History of Soccer
More than 240 million people around the world play soccer regularly according to the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). The game has evolved from the sport of kicking a rudimentary animal-hide ball around into the World Cup sport it is today.
Records trace the history of soccer back more than 2,000 years ago to ancient China. Greece, Rome and parts of central America also claim to have started the sport, but it was England that transitioned soccer, or what the British and many other people around the world call “football,” into the game we know today. The English are credited with recording the first uniform rules for the sport, including that tripping opponents and touching the ball with hands was forbidden.
As the sport developed, more rules were implemented and more historical landmarks were set. For example, the penalty kick was introduced in 1891. FIFA becomes a member of the International Football Association Board of Great Britain in 1913. Red and yellow cards were introduced during the 1970 World Cup finals. More recent major changes included when goalkeepers were banned from handling deliberate back-passes in 1992 and when tackles from behind became red-card penalties in 1998.
Some of the top players throughout history include Pele (Edson Arantes Do Nascimento) from Brazil who scored six goals in the 1958 World Cup and helped Brazil claim its first title, Lev Yashin from Russia who claimed to have saved more than 150 penalty shots during his outstanding goal-tending career, and Marco Van Basten from Holland who won several very prestigious soccer awards during one year alone. There are many debates over who the greatest soccer players are of all time, but players like Zinedine Zidane, Diego Maradona, Michel Platini, Lionel Messi, and Roberto Baggio make almost every list.
Top soccer matches in history include the 1953 match between Hungary (6) and England (3) during which England was defeated at home for the first time in history. Hungarian Nandor Hidegkuti scored the first goal in just 90 seconds, astounding the British players. Another noteworthy match in the history of soccer was the 1970 World Cup final between Brazil (4) and Italy (1) during which Pele opened by scoring a header and two more subsequent goals. Many remember the World Cup semi-final between West Germany (3) and France (3) in 1982 when French player Alain Giresse put the French ahead 3-1, then watched as Karl-Heinz scored an extraordinary comeback goal. The West Germans won on penalties, which was the first time a World Cup match finished in this fashion.
There are many outstanding soccer stadiums around the world today. Some of the top stadiums in the history of soccer include Nou Camp in Barcelona, Spain which remains the biggest soccer stadium in Europe, the plush venue of Louis II in Monte Carlo, Monaco which is known as one of the most comfortable stadiums in the world, and the International Stadium Yokohama in Yokohama, Japan which is considered the most high-tech venue in the world because of its movable roof, huge replay screens and hundreds of lights to eliminate any hint of shadows on the field.