I.

Introduction

Football, Association, History of, historical development of the most widely played team game in the world and the most popular spectator sport, followed avidly by millions of fans. It is often popularly called “soccer” (especially in the United States), which is a slang term dating from about 1891 as a shortening of “assoc.” or “association”. See also Football, Association, Rules of.

II.

Early Origins

The ancestry of the game can be traced to 200 bc during the Han dynasty in China. Their game was called zu qiu (zu means roughly “to kick”, while qiu denotes a ball made of stuffed leather). Chinese emperors themselves took part. The Greeks and Romans had a variety of ball games (such as episkuros and harpastum) and some of them were probably football as well as handball games. In the 7th century the Japanese had a form of football called kemari. In 14th-century Florence there was the game calcio (giuoco del calcio, “game of the kick”), which was played 27-a-side with 6 umpires. This game allowed the use of hands as well as feet.

It is not until the 12th century that we find evidence of some form of football being played in England. Various forms of it were known in the Middle Ages. Basically, this was mob football that took place between rival factions and groups in towns and cities, and also between villages and parishes. Very large numbers of players took part and the goals might be a mile or more apart. Such games, which were often violent and dangerous, came to be particularly associated with Shrovetide and came to be called Shrovetide Football. Forms of this survived in England until well into the 20th century. Royal edicts by a succession of English kings failed to suppress mob football. In fact, such games flourished in the Tudor and Stuart periods. Oliver Cromwell managed to put a stop to them, but with the Restoration and the reign of Charles II it was soon revived. In the 18th century it was popular in English public schools but still involved scores of players on each side. A few public schools developed more organized forms and these have survived at Eton (Eton Wall Game, Eton Field Game), Harrow (Harrow Football), and Winchester (Winchester Football).

III.

Establishment of Rules and the Football Association

In 1848 came the first serious attempt to establish a code. This was instigated at Cambridge University by H. de Winton and J. C. Thring, who met representatives from the major public schools with a view to creating a standardized set of rules. They agreed on and drew up ten, known as the Cambridge Rules. These were and are of vital importance in the history of what was later to be named association football, and which Thring described as the “Simplest Game”.

In 1855 Sheffield Football Club (FC), the world’s oldest club, was founded, and in 1862 Notts County, the world’s oldest league club, came into existence. In October 1863 the Football Association (FA) was founded at the Freemasons’ Tavern, Great Queen Street, London. The idea for the Football Association Challenge Cup (the FA Cup) came from the secretary of the FA, Charles Alcock, who proposed his plans at a meeting of the FA Committee in July 1871. Fifteen teams entered the first competition in 1872, which was won by Wanderers against Royal Engineers. Until 1893 nearly all the finals were held at Kennington Oval, London, which is better known for cricket. Up to 1882 all the winners were amateur clubs. Wanderers won five times; Old Etonians won twice and were four times runners-up. In 1872 also, there was the first official international match (between England and Scotland), and in 1878 the first match under floodlights was held.

In the late 1870s there began a long and sometimes acrimonious dispute over the rights and wrongs of professionalism and whether or not players should be paid money over and above compensation for expenses and wages lost by taking part in a match. In 1885 professionalism was finally legalized, but the dispute was to drift on for years and affect other countries. Another major event was the foundation of the Football League in 1888; this was to become a model for all countries that subsequently adopted the game.

IV.

The Spread of Football

This adoption took place rapidly in Europe and many other parts of the world in the closing years of the 19th century. British soldiers, sailors, colonial servants, businessmen, engineers, and teachers exported the game worldwide, as they did cricket and other games and sports. The pattern was the same. They would produce a ball and start a game and then encourage the locals to join in.

In Vienna there was a large British colony that was responsible for creating the first Vienna football club and the Vienna Cricket and Football Club, from which FK Austria derived. The Austrian, Hugo Meisl, a member of Vienna Cricket Club and secretary of the Austrian FA (founded in 1904) was to have a very wide influence on the development of football in Europe and was the main force behind the Mitropa Cup (the prototype of modern European club events) and the Nations’ Cup competitions. Denmark was another European country to take quickly to the game. There was an English Football Club in Copenhagen in 1879 and the Danish FA was founded in 1889. In Italy resident Englishmen founded the Genoa Football and Cricket Club, and Genoa (1892) is Italy’s oldest league club; the Italian FA was created in 1898. The game started in Hungary in the 1890s (the FA was formed in 1901) and two Englishmen were in the first Hungarian team. In Germany and the Netherlands the game was well established by 1900 (when the German FA was founded). By 1908 there were 96 Dutch clubs. The Dutch FA was formed in 1889. Football was introduced to Russia in 1887 by two English mill owners, the Charnock brothers, near Moscow. By the late 1890s the Moscow League was in operation.

By early in the 20th century the game was in full swing in Europe and most countries had formed their football association: Belgium (1895), Czechoslovakia (1901), Finland (1907), Luxembourg (1908), Norway (1902), Portugal (1914), Romania (1909), Spain (1913), Sweden (1904), and Switzerland (1895).

In South America British sailors had played football in Brazil in the 1870s, but the main moving spirit who established it was Charles Miller, the son of English immigrants. He encouraged British resident workers to form clubs (some already existed for cricket). The first mainly Brazilian club was the Associaciao Athletica Mackenzie College in São Paulo. In Argentina the game was introduced by British residents in Buenos Aires and the FA was founded in 1893. However, it caught on quite slowly and in the end it was Italian immigrants who made the game popular. Chile formed its FA in 1895, Uruguay in 1900, and Paraguay in 1906. British influence in South America is evident in the names of some club sides: Corinthians in Brazil, Everton and Rangers in Chile, Liverpool and Wanderers in Uruguay, and Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina.

Until recently and the staging of the 1994 World Cup, the United States had not often been associated with football, but it was played there from an early stage. The Oneida Club of Boston was founded in 1862 and the national side reached the semi-finals of the 1930 World Cup. In Africa the British colonial movement played a large part in introducing association football but it developed more slowly on that continent, while in Canada and Australia it is only lately that it has become popular.

In 1904, the world governing body, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), was formed in Paris. Between the World Wars many other countries took up football and after World War II many developing and newly emergent countries did likewise. By 2008 FIFA had 208 members.

V.

British and Irish Competitions

The principal competitions in England are the FA Premiership, the Football League, the FA Cup, and the Football League Cup (both cup competitions are knockout events).

The Premiership was formed in 1992 and comprises 20 teams. The Football League is made up of three divisions (The Championship, League One, and League Two) with promotion and relegation between them. Promotion and relegation also exists between the Championship (formerly the First Division of the Football League) and the Premiership (which has the stronger teams) and between League Two (formerly the Third Division of the Football League) and the Football Conference, a league of essentially semi-professional players.

The FA Cup is annually contested by all members of the Premiership and Football League and also by many amateur and semi-professional teams. It is organized on a knockout basis with the final game traditionally having being staged at Wembley Stadium, London, in May; the final was staged at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff from 2001 to 2006 while the new Wembley Stadium was being built. The League Cup was instituted in the 1960-1961 season, but it was not until the 1969-1970 season that all 92 Football League clubs took part. All finals up to 1966 were played on a two-leg 'home-and-away' basis but since then they have been played as a single match at Wembley Stadium (from 2001 to 2007 at the Millennium Stadium).

The Scottish Football League was formed in 1890, two years after the Football League. A second division was added in 1893, and the League was totally restructured in 1975-1976 when the leading ten teams formed a new Premier Division and the remainder were divided into Divisions One and Two. From the 1994-1995 season a third division was introduced. The three lower Scottish divisions now have ten teams each. The number of teams in the Premier Division has varied between 10 and 12, and from the 2000-2001 season the League was split mid-season with the top 6 teams playing for the title and European competition places and the bottom 6 teams playing to avoid relegation. The Scottish FA Cup was first held in 1874 and most of the finals have been at Hampden Park, Glasgow. The Scottish League Cup was first contested in 1946-1947. Prior to 1977-1978 the teams were split into eight or nine groups with the winners going through to a knockout competition. All three major competitions have been dominated by Glasgow Rangers and Glasgow Celtic—the “Old Firm”.

The Irish Football Association was formed in 1880 and the League began in 1890. In that year, too, the Irish Cup was inaugurated. In Northern Ireland, Linfield and Glentoran have been the most successful clubs. With the political division in the 1920s, the Irish FA continued to run the game in Northern Ireland, while a new FA controlled football in the Republic of Ireland.

The Welsh FA was created in 1876 and the Welsh Cup began in 1878. The most important Welsh clubs—Swansea, Cardiff, and Wrexham—have traditionally played in the English Football League.

VI.

International Competitions

The first World Cup for the Jules Rimet trophy (Rimet was president of FIFA) was held in Uruguay in 1930 and contested by 13 nations. Only four European teams made the journey to Uruguay, with the home nation winning the tournament. A qualifying competition was introduced in 1950 and the competition has been staged every four years since. Brazil won the trophy outright in 1970 after the side’s third win and teams now compete for the FIFA World Cup.

Since World War II, competitions in Europe (and elsewhere) have proliferated. The European Championship, played over a two-year period and held every four years, began in 1960. It was originally called the European Nations Cup and took its present name in 1968. Competing nations contest the Henri Delaunay Cup, named after the former general secretary of the Union des Associations Européennes de Football (UEFA), which was founded in 1954. In 1996 the tournament was held in England as “Euro 96” and was the biggest sporting event of any kind to be held in England since the 1966 World Cup. The 2004 tournament was hosted by Portugal and won by Greece.

A.

Club Competitions

Generally known as the European Cup, the European Champion Clubs’ Cup was an annual knockout competition for the league champions of all UEFA-affiliated countries. It was first held in 1955-1956 and was the idea of Gabriel Hanot, the football editor of the French newspaper L’Equipe. From the 1991-1992 season the structure was modified so that the top teams take part in the Champions League, with home and away matches between teams in divisions; the top sides then entering a knockout competition. From the 1997-1998 season the competition was enlarged to include the runners-up from selected leagues, including that of England, and in the 1999-2000 season was enlarged again.

The European Cup Winners' Cup was formerly open to winners of domestic senior cup competitions in countries affiliated to UEFA. The first final was in 1961 over two legs. Thereafter, all finals were played as a single game at a neutral venue. (After 1972 the winners of the European Cup and the European Cup-Winners' Cup played a two-legged match to determine the winners of the European Super Cup.) After the 1998-1999 season the competition was suspended, with national cup winners now entering the UEFA Cup competition instead.

The UEFA CUP was established in 1955 as a tournament for European cities that sponsored international trade fairs, and the original name was the International Industries Fairs Inter-Cities Cup (or Fairs Cup). In 1971 it became known as the UEFA Cup and the competition was opened to leading teams not eligible for the other two principal European competitions. The final was played over two legs on a home-and-away basis until the 1997-1998 season, when it was played as a single game for the first time. The rules of the competition changed again for the 1999-2000 season when, after the abolition of the European Cup-Winners' Cup, teams that were cup winners in their countries entered the UEFA Cup competition for the first time. Other qualifiers for this competition include certain teams who win “feeder” tournaments into the cup draw and also teams who win “fair play” awards in their own domestic leagues as well as a number of teams that get knocked out during the early stages of the Champions League.

The World Club Championship was first held in 1960 as a meeting between the winners of the European Champion Clubs' Cup and the Copa Libertadores (the South American Champions cup). The two competing teams played each other on a home-and-away basis, but since 1980 the winners have been decided by one match, for the Intercontinental Cup. During the 1970s a number of matches were marred by physical violence and on five occasions the European Cup holders refused to take part, and they were replaced by the runners-up.

In January 2000 a new tournament, the Club World Championship, was held in Brazil with eight world teams including Real Madrid and Manchester United as well as representatives from Africa, Asia, Australia, Central America, and the hosts, two Brazilian teams. The tournament, based on league matches followed by a knockout phase, was won by Brazilian club side Corinthians.

B.

Youth Competition

There is also a European Under-17 Championship, begun in 2002, and held every year which is Europe’s top competition for up-and-coming players. The top sides in the tournament qualify for the FIFA Under-17 World Championship.

Two important world competitions for younger players are the FIFA Under-17 World Championship (since 1985) and the FIFA Under-20 World Championship (since 1977). Both competitions are held every two years, the former has been dominated by Brazil, Ghana, and Nigeria, the latter by Argentina, Brazil, and Portugal.

C.

South American Football

In South America the South American Championship was begun in 1916, the year of the formation of the South American Football Confederation. In the 1960s its popularity declined but the championship was revived in 1975 and is now played as the Copa America with 12 competing nations split into 3 groups, followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals, and a final. In the 2007 tournament, held in Venezuela, Brazil beat Argentina 3-0. It was Brazil’s eighth Copa America. The South American Cup was first contested in 1960 as the South American Champion Clubs’ Cup. Like the European Cup it was open to national league champions of countries affiliated to the South American Confederation. In 1965 league runners-up were also allowed to enter and in that year the name was changed to the Copa Libertadores de America. Boca Juniors of Argentina won the cup in 2007. The most successful team in the history of the competition has been Independiente of Argentina with seven wins.

D.

African Football

In Africa, the main international event is the Africa Cup of Nations—first held in 1957 when the Confederation of African Football (CAF) was created. The first final took place in Khartoum and involved only Sudan, Egypt, and Ethiopia. South Africa was due to take part but the CAF insisted on a multiracial team. South Africa withdrew and was not readmitted by the CAF until 1992. Since 1968 the competition has been held every two years; the last time was in 2008 when the winner was Egypt.

In Africa the premier club tournament is the African Champions Cup which is run along similar lines to the European equivalent, held annually with the champions of each country, plus the defending champions, playing on a home-and-away knockout basis. The early years of the competition were dominated by clubs from West and Central Africa. In the 1970s Cameroon and Ghana were in the ascendancy. After 1981 the North African countries held the upper hand. In 1997 it was replaced with a Champions League; past winners include Raja Casablanca, Morocco (1997 and 1999); ASEC Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (1998); Hearts of Oak, Ghana (2000); Al-Ahly, Egypt (2001, 2005, and 2006); Zamalek, Egypt (2002); Enyimba, Nigeria (2003 and 2004), and Étoile Sahel, Tunisia (2007).

Encouraged by the success of the African Champions Cup, the CAF, in 1975, began a competition for each nation’s Cup winners. This is organized like its European counterpart and has been dominated by clubs from West and North Africa. Egyptian clubs have done particularly well, especially Cairo’s Al-Ahly. Like the precedent set by the Jules Rimet trophy, the Abdelaziz Mostafa Cup was won for a third time by Al-Alhy and was awarded to the club permanently. It was followed by the Mandela Cup, which was won in 2003 by Étoile Sahel of Tunisia. In 1992 the CAF introduced a third tournament for the best of the other clubs not taking part in the other two cups. The CAF Cup is the equivalent of the UEFA Cup and run along similar lines. The first winners were Nigeria’s Shooting Stars; the winner in 2003 was Raja Casablanca of Morocco. In 2004 the Cup Winners' Cup and the CAF Cup were replaced by a single tournament called the Confederation Cup, which was won by Hearts of Oak of Ghana in its first year, by FAR Rabat of Morocco in the second, Étoile Sahel of Tunisia in the third, and Club Sportif Sfaxien of Tunisia in the fourth.

E.

Central and North American Football

The Central American Championship was contested under various formats and with various numbers of participants from 1941. In 1961 the Central and Caribbean Confederation merged with the North American Football Confederation to form CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American, and Caribbean Association Football). Up to 1965 the competition was dominated by Costa Rica. Thereafter Mexico did well. Canada won in 1985 and the United States in 1991. In that year it was renamed the CONCACAF Gold Cup. It was won by the United States in 2007. The CONCACAF Champions Cup was the premier club competition for teams from Central America and the Caribbean. It was inaugurated in 1962 and was then held annually. The Mexican clubs were the most successful. It was replaced in 2002 with a Champions’ League-styled tournament.

F.

Asian Football

The Asian Cup for national teams was inaugurated in 1956 and thereafter staged every four years. South Korea and Iran were the most successful teams up to 1976. Thereafter Kuwait and Saudi Arabia began to show their strength. In 2004 the tournament was won by Japan and in 2007 by Iraq. An Asian Club Championship was staged from 1967, with a pause between 1972 and 1984, with winners coming from Japan, South Korea, Israel, Qatar, China, Iran, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia. The Asian Cup Winners’ Cup was first held in 1990 and was dominated by Saudi Arabian and Japanese club sides. A Champions League was formed in 2002 that merged these two tournaments. The first winner was Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates in 2003; Al-Ittihad of Saudi Arabia won the competition in the next two years; with Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors of Korea winning in 2006 and Urawa Red Diamonds of Japan in 2007.

VII.

Women’s Football

Interest in football among women has been greatly on the increase since the 1970s. It is played in many schools and its organization at senior levels has developed along the lines of the game as played by men. There are professional and semi-professional teams in many European countries including Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and Spain. In these countries, several thousand spectators may attend matches and the levels of skill on the pitch can equal those seen in the men’s game. Women’s football in Britain is almost exclusively amateur and less well attended, but like the men’s game, is organized into league divisions: leading clubs include Doncaster Rovers Belles, Arsenal Ladies, and Fulham Ladies. In 2000-2001 Fulham Ladies became the first professional ladies’ side in Britain.

In 1991 the first Women’s World Cup (contested by 12 nations) was held and the finals took place in Guangzhou, China. Norway faced the United States who won 2-1. The current World Cup holders are Germany, who beat Brazil in the final in 2007. The European Championship for women was begun in the 1983-1984 season, when Sweden won. Since then the championship has been dominated by Norway (winning in 1987 and 1993) and Germany (1989, 1991, 1995, 1997, 2001, and 2005). In 2001-2002 a UEFA Women’s Cup (played for by European club sides) was instituted; Umeå IK of Sweden have appeared in four of the six finals, winning twice; FFC Frankfurt of Germany have also won on two occasions. The winners in 2007 were Arsenal Ladies of England.

VIII.

Football Culture

During the second half of the 20th century the game became increasingly commercialized. In effect it became very big business and a branch of the entertainment industry. Inevitably, there has been corruption and bribery (in itself nothing new in football or other sports), and instances of match-fixing, fraud, and illegal or irregular payments. The top players are paid huge salaries and millions of pounds change hands over transfers of players between clubs. The media have played an ever more powerful role. In fact, football could not easily survive without television and its vast investment in the game.

During the 1970s and 1980s, hooliganism, drunkenness, and violence among club supporters (especially of British clubs) began to bring the game into disrepute and to deter spectators. Riots—before, during, and after matches—and running battles in the streets between fans became commonplace.

There have been several major disasters: at Ibrox Park, Glasgow, in 1902 and 1971, at the Lenin Stadium, Moscow, in 1982, at Heysel, Brussels in 1985, at Valley Parade, Bradford, England in 1985, at Hillsborough, Sheffield, England in 1989, at Bastia, Corsica, in 1992, Ellis Park, Johannesburg, South Africa, and Accra Stadium, Ghana, both in 2001.

It was essential for football authorities to clean up the game on and off the field and to make life safer for spectators. The general improvements include the introduction of all-seater stadia (and some indoor stadia), big video screens for pre-match entertainment, facilities such as family stands to encourage women and children to attend and to promote family participation, crèches, better catering arrangements, much better club match programmes in the shape of glossy brochures, and fanzines (fan magazines) in which club supporters can express their views. Other features are improved surveillance by stewards, police, and video cameras. Hospitality/executive boxes have been installed to bring in more money. By the mid-1990s the measures seemed to have largely succeeded.

Football, like other games, tends to inspire intense rivalry among club supporters and supporters of national teams. Allegiance is expressed by wearing club or national colours (replica shirts, hats, scarves, badges, etc.) and by the display of flags and banners. Danish fans introduced the practice of face-painting in national and club colours. This has caught on around the world and many fans also dye their hair in appropriate team colours. Chanting and the use of musical instruments are also characteristic of modern football crowds. In Brazil, and other Latin American countries, dancing by the spectators to the sound of drums is a common sight. The terms “Samba soccer” and “Mexican Wave” have now been adopted in many other sports.