Association football, also called simply football, is an inter-regional team sport played between two sides of eleven players each. It’s played most often in countries and dependencies around the globe, making it the most popular international sport. The game is largely influenced by the French football but has been shaped and modified by many other influences over the years. For example, the English and Australian rules have been combined to create a truly global game.
Like most sports, football can be divided into two sections: the Professional and Amateur sections. The Professional football league is based in Europe, particularly in England and Wales, where it’s known as the Football League and the French/Italian league is the Ligue de la premie. The most famous teams in the English and European competitions are Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Celtic, Rangers, Wimbledon, Queens Park Rangers and Watford. International football competition includes the World Cup and the Olympics.
Association football can be divided further into professional leagues and amateur leagues, with the former governing the professional leagues, the latter being the bodies that allow non-professional clubs to compete. All three types of football play a part in qualifying competitions, which determine the qualification for different levels of international football competitions. Since the start of football’s professionalisation in the twentieth century, the game has been promoted and encouraged internationally, with the same levels of commitment from the different codes.
The official governing body is FIFA, the football governing body of world association football. FIFA is the global governing body of the sport and it decides the rules and regulations governing the sport. As one of the most important governing bodies, it’s the envy of other sport governing bodies and produces the annual summer tournaments, like the World Cup, which see football teams from all over the world compete. World Cup finals usually consist of the best two teams from each country and every four years a different team of international football players will compete for the title, with the latest season’s tournament currently underway.
The word football is derived from the term Folger, which was the name of a Swiss town during the time of the Roman Empire. The Romans would carry their footballs from house to house, camping out on the beach as they went to watch matches, a tradition that continues till this day. By the nineteenth century, football had become a national sport with English and Scottish players taking part in the English premiership cup, and then the Scottish national football league. Many international leagues were then formed, such as the Femenina international football tournament, which is the only tournament that makes use of the word football in its name.
The game of football can be both played indoors and outdoors, and there are various ways to play. The traditional way of playing is with ten or twelve players on each side, with the ball being passed from one player to another on the ‘touchline’. Another version is with twelve or twenty players on each side, using ‘free kick’ instead of the touchline, and using the opposite sides’ goal as the point of contact. However, in modern times the use of goal posts and nets is common, and the goals vary according to the type of football game being played. For instance, a soccer game, like the one we see in America, would probably use a goal post rather than a net.
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