Portal:Association football

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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch.

The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposing team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed goal defended by the opponent. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45-minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries and territories, it is the world's most popular sport.

Association football is played in accordance with the Laws of the Game, a set of rules that has been in effect since 1863 and maintained by the IFAB since 1886. The game is played with a football that is 68–70 cm (27–28 in) in circumference. The two teams compete to score goals by getting the ball into the other team's goal (between the posts, under the bar, and fully across the goal line). When the ball is in play, the players mainly use their feet, but may also use any other part of their body, except for their hands or arms, to control, strike, or pass the ball; the head, chest, and thighs are commonly used. Only the goalkeepers may use their hands and arms, but only within their own penalty area. The team that has scored more goals at the end of the game is the winner. Depending on the format of the competition, an equal number of goals scored may result in a draw being declared with 1 point awarded to each team, or the game may go into extra time or a penalty shoot-out. (Full article...)

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The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the first football World Cup tournament ever staged. It was played in Uruguay from July 13 to July 30. FIFA chose Uruguay as hosts at the Barcelona conference on May 18, 1929, as the country would be celebrating the centenary of its independence and the Uruguay national football team had successfully retained their football title at the 1928 Summer Olympics.

Thirteen teams participated; nine from the Americas and four from Europe. Few European teams chose to participate due to the duration and cost of travel. The first two World Cup matches took place simultaneously, and were won by France and the USA, who beat Mexico 4-1 and Belgium 3-0, respectively. The first goal in World Cup history was scored by Lucien Laurent of France. In the final, hosts and pre-tournament favourites Uruguay defeated Argentina 4-2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people, and became the first nation to win a World Cup. (Full article...)

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Footballer Shaun Goater at a book signing on 26 September 2006

Shaun Goater MBE (born 25 February 1970 in Hamilton, Bermuda) is a footballer who played as a striker for a number of English clubs in the 1990s and 2000s.

Goater's first professional club was Manchester United, but he did not reach the first team, making his League debut in 1989 after moving to Rotherham. He played for Rotherham for seven years before moving to Bristol City in 1996. Two years later he moved to Manchester City for a fee of £400,000.

He is most well known for his time at Manchester City, where he scored over 100 goals between 1998 and 2003, finishing as the club's top scorer for four consecutive seasons. After leaving City, Goater had spells with Reading, Coventry and Southend United, before retiring in May 2006.

A former member of the Bermudian national team, Goater returned to Bermuda on retirement, receiving an official welcome from Prime Minister Alex Scott on his arrival. Since 2003, he has organised the annual Shaun Goater Grass-roots Soccer Festival, a football coaching event for children on the islands. (Full article...)

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The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six continental confederations of international association football. The OFC has 13 members, 11 of which are full members and two which are associate members not affiliated with FIFA. It promotes the game in Oceania and allows the member nations to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.

OFC is predominantly made up of island nations where association football is not the most popular sport, with low GDP and low population meaning very little money is generated by the OFC nations. The OFC has little influence in the wider football world, either in terms of international competition or as a source of players for high-profile club competitions. OFC is the only confederation to have not had at least one international title, the best result being Australia making the final of the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup. (Full article...)

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... that football manager Darren Moore led Sheffield Wednesday to promotion even after they lost the first leg of their play-off semi-final 4–0?
... that Welsh footballer Jon Morgan went on to become a college principal after retiring?
... that Ecuadorian footballer Hernán Galíndez won a bicycle for beating a team featuring Lionel Messi when they were children?
... that goalkeeper Sophie Whitehouse, who has lived in England, Africa and the US, has been chosen to play soccer for the Republic of Ireland?

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Battle of Santiago

Credit: Public Domain

On June 2, 1962, Chile played Italy in the 1962 FIFA World Cup. Known as The Battle of Santiago, it is derided as one of the most violent games of football ever. The first foul occurred after 12 seconds and Italy's Giorgio Ferrini was sent off in the twelfth minute after a foul on Honorino Landa. In the violence that followed, Leonel Sánchez broke Italian captain Humberto Maschio's nose with a left hook by accident. Chile won the match 2-0.

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I have never started a fight in my life but I have finished a few... sometimes I shudder when I think about what I have done.

— Tommy Smith (footballer, born 1945)

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The following are images from various association football-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Olympique Lyonnais vs Paris Saint-Germain (from Women's association football)
Image 2Striker Cristiana Girelli and coach Rita Guarino of Juventus in 2019. Juventus is one of the most storied and successful football clubs in Italy. (from Women's association football)
Image 3Representation of a football match from the book Athletics and football, 1894. The goal has no net. (from History of association football)
Image 4From 1866 to 1883, the laws provided for a tape between the goalposts (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 5Mia Hamm (left) battles with German defender Kerstin Stegemann (from Women's association football)
Image 6FC de Rakt DA1 (2008/2009) (from Women's association football)
Image 7Sam Kerr with Australia during the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinal against Japan in Edmonton, 2015 (from Women's association football)
Image 8Goalkeeper Zahra Khajavi of the Iran women's national football team (from Women's association football)
Image 9Arsenal after winning the Women's FA Cup in 2007 (from Women's association football)
Image 10Marta of Brazil is the all-time leading scorer of the senior FIFA World Cups. (from Women's association football)
Image 11North team of the British Ladies' Football Club, 1895 (from Women's association football)
Image 12United States' Abby Wambach plays off a corner kick against Canada.
Image 13Players fighting for the ball during the match between Germany and Norway in UEFA Women's Euro 2009 in Tampere, Finland (from Women's association football)
Image 14A Welsh women's football team pose for a photograph in 1959 (from Women's association football)
Image 15Cricket and Foot-Ball, one of the earliest books about association football, published by Beadle & Co. in New York in 1866 It contained the rules and laws of the game. (from History of association football)
Image 16Florida State vs North Carolina, 2005 (from Women's association football)
Image 17Harrow School team of 1867. (from History of association football)
Image 18Megan Rapinoe speaks on equal pay in March 2021. (from Women's association football)
Image 19When first introduced in 1891, the penalty was awarded for offences within 12 yards of the goal-line. (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 20Old Etonians v Blackburn Rovers match. Illustration by S.T. Dadd, 1882 (from History of association football)
Image 21Portland Thorns traveling supporters at Seattle's Memorial Stadium (from Women's association football)
Image 22Drawing of the first international game by artist William Ralston (from History of association football)
Image 23Sheffield F.C. (here pictured in 1876) is the oldest association club still active, having been founded in 1857 (from History of association football)
Image 24The official record attendance for a women's football match was set at Camp Nou on 22 April 2022, with 91,648 people watching Barcelona defeat Wolfsburg 5–1 (pictured). (from Women's association football)
Image 25Iran vs Turkey in 2010 Youth Olympics (from Women's association football)
Image 26The Royal Engineers team who reached the first FA Cup final in 1872 (from History of association football)
Image 27An early draft of the original hand-written 'Laws of the Game' drawn up on behalf of The Football Association by Ebenezer Cobb Morley in 1863 on display at the National Football Museum, Manchester. (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 28Japanese high-school girls playing football in their traditional hakama with one team wearing sashes (c. 1920) (from Women's association football)
Image 29The Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies (from Women's association football)

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The 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup was the first FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for women's national football teams. It took place in Guangdong, China from 16 to 30 November 1991. FIFA, football's international governing body selected China as host nation as Guangdong had hosted a prototype world championship three years earlier, the 1988 FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament. Matches were played in the provincial capital, Guangzhou, as well as in Foshan, Jiangmen and Zhongshan. The competition was sponsored by Mars, Incorporated, maker of M&M's candy. With FIFA still reluctant to bestow their "World Cup" brand, the tournament was officially known as the 1st FIFA World Championship for Women's Football for the M&M's Cup.

It was won by the United States, whose captain April Heinrichs formed a forward line dubbed the "Triple-Edged Sword" with Carin Jennings and Michelle Akers-Stahl. Jennings was named player of the tournament while Akers-Stahl's ten goals won the Golden Boot. The United States defeated Norway 2–1 in the final in front of a crowd of 63,000 people at Guangzhou's Tianhe Stadium. Total attendance for the tournament was 510,000, an average per match of 19,615. In the opening match at the same stadium, Norway was defeated 4–0 by hosts China. Chinese defender Ma Li scored the first goal in Women's World Cup history, while goalkeeper Zhong Honglian, also of China, posted the first official "clean sheet" in the tournament. (Full article...)

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... that despite smoking in football formerly being popular, it has since been banned from the touchline by UEFA? (17 June 2021)
... that Ipswich Town won the Football League First Division in their 1961–62 season having been promoted from the Second Division the previous season? (26 January 2021)
... that after winning the 2013 Football League One play-off Final, Yeovil Town were promoted to the second tier of English football just ten years after being a non-League club? (12 February 2021)
... that Wycombe Wanderers secured back-to-back promotions when they won the 1994 Football League Third Division play-off Final? (11 March 2021)
... that MLS Cup 2000 was the first championship game in league history not to feature D.C. United? (13 April 2021)
... that South African association footballer Amanda Sister has played for clubs in Hungary and Italy? (9 March 2021)