The origins of and information about soccer

The origins of and information about soccer

The modern history of the game of football covers a period of almost One-hundred and fifty years. It all began in 1863 in England, when rugby and association football branched off on their different courses and the world's 1st football association was born - The Football Association in England.

Both forms of football came from a common root and both have a long and intricately branched ancestral tree. The game's early history reveals at least 6 different games, varying to different degrees and to which the historical development of football is related and has actually been traced back. Whether this can be justified in some instances is still open to question. Nevertheless, the fact remains that kicking a ball with the feet has been going on for 1000's of years and there is really no reason to believe that it is an aberration of the more "natural" form of playing a ball with the hands.

On the contrary, apart from the absolute necessity to employ the legs and feet in such a tough bodily sport for the ball, often without any rules for protection, it was no doubt recognized right from the beginning that the art of controlling the ball with the feet was very difficult and, as such, it required special technique and talent.
The very earliest variation of the game for which there is some scientific evidence was an exercise of precisely this skilful technique dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries B.C. in China. A military manual dating from the period of the Han Dynasty includes among the physical education exercises, the "Tsu'Chu.