Soccer

The thunderous roar of thousands of wildly cheering fans fills the air as the world's best soccer players take the field to compete for the World Cup. Millions sit in front of their televisions with their eyes completely focused on the screen, anxiously waiting to see if their favorite team will become world champion. Little boys and girls watch while dreams of one day playing for their own nation's team fill their heads. All these fans give evidence to one truth; soccer has come a long way since its somewhat humble beginnings. This paper will explain how soccer, currently the world's most popular sport, first came into existence.

There is evidence that various types of kicking games were played in several ancient cultures, including the Chinese, Greek, Mayan, and Egyptian cultures. During the 19th century a variety of football games, which involved both handling and kicking a ball, began in England. At this point the modern game of soccer began developing. In 1863, at a meeting of the London Football Association, football was split into two different groups: rugby football and association football. Rugby football went on to became the parent sport to American football while association football continued to evolve into the game of soccer. Also in the 1860s the London Football Association (FA) established the first official set of rules for soccer.

By 1871, the London Football Association organized the first major soccer tournament called the FA Cup. The tournament sparked a rapid spread of soccer throughout England and a growth in the sport's popularity throughout the world. Within a year of the tournament, a game in Glasgow, Scotland between an English all-star team and a Scottish all-star team marked the beginning of international play. From that point the sport grew quickly. By 1885 soccer was being played professionally and by 1888 England had regular soccer league play.

The international spread of soccer was