As a major soccer fan who cautiously follows all the matches and thoroughly understands the best groups and players, have you ever considered how everything begun?
History of soccer is certainly one of the most intriguing accounts with regards to the universe of sports. Stick with us and we should discover how this game turned out to be broadly famous in Europe and the Americas.
First Steps
Believe it or not, soccer is being made in China. Early evidence of this sport is present in China and dates back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC. During the Han Dynasty, the Chinese played kicking leather balls into a narrow net strung between two bamboo ponds. The game was called Cuju, and as FIFA has said, this is the earliest known version of football.
Any statistics often point to Japan, to be more precise in Kyoto. During the Asuka era, the Japanese played a game known as kemari. The fundamental rule of the game was to kick a ball and try not to drop it to the ground. If we can see, this is something that reminds us of keepie uppie, so we can surely see the link between the simple definition of kemari and football today.
Ancient Greeks and Romans also played a variety of games involving various types of balls. It is known, for example, that Romans played a game called herpastum. They are thought to have introduced and adapted the Greek team game known as episkyros.
However these particular sports are more like rugby union than soccer. Today, they represent some of the oldest manifestations of football and are thus known to be its predecessors.
Roman politician Cicero also mentions a special accident caused by a ball. Namely a man was killed in a barber shop while getting a shave when the ball was tossed into the store, catching him in the back, and causing the razor blade to cut him off. And at these days, soccer was certainly something to chat about.
Often, there are other sports that are known to be some of the older forms of football. Pahsaherman was played by the Native Americans, while Marn Grook was played by the Aborigines of Australia.
Football in the Medieval Times
Football has also been played in medieval times, and since then it has been an important part of British culture. However, football has not always been seen as a harmless sport, and it has also been banned in certain historical times.
People began kicking pigs’ bladers in the streets in the 9th century. A few years back, the players had something much resembling a ball, but they didn’t have uniform rules. It was a kind of “folk soccer.” The goal was to get the ball into the opponent’s goal, and the simple rule was: there are no rules at all.
As almost anything was allowed, hitting, biting and punching was a vital part of the game. In reality, the two teams that played one against the other were almost like gangs battling each other.
Eventually, “folk soccer” became very brutal, but still very common. It’s said that even the soldiers were skipping their archery practices just to watch the display. Any rulers, however, did not find it fun. King Edward III, however, forbade the game in 1365 because of abuse and military indulgence of competition. In 1424 King James I of Scotland also forbade soccer by declaring in Parliament that no man should play soccer.
Today, though, there is no man who didn’t play soccer or who doesn’t like watching it. But how were we going to get to that? What happened next in the next step of growth, and where was modern-day soccer born?
The reality is that it’s impossible to tell when modern soccer was born, but we may say that Britain played a key role and is considered to be one of the most influential pioneers of the systematic soccer game.
A Home of Modern Soccer – Great Britain
By the beginning of the 19th century, with industrialisation, we had such a transition in all aspects of daily life. First of all, people were going to work. Around other words, less free time for the middle class. Soccer has begun to become a sport for public and private universities, colleges and schools.
In 1815, the renowned English School joined up with Ethan College to draw up a set of rules known as the Cambridge Rules. Before that, soccer was distinguished by a series of rules that remind us more of rugby. They were allowed to drive the players, hold the ball in their hands, etc. The Cambridge laws, on the other hand, banned these rules.
October 1868 is another significant date in the history of soccer. Representatives of 11 London clubs and schools held a gathering at the Freemason’s Tavern to discuss the fundamental rules of the match between them. This is how the Football Association was born. Before then, hands had not been strictly prohibited, but the new organisation voted to prohibit any handling of the ball.
From Amateur Players To Professionals
Soccer’s prominence became more famous and was shared around the globe by British fishermen, soldiers and merchants. Even though certain forms of “folk football” were played in France, Italy and Germany, it was in the 18th and 19th centuries (after the formal foundation of the rules) that this sport became very popular.
Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina were one of the first nations to embrace the idea of soccer, and that’s how it was introduced to American soil.
The first Football Association Cup was held again in Britain in 1872. Any new divisions have also been created. In 1888, the Football League was established and the first league matches were played.
As per the rules of the Football Association, players had to remain amateurs and not receive any reward for their results. There’s all, though that quickly became a matter of concern. The players were frustrated with the fact that they had to spend a lot of hours practicing and playing. In the other side, the clubs paid the fans to watch the game.
As the success of soccer grew, so did the number of fans and the income of the clubs. The teams then plan to start paying their players, and soccer has become a professional sport.
The Rest is the History
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was established in 1904. One of the founders was France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Spain.
Appropriately enough, England and other British soil countries did not join FIFA at all. They saw themselves as game inventors. They then felt that they deserved a certain degree of liberty and that there was no need to become equal to the other countries of the organization. However the following year these countries joined FIFA, but did not play in the World Cup until the 1950s.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, to be more accurate, many countries had already established their national leagues in the early 1930s. FIFA hosted the very first World Cup in 1930. It’s been in Uruguay. Uruguay was selected as the host country by the international governing body of football to mark the centennial of the country’s first constitution.
Uruguay was also the winner of the 1928 Summer Olympics title and captured the first World Cup, while Argentina, the United States and Yugoslavia won the second, third and fourth, respectively.
Until that year the football competition at the Olympic Games was perceived to be the most critical event. What’s more, since the creation of the national leagues, the divisions have expanded over time, depending on the success of the players. The first Women’s World Cup was staged in China in 1991 and has been held every four years since then.
Soccer the Global Phenomenon
Naturally, as sport has evolved over the years, certain improvements have taken place. For example, the penalty kick was invented early, right at the beginning of the history of soccer, or, to be more accurate, in 1871.
On the other hand, several other major recent improvements that we’ve seen in every match have been implemented later.
Yellow and red cards are from the finals of the 1970 World Cup. In 1992, goaltenders were forbidden from handling intentional back-passes, and in 1998 back-tracking began to result in red-card penalties.
Out of 13 countries that played in the first World Cup in Uruguay in 1930, there are now over 200. There are now 211 national associations from only a handful of the nations that formed FIFA.
Six confederations have emerged in various parts of the world: UEFA (Union des Associations Européennes de Football), AFC (Asian Football Confederation), CAF (Confédération Africaine de Football), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean Football Association), CONMEBOL (Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol) and OFC (Oceania Football Confederation).
If you can see there is no part of the world where the ball is not kicked. From ancient Egypt to the 21st century, this sport has undergone a great deal of transition. However, in the last 3000 years, this is one of the most common ways to have fun.
Soccer history, rich with incidents, decisive moments and its never-ending success, is something we should talk about for days. However for the purposes of this article, we have selected some of the most relevant dates of the past. Now it remains to be seen what the future will bring us.