Facts about Soccer
Soccer fans also experience strong emotions that are expressed vigorously during the games.
Finally, in the nineteenth century, teachers and former students wrote down formal rules of early modern soccer to enable matches to be played between schools.
A social phobia may also encompass a general fear of social situations, and a subsequent experience of severe anxiety when in them.
England is home to the world's first soccer league, which was founded in 1888, by William McGregor, the director of Birmingham-based team, Aston Villa.
A Soccer for Peace program organized out of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, sends soccer equipment to such places as Darfur, so peacekeepers and refugees can play soccer together.
The first official international soccer match also took place in 1872, between Scotland and England in Glasgow, again at the instigation of C. W. Alcock.
The first ever intercollegiate college football game, held in 1869 between Princeton and Rutgers, was a soccer game played according to the English Football Association rules.
Soccer rouses powerful passions and is a valuable outlet for aggressive energy for millions of players in amateur, but highly-competitive, local soccer leagues throughout much of the world.
Football/soccer is played using a single round ball, and two teams of 11 players compete to get that ball into the other team's goal, thereby scoring a point.
The recognized international governing body of soccer (and associated games, such as beach soccer) is the Fйdйration Internationale de Football Association FIFA.
The Fйdйration Internationale de Football Association FIFA, the international governing body of soccer, was formed in Paris in 1904, declaring that it would adhere to the Laws of the Game published by the FA.
The latter is a joint undertaking of the Maccabim Association and the Kibbutz Barka’i Center for Soccer, Peace, and Coexistence.
The most prestigious international soccer competition is the World Cup, held every four years.
Soccer is governed internationally by the Fйdйration Internationale de Football Association, commonly known as FIFA.
The Peres Center for Peace organizes soccer matches between top-ranked international teams and a joint Israeli-Palestinian team, while a different Soccer for Peace program organizes soccer competitions between Arab and Jewish children in Israel.
The first battle to implant soccer in America may have been lost, but soccer did not disappear.
The same rules are designed to apply to all levels of soccer, although certain modifications for groups such as juniors, seniors, or women are permitted.
The rules of soccer as they are codified today are effectively based on these efforts.
Soccer players' passions can be harnessed for the purpose of building peace and have even brought war to a temporary end.
Today, soccer is played at a professional level all over the world, and millions of people regularly go to soccer stadiums to follow their favorite team.
Various forms of soccer were played in medieval Europe, although rules varied greatly by both period and location.
The first soccer club established outside Great Britain was the Oneida Football Club, formed near Boston in 1862.
Soccer is generally a free-flowing game, with play stopping only when the ball has left the field of play, or when play is stopped by the referee.
The possibility of using soccer as a peace-building instrument has been recognized for at least a century and the impulse continues to emerge independently, among individuals and groups in different parts of the world.
In 1874, the Harvard team traveled to McGill University in Montreal, to play two games, the first under soccer rules with a round ball and the second under rugby rules with an egg-shaped ball.
Soccer was the main sport of the Ivy League universities before they started playing American gridiron football.
Like music, soccer is a language of the world, a passionate sport with a universal appeal.
The first known set of soccer rules was written at Eton College in 1815.
Association football, commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players each.
Soccer is widely considered to have been the cause of the so-called Football War in June 1969, between El Salvador and Honduras.
On Christmas Day 1914, German and British troops on the front lines during World War I put down their guns, came out of their muddy trenches, and played a soccer game.
Paul Gardner, in his landmark book, The Simplest Game: The Intelligent Fan's Guide to Soccer, writes: "If there is a date marking the birthday of soccer, then it is December 8, 1863.
Soccer is played on a rectangular grass field—also called a pitch—or, occasionally, on artificial turf, with a goal at each end of the field.
According to a 2001 FIFA survey, over 240 million people regularly play soccer in more than 200 countries, in every part of the world.
Another exception is Major League Soccer in the United States, which has a playoff system.
Soccer's simple rules and minimal equipment requirements have aided its spread and growth in popularity.
The Laws of the Game do not specify any player positions other than goalkeeper, but a number of soccer positions have evolved.
Top players from nations where soccer is not a well-developed sport gravitate to the higher-paying clubs.
The word “soccer,” which is believed to have originated in Britain some 200 years ago, comes from the official name of the sport, “association football.” As other versions of the game evolved to include Rugby Football, it is believed the Brits adopted colloquialisms to distinguish each game.Jun 13, 2014
England invented a game of running around kicking a ball in the mid-19th century (although the Chinese claim to have played a version centuries earlier). They called it “football,” not because the ball is played with the feet, but because the game is played on foot rather on horseback.Apr 2, 2012
Records trace the history of soccer back more than 2,000 years ago to ancient China. Greece, Rome, and parts of Central America also claim to have started the sport; but it was England that transitioned soccer, or what the British and many other people around the world call “football,” into the game we know today.
Soccer is perhaps the most elemental team ball sport. Two teams, each with 11 players (including the goalkeeper) work to push a ball into the opposing team's goal using any part of their body other than their hands or arms. At the end of two 45 minute periods, whichever team has scored the most goals wins the game.
The attacking player (No. 10) attempts to kick the ball beyond the opposing team's goalkeeper, between the goalposts, and beneath the crossbar to score a goal. Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball.
The two basic soccer rules for a proper throw-in are to have both feet on the ground and to throw the ball with both hands over the head. A corner kick or goal kick is taken when the ball leaves the field across the goal line – the end of the field. ... The goal kick is taken from anywhere inside the “goal area box”.
Everyone knows that pushing is not allowed in soccer. However, “fair charging” is actually a legal form of pushing and occurs when two players are contesting for the ball. To be considered “fair charging,” the ball must be within playing distance from the players, say 6 feet or so, and the players shoulder-to-shoulder.
In some ways soccer is a fairly simple or pure game. The primary rule is that players cannot touch the ball with their hands or arms while the ball is in play. The exception to this rule is the goalie. The goalie is a designated player whose main job is to protect the goal from the opponents.
Extra protective gear may include sliding shorts, mouth guards, protective cups, knee and elbow pads, padded soccer pants, soccer gloves, and protective head gear. Like their teammates, goalkeepers are required to wear the basics; jersey, shorts, socks, shin guards and cleats.
Before the game, representatives of each team meet with the referee to toss a coin. According to the FIFA rules, the team that wins the toss gets to choose which goal it will attack. The other team kicks off to start the game. In soccer, the team that kicks off is said to be "taking" the kickoff.
The World's Highest-Paid Soccer Players 2017. Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi? ... #1 Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid / Portugal. Earnings: $93 million. ... #2 Lionel Messi, Barcelona / Argentina. Earnings: $80 million. ... #3 Neymar, Jr, Barcelona / Brazil. Earnings: $37 million.