Football

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about sports known as football. For the ball used in these sports, see Football (ball).

Some of the many different games known as football. From top left to bottom right: Association football or soccer, Australian rules football, International rules football, rugby union, rugby league, and American football.

The game of football is any of several similar team sports, of similar origins which involve advancing a ball into a goal area in an attempt to score. Many of these involve kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal, though not all codes of football using kicking as a primary means of advancing the ball or scoring. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer". Unqualified, the word football applies to whichever form of football is the most popular in the regional context in which the word appears, including American football, Australian rules football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, rugby league, rugby union and other related games. These variations are known as "codes".

Contents

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• 1 Common elements
• 2 Etymology
• 3 Early history
  • 3.1 Ancient games
  • 3.2 Medieval and early modern Europe
  • 3.3 Calcio Fiorentino
  • 3.4 Official disapproval and attempts to ban football
• 4 Establishment of modern codes
  • 4.1 English public schools
  • 4.2 Firsts
  • 4.3 Cambridge rules
  • 4.4 Sheffield rules
  • 4.5 Australian rules
  • 4.6 Football Association
  • 4.7 Rugby football
  • 4.8 North American football codes
  • 4.9 Gaelic football
  • 4.10 Split in Rugby football
  • 4.11 Globalisation of association football
  • 4.12 Reform of American football