History of football

[font=&quot]Association football, called soccer in
some countries, is the most popular spectator sport in the world. The matches
in the 2002 World Cup were watched by a total television audience of nearly 30
billion people. That averages out at every person in the world watching at
least five of the matches![/font]


[b][color=#FFC000][font=&quot]FOOTBALL’S ORIGINS[/font][/color][/b]


[font=&quot]About 2,500 years ago the
Chinese played a game similar to football called zu qiu, which translates as
“to kick a leather ball”. Meanwhile, the Greeks had a football game called
episkuros.[/font]


[font=&quot]We know that football was played
in England as long ago as the 1350s, but it was a violent sport without any
rules and was banned by a number of kings. Despite this, its popularity
continued.[/font]


[b][color=#FFC000][font=&quot]FOOTBALL FIRSTS[/font][/color][/b]


[font=&quot]The first club was the
Sheffield Football Club, formed in 1855. Seven years later the first football
league club—Notts County—was founded. In 1863 the Football Association (FA) was
founded at the Freemasons’ Tavern, London. The idea for the Football
Association Challenge Cup (the FA Cup) came from the secretary of the FA,
Charles Alcock. The first competition was in 1872 and was won by the Wanderers,
an amateur side.[/font]


[font=&quot]England played Scotland in the
first-ever football international in 1872 and in 1888 the Football League was
founded and league football began.[/font]

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