The Beginning of Soccer
The first ever example of soccer was in Mesoamerican cultures where a rock was used as a ball. The ball represented the sun and the captain of the losing team would be sacrificed to the Mesoamericans gods
Another early example of soccer can be found in China about the 3rd century BC and it was called Cuju. Cuju was played in a square area with a round ball. It later spread to Japan and was only played during ceremonies
Another example of early soccer was played in Ancient Rome. Even though it wasn’t played in the arenas, like the coliseum, it was used as a training exercise for the army. The Romans later brought the game to the British Islands.
The soccer that we know and play today, originates from 12th century England version. The game was played on the roads, and it included punching the ball in addition to the typical kicking. As a result, soccer tended to be quite a violent event, so much that sometimes the games would cause damage to the city and even the death of the players. For these reasons soccer events were eventually banned for a few centuries in England, until it came back in the 17th century.
For a long time there wasn’t a difference between rugby and soccer in England. The game started to be played in schools but there were two dominant schools that played it the most. Rugby and Eton. At Rugby the game was played with the option to pick up the ball with your hands, and it is where the game of Rugby originated. At Eton, the game was played only by kicking the ball.
There was a meeting in Cambridge in 1848, to attempt to create the rules of the game but there was no agreement to it. The first football association was formed in 1863, when it was finally decided that touching the ball with your hands was not allowed anymore. In 1891 the penalty kick was introduced. We have then to wait until the 1970s to see the introduction of the infamous yellow and red cards as a way to discipline the players
English and Scottish teams developed two different techniques to play soccer. The English teams preferred running up and down the field with the ball, while the Scottish teams liked to pass the ball among the players to create a play. Over time, the Scottish way of playing became more dominant over the English way. The first ever competition was in 1871, while in 1883 there was the first national competition which included the English, Irish, Scottish teams and a team from Wales. The “Fédération Internationale de Football Association” (FIFA, International Federation of Football Association), was established in 1904, and the first FIFA World Cup occurred 26 years in 1930 in Uruguay