Association Football

Association Football

Association Football is commonly called Football or Soccer. It is a team sport. It played with a spherical ball. The game is played between two teams of eleven players. It is the world's most popular sport.

Object

The object of the game is to score by moving the ball beyond the goal line into the opposing goal.

History

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 standardize the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England. The history of football in England dates back to at least the eighth century AD. Various ongoing efforts contributed to the formation of The Football Association (The FA) in 1863. The world's oldest football competition is the FA Cup, which was founded by C.W. Alcock and has been contested by English teams since 1872. The first official international football match also took place in 1872. The laws of the game are determined by the International Football Association Board (IFAB).

Today, football is played at a professional level all over the world. 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. Association football has been played by women since at least the time of the first recorded women's games in the late 19th century. The FIFA Women's World Cup was inaugurated in 1991 and has been held every four years since, while women's football has been an Olympic event since 1996.

Equipments

The only essential equipment in a football game are:

1. The ball
2. Helmet
3. Neck Collar/Neck Roll
4. Jockstrap and Cup
5. Mouth Guard
6. Thigh, Hip and Knee Pads
7. Shoulder Pads
8. Gloves

Rules

Following are the rules which must be followed while playing football:

• A match consists of two halves of 45 minutes with a 15 minute rest period in between
• Each team can have a minimum of 11 players
• The field must be made of either artificial or natural grass
• The ball must have a circumference of 58-61cm and be of a circular shape
• The whole ball must cross the goal line for it to constitute as a goal
• For fouls committed a player could receive either a yellow or red card depending on the severity of the foul; this comes down to the referee’s discretion
• If a ball goes out of playoff an opponent in either of the sidelines then it is given as a throw-in. If it goes out of playoff an attacking player on the baseline then it is a goal kick. If it comes off a defending player it is a corner kick