Association football in itself does not have a classical history. The modern rules of association football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely
varying forms of football played in the
public schools of England.
Ancient precursors Kicking ball games arose independently multiple times across multiple cultures. The Chinese competitive game ''
(, literally "kickball"; also known as tsu chu
) resembles modern association football as well as a mix of basketball and volleyball. This is the earliest form of a kicking game for which there is historical evidence. The game was first recorded as in exercise in the Zhan Guo Ce, a military history from the Han dynasty. The Silk Road facilitated the transmission of cuju'' outside of China, especially the form of the game popular in the
Tang dynasty, the period when the
inflatable ball was invented and replaced the stuffed ball. Other East Asian games include '
in Japan and ' in Korea, both influenced by
cuju. ''
originated after the year 600 during the Asuka period. It was a ceremonial rather than a competitive game, and involved the kicking of a mari'', a ball made of animal skin. In North America, was a ball game played by the
Algonquians; it was described as "almost identical to the kind of folk football being played in Europe at the same time, in which the ball was kicked through goals". '
and ' were
Greek ball games. An image of an '
player depicted in low relief on a stele of in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens Athenaeus, writing in 228 CE, mentions the Roman ball game '. '
and ' were played involving hands and violence. They all appear to have resembled
rugby football,
wrestling, and volleyball more than what is recognisable as modern football.
Medieval precursors , in Florence, Italy. Painting by
Jan Van der Straet. In the
Middle Ages, one notable game with similarities to modern football was
calcio storico fiorentino, which originated in
Florence, Italy. Another medieval sport that can be considered a form of early football is
la soule (or
choule), played in France from the 12th century, in which the ball was propelled by hands, feet, and sticks. As with pre-codified
mob football, the antecedent of all
modern football codes, these medieval games involved more handling of the ball than kicking it. which led to the formation of a
Sheffield FA in 1867. In 1862,
John Charles Thring of
Uppingham School also devised an influential set of rules. These ongoing efforts contributed to the formation of
the Football Association (the FA) in 1863, which first met on the morning of 26 October 1863 at the
Freemasons' Tavern in
Great Queen Street, London. The only school to be represented on this occasion was
Charterhouse. The Freemasons' Tavern was the setting for five more meetings of the FA between October and December 1863; the English FA eventually issued the first comprehensive set of rules named
Laws of the Game, forming modern football. Eleven clubs, under the charge of FA secretary
Ebenezer Cobb Morley, ratified the original thirteen laws of the game. team in 1897, after winning both the
FA Cup and the
English Football League The world's oldest football competition is the
FA Cup, which was founded by the footballer and cricketer
Charles W. Alcock, and has been contested by English teams since 1872. The
first official international football match also took place in 1872, between Scotland and England in
Glasgow, again at the instigation of Alcock. England is also home to the world's first
football league, which was founded in
Birmingham in 1888 by
Aston Villa director
William McGregor. The original format contained 12 clubs from the
Midlands and
Northern England. The Laws of the Game are determined by the
International Football Association Board (IFAB). The board was formed in 1886 after a meeting in
Manchester of the Football Association, the
Scottish Football Association, the
Football Association of Wales, and the
Irish Football Association.
FIFA, the international football body, was formed in Paris in 1904 and declared that they would adhere to the Laws of the Game of the Football Association.
Contemporary era For most of the 20th century,
Europe and
South America were the dominant regions in association football. The
FIFA World Cup, inaugurated in
1930, became the main stage for players of both continents to show their worth and the strength of their national teams. In the second half of the century, the
European Cup and the
Copa Libertadores were created, and the champions of these two club competitions would contest the
Intercontinental Cup to prove which team was the best in the world. In the 21st century, South America has continued to produce some of the best footballers in the world, but its clubs have fallen behind the still dominant European clubs, which often sign the best players from
Latin America and elsewhere. When it comes to national teams, countries in the
Caribbean and
Oceania regions (excluding
Australia) have yet to make a mark in international football, whilst Europeans and South Americans continue to dominate the men's FIFA World Cup, as no team from any other region has managed to even reach the final. whilst billions more watch the game on television or on the internet. A very large number of people also play football at an amateur level. According to a survey conducted by FIFA published in 2001, over 240 million people from more than 200 countries regularly play football. Football has the highest global television audience in sport. In many parts of the world, football evokes great passions and plays an important role in the life of individual
fans, local communities, and even nations.
Ryszard Kapuściński says that Europeans who are polite, modest, or humble fall easily into rage when playing or watching football games. The
Ivory Coast national football team helped secure a truce to the nation's
civil war in 2006, and it helped further reduce tensions between government and rebel forces in 2007 by playing a match in the rebel capital of
Bouaké, an occasion that brought both armies together peacefully for the first time. By contrast, football is widely considered to have been the final proximate cause for the
Football War in June 1969 between
El Salvador and
Honduras. The sport also exacerbated tensions at the beginning of the
Croatian War of Independence of the 1990s, when a match between
Dinamo Zagreb and
Red Star Belgrade degenerated into
rioting in May 1990. The popularity of association football has been connected to
identity fusion with replacement
fandom collective identities.
Women's association football Women's association football has historically seen opposition, with national associations severely curbing its development and several
outlawing it completely. Nevertheless, women have been playing football and similar games for as long as such games have existed. Frescoes from the
Han dynasty (25–220 CE) depict female figures playing the ancient Chinese game
cuju. There are also reports of annual football matches played by women in
Midlothian, Scotland, during the 1790s.
Origins and restrictions , the first organised women's football team, here pictured in March 1895 There is documented evidence of women's early involvement in association football. The first women's match recorded by the
Scottish Football Association took place in 1892 in
Glasgow. The best-documented early European team was founded by activist
Nettie Honeyball in England in 1894: the
British Ladies' Football Club. Honeyball considered women's involvement in football as part of the
emancipation movement. She and others like her paved the way for women's football. However, the women's game was frowned upon by the British football associations and continued without their support. It has been suggested that this was motivated by a perceived threat to the "masculinity" of the game. Women's football became popular on a large scale at the time of the
First World War, when female employment in heavy industry spurred the growth of the game, much as it had done for men decades earlier. and also made up most of the England team against a
Scottish Ladies XI in the same year, winning 22–0. Despite being more popular than some men's football events, with one match seeing a 53,000 strong crowd in 1920,
women's football in England suffered a blow in 1921 when
the Football Association outlawed the playing of the game on association members' pitches, stating that "the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and should not be encouraged". Players and football writers have argued that this ban was, in fact, due to envy of the large crowds that women's matches attracted, Women's football also faced bans in several other countries, notably in
Brazil from 1941 to 1979, in
France from 1941 to 1970, and in
West Germany from 1955 to 1970.
Revival and ongoing growth In spite of the resistance from governing bodies, British women continued to play football. Restrictions against female participation in the sport began to be reduced in the late 1960s and the 1970s. The
Italian women's football league was established in 1968. In December 1969, the
Women's Football Association was formed in England, with the sport eventually becoming the most prominent
team sport for women in the United Kingdom. Women's football still faces many struggles, but its worldwide growth has seen major competitions being launched at both the
national and
international levels, mirroring the men's competitions. The
FIFA Women's World Cup was inaugurated in 1991:
the first tournament was held in China, featuring 12 teams from the six confederations. The World Cup has been held every four years since; by
2019, it had expanded to 24 national teams, and 1.12 billion viewers watched the competition.
Four years later, FIFA targeted the 32-team 2023 Women's World Cup at an audience of 2 billion, while more than 1.5 million tickets were sold, setting a Women's World Cup record. Women's football has been an Olympic event since
1996. North America is the dominant region in women's football, with the
United States winning the most FIFA Women's World Cups and Olympic tournaments. Europe and Asia come second and third in terms of international success, and the women's game has been improving in South America. == Gameplay ==