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 each, who primarily 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 opposing team. 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.

The game of 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, such as their head, chest and thighs, except for their hands or arms, to control, strike, or pass the ball. Only the goalkeepers may use their hands and arms, and only then within the penalty area. The team that has scored more goals at the end of the game is the winner. There are situations where a goal can be disallowed, such as an offside call or a foul in the build-up to the goal. Depending on the format of the competition, an equal number of goals scored may result in a draw being declared, or the game goes into extra time or a penalty shoot-out.

Internationally, association football is governed by FIFA. Under FIFA, there are six continental confederations: AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC, and UEFA. Of these confederations, CONMEBOL is the oldest one, being founded in 1916. National associations (e.g. The FA or JFA) are responsible for managing the game in their own countries both professionally and at an amateur level, and coordinating competitions in accordance with the Laws of the Game. The most senior and prestigious international competitions are the FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Women's World Cup. The men's World Cup is the most-viewed sporting event in the world, surpassing the Olympic Games. The two most prestigious competitions in European club football are the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Women's Champions League, which attract an extensive television audience throughout the world. Since 2009, the final of the men's tournament has been the most-watched annual sporting event in the world. (Full article...)

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Small Heath F.C. (later to become Birmingham City F.C.) pictured in 1893 or 1894.

Birmingham City Football Club are an English professional football club based in the city of Birmingham. As of the 2007-08 season, they were playing in the Premier League, the top tier of English football, which is the level at which they have spent the majority of their history.

Formed under the name of "Small Heath" in 1875, they were founder members and the first ever champions of the Football League Second Division. As Birmingham City, the most successful period in their history was in the 1950s and early 1960s. They achieved their highest finishing position of sixth in the First Division and reached the FA Cup Final in 1956, reached the final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1960 and 1961, and won their only major trophy, the League Cup, in 1963, beating Aston Villa 3–1 on aggregate.

St Andrew's has been their home ground since 1906. They have a long-standing and fierce rivalry with Aston Villa, their nearest neighbours, with whom they play the Birmingham derby. (Full article...)

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Steve Bruce in 1992

Steve Bruce (born 31 December 1960) is an English football manager and former player. Born in Corbridge, Northumberland, he was a promising schoolboy footballer but was rejected by a number of professional clubs. He was on the verge of quitting the game altogether when he was offered an apprenticeship with Gillingham, and went on to play more than 200 games for the club before joining Norwich City in 1984.

In 1987, he moved to Manchester United, with whom he achieved great success, winning the Premier League, The Football Association (FA) Cup and the Football League Cup. He also became the first English player of the twentieth century to captain a team to The Double. Despite his success on the field, he was never selected to play for the England national team.

Bruce began his managerial career with Sheffield United, and spent short periods of time managing Huddersfield Town, Wigan Athletic and Crystal Palace before joining Birmingham City in 2001. He twice led Birmingham to promotion to the Premier League during his tenure of nearly six years, but resigned in 2007 to begin a second spell as manager of Wigan. (Full article...)

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The Football Association of Indonesia (Indonesian: Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia; lit. 'All-Indonesian Football Association'; abbreviated as PSSI) is the governing body of football in Indonesia. It was founded on 19 April 1930. The PSSI joined FIFA in 1952 and the Asian Football Confederation in 1954. (Full article...)

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... that Welsh footballer Jon Morgan went on to become a college principal after retiring?
... that Carlton Town F.C., now competing at the eighth tier of the English football pyramid, was once denied promotion by a hat-trick scored by future England international Jamie Vardy?
... that Ecuadorian footballer Hernán Galíndez won a bicycle for beating a team featuring Lionel Messi when they were children?
... that Ryan Roberts, a defensive end for Notre Dame, was a soccer player in high school?
... that goalkeeper Sophie Whitehouse, who has lived in England, Africa and the US, has been chosen to play soccer for the Republic of Ireland?
... that after his soccer career, Steve Palacios enlisted in the United States Army and played for the United States Armed Forces soccer team?

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Paralympic football

Credit: Agência Brasil

As part of the Paralympic games, Paralympic football is played by athletes with disabilities. The games use the majority of the FIFA Laws of the Game with alterations to the field of play, equipment, numbers of players, and other rules as required to make the game suitable for the athletes. The two most prominent versions of Paralympic football are Football 5-a-side, for athletes with visual impairments, and Football 7-a-side, for athletes with cerebral palsy.

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I eat football, I sleep football, I breathe football. I'm not mad, I'm just passionate.

— Thierry Henry

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

Image 1"North" team of the British Ladies' Football Club, 1895 (from Women's association football)
Image 2Florida state vs north carolina soccer 2005. (from Women's association football)
Image 3Players 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 4FC de Rakt DA1 (2008/2009) (from Women's association football)
Image 5From 1866 to 1883, the laws provided for a tape between the goalposts (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 6Portland Thorns traveling supporters at Seattle's Memorial Stadium. (from Women's association football)
Image 7Japanese high-school girls playing football in their traditional hakama with one team wearing sashes (c. 1920) (from Women's association football)
Image 8Representation of a football match from the book Athletics and football, 1894 (from History of association football)
Image 9The Royal Engineers team who reached the first FA Cup final in 1872 (from History of association football)
Image 10The 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 11Marta of Brazil is the all-time leading scorer of the senior FIFA World Cups. (from Women's association football)
Image 12United States Abby Wambach plays off a corner kick against Canada.
Image 13Olympique Lyonnais vs Paris Saint-Germain. (from Women's association football)
Image 14An 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 15Iran women's national football team maintained a higher rank internationally. (from Women's association football)
Image 16Iran vs Turkey in 2010 Youth Olympics (from Women's association football)
Image 17Megan Rapinoe speaks on equal pay in March 2021. (from Women's association football)
Image 18Harrow School team of 1867. (from History of association football)
Image 19Sam Kerr with Australia during the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinal against Japan in Edmonton, 2015 (from Women's association football)
Image 20Striker 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 21Old Etonians v Blackburn Rovers match. Illustration by S.T. Dadd, 1882 (from History of association football)
Image 22Sheffield F.C. (here pictured in 1876) is the oldest association club still active, having been founded in 1857 (from History of association football)
Image 23A Welsh women's football team pose for a photograph in 1959 (from Women's association football)
Image 24The Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies (from Women's association football)
Image 25Arsenal in 2007 of the Women's FA Cup. (from Women's association football)
Image 26Drawing of the first international game by artist William Ralston (from History of association football)
Image 27When 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 28Mia Hamm (left) battles with German defender Kerstin Stegemann (from Women's association football)

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The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. It took place between 7 June and 7 July 2019, with 52 matches staged in nine cities in France, which was awarded the right to host the event in March 2015, the first time the country hosted the tournament. The tournament was the first Women's World Cup to use the video assistant referee (VAR) system. This was the second and last edition with 24 teams before expanding to 32 teams for the 2023 tournament in Australia and New Zealand.

The United States entered the competition as defending champions after winning the 2015 edition in Canada and successfully defended their title with a 2–0 victory over the Netherlands in the final. In doing so, they secured their record fourth title and became the second nation, after Germany, to have successfully retained the title. Unlike Germany, however, this victory held a distinction as the United States won both 2015 and 2019 tournaments under one manager, Jill Ellis. It was the first time in 81 years since Vittorio Pozzo did so for the Italian men's team at the 1934 and 1938 FIFA World Cups. (Full article...)

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More did you know - load new batch

... that a team including bricklayers, assistant bank managers and insurance clerks defeated Coventry City in the third round of the FA Cup in 1989? (5 April 2021)
... that despite smoking in football formerly being popular, it has since been banned from the touchline by UEFA? (17 June 2021)
... that both Robbie Williams and Michael Jackson played for Blackpool in the 2007 Football League One play-off Final? (24 March 2021)
... that the opening goal of the 1992 Football League Third Division play-off Final was described as a "Russian linesman job"? (28 February 2021)
... that Brett Ormerod scored five goals for Blackpool in the 2001 Football League play-offs including one in the 2001 Football League Third Division play-off Final? (28 April 2021)
... that the year after going into administration, Huddersfield Town gained promotion to the Second Division by winning the 2004 Football League Third Division play-off Final? (27 April 2021)