
The word soccer (which arrived at its final form in 1895) was first recorded in 1889 in the earlier form of socca. The slang also gave rise to rugger for Rugby football, fiver and tenner for a five-pound and ten-pound note, and the now archaic footer for association football. The term soccer comes from Oxford "-er" slang, which was prevalent at Oxford University in England from about 1875, and is thought to have been borrowed from the slang of Rugby School. Main article: Names for association footballįootball is one of a family of football codes, which emerged from various ball games played worldwide since antiquity. Attracting most of the world's best players, each of the leagues has a total wage cost in excess of £600 million/€763 million/US$1.185 billion. The top five European men's leagues are the Premier League (England), La Liga (Spain), Bundesliga (Germany), Serie A (Italy), and Ligue 1 (France). The final of the men's tournament has been, in recent years, the most-watched annual sporting event in the world. The most prestigious competitions in European club football are the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Women's Champions League, which attract an extensive television audience throughout the world. A record-breaking 1.12 billion viewers watched the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France. Similarly, the FIFA Women's World Cup has been played every four years since 1991, though football has been played by women since it has existed. It is the most prestigious men's football tournament in the world, and the most widely viewed and followed sporting event in the world, exceeding the Olympic Games. The finals tournament is held every four years and involves 32 national teams competing over four weeks. Approximately 190–200 national teams compete in qualifying tournaments within the scope of continental confederations for a place in the finals. The men's FIFA World Cup has taken place every four years since 1930, with the exception of 19 tournaments, which were cancelled due to World War II. įootball is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA French: Fédération Internationale de Football Association), which organises World Cups for men and women every four years. Each team is led by a captain who has only one official responsibility as mandated by the Laws of the Game: to represent their team in the coin toss prior to kick-off or penalty kicks. The team that scores more goals at the end of the game is the winner if both teams have scored an equal number of goals, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extra time or a penalty shootout, depending on the format of the competition. Players may use any other part of their body to strike or pass the ball, and mainly use their feet. Players are not allowed to touch the ball with hands or arms while it is in play, except for the goalkeepers within the penalty area. The two teams compete to get the ball into the other team's goal (between the posts and under the bar), thereby scoring a goal. The ball is 68–70 cm (27–28 in) in circumference and known as the football. The object of the game is to score more goals than the opposition by moving the ball beyond the goal line into the opposing goal, usually within a time frame of 90 or more minutes.įootball is played in accordance with a set of rules known as the Laws of the Game. The game is played on a rectangular field called a pitch with a goal at each end. It is played by approximately 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies, making it the world's most popular sport. Men's since the 1900 Olympics and women's since the 1996 Olympicsĥ-a-side since 2004 and 7-a-side from 1984 to 2016Īssociation football, more commonly known as simply football or soccer, is a team sport played with a spherical ball between two teams of 11 players. Football pitch (also known as football field, football ground, soccer field, soccer pitch or simply "pitch")
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