-Soccer was created by prisoners in London in the 1800's
-The FIFA World Cup has been played every 4 years since 1930, women joined the competition in 1991
-The highest score ever made in a soccer game was 149-0
-A 20 month old baby became the yongest professional soccer player ever, after being signed up by a Belgian club
-Sometimes called "soccer" and other times call "football" this sport was originally called "basket-ball" because the players would try to score in wooden baskets
-The original World Cup was made of papier-mache, but was replaced in 1950 due to heavy rain
-A professional soccer player runs 48 kilometers in an average soccer game
-From 1994 until 1998, there were red, yellow and teal cards. A teal card was played for possible fouls that were to be reviewed by an instant replay
-Soccer was illegal in Mississippi until 1991
Football or more commonly known as Soccer, is played by 250 million players in over 200 nations.
These facts make this the most popular sport worldwide.
The game is made up of 2 teams with at least 11 players.
The object of the game is for your team to score as many goals before the games ends.
If the game is level by the end, then the games is either decleared a tie,
or will result in extra time and/or penalty kicks.
This game was created by prisoners in London, England in the 1800's. The Laws of the game were codified in England by the Football Association in 1863.
Over the years, the sport has gotten more and more publicity. In 1930 a worldwide tournament called the FIFA World Cup begun. Originally only 13 teams were invited however in
the last few years the number of teams and observers attending has spiked. Germany currently has the title of FIFA World Cup champion from 2014. Brazil, however is the most successful
team for winning 5 champion titles. Soccer is also included in the Summer Olymipcs.
The qualifying tournament, like that for the World Cup, is organised along continental lines. Most continental confederations organise a special Under-23 qualifying tournament,
although the European qualifiers are drawn from the finalists of the UEFA Under-21 Championship and South American qualifiers from the South American Youth Championship,
which is a U-20 tournament. For the 2016 Games, the number of places allocated to each continent was:
-Europe � 4
-Asia � 3
-Africa � 3
-South America � 2.5
-North America � 2.5
-Oceania � 1
To learn more about the FIFA World Cup click below:
FIFA
