footballs? Complete the questions on this quiz to learn more about the sport of football, also known as soccer. The new regulations, however, were not adopted by all British clubs, particularly those in and around Sheffield. While the Sheffield Football Association, the forerunner of later county organizations, was founded in this northern English city in 1867, it was also the site of the FA's first provincial club.

heffield and London

 In 1866, two games were played between Sheffield and London clubs, and the following year, a game was played between a Middlesex club and a Kent and Surrey club under the new set of rules. In 1871, 15 FA clubs agreed to compete in a cup competition and contribute to the cost of a trophy. By 1877, 43 clubs were competing, the associations of Great Britain had established a unified code, and the London clubs’ initial dominance had waned.