About the Author
Hi everyone! I'm Johnny and I am a fifth grader. Although I had played in our school soccer team for four years, I had never regarded soccer as an attractive sport until I watched the Qatar World Cup last year and played FIFA video games. I've been eager to know everything about soccer since then.
History of Soccer
by Johnny Z.
Soccer's oldest form is Tsu Chu from China, which originated as far back as 2500 BC.C. For instance, "Players could not use their hands, but they could use their feet and other parts of their bodies" (‘History of Soccer’). This shows that the method and rules of playing Tsu Chu are very similar to modern soccer. Although Tsu Chu is similar to modern soccer, it still has some differences. According to the text, “Tsu Chu differed from modern soccer primarily by the height of the goal, which hung about 30 feet above the ground.” In short, among its ancient counterparts, Tsu Chu is the closest form to modern soccer.
The rules of soccer were developed over a long time. When soccer was first formed, it was not orderly: “In the early days it was not possible to distinguish the two teams by the shirts and it would take even longer until numbers were used on the [player’s] shirts. Also, the sizes of the playing field could vary a lot and the same thing with numbers of players involved” (‘The development of football rules’). This shows that football in the early days was very different than modern soccer. After a meeting in Cambridge in 1863, the standardization was reached, but it was still far from the modern game. According to the text, “No crossbar was used and the goal was not specific to a limited height. If the ball crossed the sideline, the player that first got the ball was rewarded the throw-in”… Referees and goalkeepers were involved in 1871 and 1909. Corners and penalties were introduced in 1872 and 1891. Later, if a game was a draw after 90 minutes, there would be an extra time for 30 minutes. If it was still a draw, there would be a penalty shoot-out. This rule was fully adopted in 1970. After centuries of development, we have these rules that we are now playing with.
The World Cup is the most important tournament in soccer. On May 26, 1928, FIFA (International Federation of Association Football in French) officially declared the organization of the World Cup. The World Cup has been held every four years (it was interrupted by WW2). The first World Cup was held by Uruguay, which had won the Olympic soccer gold medal, but some countries weren’t satisfied with this arrangement: “many complained it would take too long to get there. In those days, people still traveled by ship” (‘The history of FIFA World Cup’). Although FIFA promised to pay some travel expenses, some players still didn’t have enough money, so there were only thirteen teams competing in the first World Cup. The most famous match in the World Cup was the final of the Mexico World Cup. According to the text, “On June 21, 1970, more than one hundred thousand screaming soccer fans packed the Extadio Azteca. They were there to watch the World Cup final between Brazil and Italy. For the first time, two two-time World Cup winners—Brazil in 1958 and 1962, and Italy in 1934 and 1938—would face off.” The beautiful and memorable game ended 4-1, Brazil’s victory. Today the World Cup is the most-watched sporting event in the entire world.