History of football

Soccer (or soccer, as the game is called in some parts of the world) has a long history. Football in its present form originated in England in the middle of the 19th century. However, alternative versions of the game existed much earlier and are part of football history.

The History of Football
The History of Football


Early History and Antecedents of Football:

The first known examples of a team game involving a ball that was made of rock appeared in ancient Mesoamerican cultures over 3,000 years ago. It was from the Aztecs called Tchatali, although different versions of the game were spread over large regions. On some ritual occasions, the ball would symbolize the sun and the captain of the losing team would be sacrificed to the gods. A unique feature of Mesoamerican versions of ball games was a bouncy ball made of rubber—no other early culture had access to rubber.


The first known ball game that included kicking took place in China in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC under the name cuju. Cuju was played with a round ball (stitched leather with fur or feathers inside) on the surface of a square. A modified form of this game later spread to Japan and was practiced in ceremonial forms under the name kemari.


Perhaps an even older cuju was Marn Gook, played by Aboriginal Australians and according to white emigrants in the 19th century, it was a ball game involving mainly kicking. The ball was made of wrapped leaves or roots. The rules are mostly unknown, but as with many other early versions of the game, keeping the ball in the air was probably the main feature.


Other types of ball games were known from ancient Greece. The ball was made from pieces of leather filled with hair (the first evidence of air-filled balls is from the 7th century). However, ball games had a low status and were not included in the Panhellenic Games. In ancient Rome, ball games were not part of the entertainment in large arenas (amphitheaters), but occurred in military exercises under the name harpastum. It was the Roman culture that brought football to the British Isle (Britannica). However, it is not certain to what extent the British were influenced by this variety and to what extent they developed their own variants.

Football has its own form:

The most accepted story says that the game was developed in England in the 12th century. In this century, games resembling football were played in the meadows and roads of England. In addition to kicks, punching the ball was part of the game. This early form of football was also much rougher and more violent than the modern way of playing.


An important feature of football's predecessors was that the games involved a lot of people and were played in large areas in cities (an equivalent was played in Florence from the 16th century, where it was called Calcio). The ordering of these games caused damage to the city and sometimes the death of the participants. This would be one of the reasons for the proclamations against the game, which was eventually banned for several centuries. But football-like games would return to the streets of London in the 17th century. In 1835 it was banned again, but by this stage the game had been introduced in public schools.


However, it took a long time for the features of today's football to come into practice. For a long time there was no clear distinction between football and rugby. There were also many variations regarding the size of the ball, the number of players and the length of the match.


The game was often played in schools and two of the predominant schools were Rugby and Eton. In rugby, the rules included the ability to take the ball in the hands, and the game we know today as rugby has its origins from this. At Eton, on the other hand, the ball was played entirely with the feet and this game can be considered a close predecessor of modern football. The game at Rugby was called the 'running game', while the game at Eton was called the 'dribbling game'.


An attempt to establish proper rules for the game was made at a meeting in Cambridge in 1848, but a final solution to all questions of the rules was not reached. Another important event in the history of football took place in 1863 in London, when the first football association was created in England. It has been ruled that carrying the ball with the hands is not allowed. The meeting also resulted in the standardization of the size and weight of the ball. As a result of the London meeting, the game was split into two codes: association football and rugby union.


However, the game was still evolving and there was still a lot of flexibility around the rules. For one thing, the number of players on the field could vary. Even uniforms were not used to differentiate the look of the teams. It was also common for players wearing caps - the header was not yet part of the game. Further reading: Evolution of football rules.


Another important difference at this stage can be noted between the English and Scottish teams. While the English teams favored running the ball in a more rugby style, the Scots opted to pass the ball between their players. It would be the Scottish approach that soon became prevalent.


The sport was initially a pastime for the British working class. An unprecedented number of spectators, up to 30,000, saw big matches at the end of the 19th century. The game soon spread to the British who traveled to other parts of the world. Especially in South America and India, the interest in football would be great.

The first football clubs:

Football clubs have existed since the 15th century, but unorganized and without official status. It is therefore difficult to decide which was the first football club. Some historians suggest that it was the Foot-Ball Club founded in 1824 in Edinburgh. The first clubs were often formed by former students of the school, and the first of its kind was founded in Sheffield in 1855. The oldest professional football club is the English club Notts County, which was founded in 1862 and still exists today.


An important step for the emergence of teams was industrialization, which led to larger groups of people meeting in places such as factories, pubs and churches. Football teams were formed in larger cities and new railroads could bring them to other cities.


At first, public school teams dominated football, but later teams made up of blue-collar workers formed the majority. Another change gradually occurred when some clubs were willing to pay the best players to join their team. This would be the beginning of a long period of transition, not without friction, in which the game would develop to a professional level.


The motivation of paying players was not just to win more matches. By the 1880s, interest in the game had moved to the point where tickets were being sold for matches. Finally, in 1885 professional football was legalized and three years later the Football League was founded. During the first season, 12 clubs joined the league, but soon other clubs became interested and the competition subsequently expanded into multiple divisions.


British teams would dominate for a long time. After several decades, the clubs from Prague, Budapest and Sienna will be the main contenders for British dominance.


Like many things in history, women were excluded from participating in the Games for a long time. It wasn't until the end of the 19th century that women started playing football. The first official women's game was held in Inverness in 1888.


First competition:

Historic football match in pictures Further milestones were now to follow. The Football Association Challenge Cup (FA Cup) became the first important competition when it was held in 1871. The following year, a match between two national teams was played for the first time. The match, involving England and Scotland, finished 0–0 and was watched by 4,000 people at Hamilton Crescent (picture shows illustrations from the occasion).


Twelve years later, in 1883, the first international tournament was held, involving four national teams: England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.


Football was a British phenomenon for a long time, but it gradually spread to other European countries. The first game to take place outside of Europe was in Argentina in 1867, but it involved overseas British workers and not Argentine citizens.


The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in 1904 and the founding act was signed by representatives of France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. England and other British countries did not join FIFA from the beginning, they invented the game and saw no reason to submit to any association. Nevertheless, they joined the following year, but did not participate in the World Cup until 1950.


Domestic leagues occurred in many countries. The first was, as already mentioned, the English Football League, which was founded in 1888. Over time, the leagues expanded to include other divisions that were based on team performance.


In 1908, football was first included as an official sport at the Olympic Games. Until the first FIFA World Cup was played in 1930, the Olympic Games were the most prestigious football games at the national level. Women's football was not added until 1996.