Invention of Football: Soccer

Soccer is a team sport, played between two teams pitted against each other. A standard rectangular field is used to play, with two goal posts each, on the center of the two shorter sides. A spherical ball is passed around using the foot or occasionally by the head, and the aim is to hit the ball into the goal post. History of football dates back to England in the middle ages, when different rules were used and the sport was played in an unorganized manner across high schools in the country. In 1848, Cambridge University made its first effort to set up some rules and as such the rules of the game came into existence, popularly called Cambridge rules. The rules set by the Cambridge University were followed by several clubs besides schools and universities of various counties. However, some schools and universities, who initially followed the Cambridge rules, went against the existing rules and decided to come up with their own set of regulations. This led to the formation of the Sheffield United FC, a body formed by former members of the Cambridge University.

These continuous efforts contributed and finally led to the formation of The Football Association (The FA) which held its first meeting on October 26, 1863. This was followed by minor confrontations of the members, on some rules laid out by the FA, which led to mutiny by a few member clubs to form separate associations. But, this didn't affect the FA much, as it successfully organized the FA cup, the oldest football competition in the world, in 1872. The world's first league tournament started in Birmingham with 12 club teams. This league then evolved into the highly prestigious English Premier League.