As you probably know, soccer is the most played, watched and televised sport in the history of mankind. According to FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) there are currently 270 million people actively involved in football. (That’s about 4% of the world’s population) So why has this sport become such a huge interest for me and people alike? What is the story behind this long-awaited event?
Soccer, referred to as “association soccer” on Wikipedia, is a sport that has roots dating back to the 2nd and 3rd century. The oldest form is said to have originated in China; a game called “cuju”. FIFA, soccer’s governing body, officially declared China the birthplace of its game in 2004.
In recent decades, many other forms of this sport have been seen in other regions of the world, such as “Harpastum” (Roman), “Kemari” (Japan), and “Knattleikr”. (Iceland) Of course, these matches were very different from modern football. It was not until the 19th century that various forms of football became an organized event played primarily by prestigious public schools in England. There were many improvements in the course of the sport when Thomas Arnold (head of the ‘School of Rugby’ helped establish the first standardized rules of Rugby.
In rugby, players were allowed to kick opponents’ legs below the knees (which was banned in recent years), ball handling was also allowed. After this development, football and rugby were separated in December 1863. Modern football was born in England with the formation of the FA (Football Association), which is the governing body of football in England. Ebenezer Cobb Morley was a founding member of the Football Association in which he stressed the importance of a governing body for football. After the FA was established, he established the “Laws of Football” which implemented the rules of the game played today. On January 9, 1864, the first exhibition game of football was played at Battersea Park. In just eight years, the FA had 50 member clubs and grew rapidly, allowing a competition to emerge in 1972. The FA Cup is football’s first competition and is considered the most prestigious in England. The ‘Wanderers’ were the first team to win the cup, beating the ‘Royal Engineers’ 1-0.
Soccer slowly became popular in other countries with the help of British influence. It was not until 1889, that other countries (the Netherlands and Denmark) would embrace this wonderful game. Soccer began to grow rapidly with the following countries; New Zealand (1891), Argentina (1893), Chile, Switzerland, Belgium (1895), Italy (1898), Germany, Uruguay (1900) and Hungary (1901) adopted their own football associations.
In 1904, FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) was formed in Paris to regulate international matches and there were seven founding members (France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). The first international soccer competition was introduced at the 1908 London Summer Olympics with Great Britain winning gold, Denmark silver and the Netherlands bronze. The emergence of World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945) stopped the growth of the sport and it resumed years after the war. In 1950, FIFA had 51 member countries. Before the creation of the World Cup (the most prestigious football competition), FIFA organized a football competition within the Summer Olympics. In 1930, FIFA would administer its own tournament in Uruguay; the host nation to be the first football team to win the cup which would be more highly regarded than any other professional tournament today.
Football today is a growing sport with 208 FIFA-recognized national teams, plus there are thousands of club teams competing against each other in various leagues and cups for world dominance. The sport has become an addiction for many people around the world, helping nations and individuals to come together as they cheer for their team in the hope that one day their team will bring home a trophy. The future of soccer always has room for improvement and will hopefully increase interest in the US as elsewhere. “Fair play” is the name of the game.
