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 get the ball into the other team's goal (between the posts, under the bar, and across the goal line), thereby scoring a goal. When the ball is in play, the players mainly use their feet, but may use any other part of their body, 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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Leek Town F.C. in action in 2006

Leek Town Football Club is an English football club based in Leek, Staffordshire. Founded in 1946, the club played in a variety of local leagues before becoming founder members of the North West Counties League in 1982. They progressed to the Northern Premier League in 1987.

Leek Town reached the final of the FA Trophy in 1990, having progressed all the way from the First Qualifying Round, but lost in the final at Wembley Stadium to Barrow. In 1997 they were Northern Premier League champions and gained promotion to the Football Conference, the highest level of English non-league football, although they only spent two seasons at that level before being relegated.

Harrison Park has been the club's home ground since 1948 after paying £1,250 for the land, no other facilities were added until the 1950's and players had to change in the toilets of a nearby pub. Expanded and upgraded in the 1990s, the ground is named after former chairman Geoff Harrison. (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 Confederation of Brazilian Football (Portuguese: Confederação Brasileira de Futebol; CBF) is the governing body of football in Brazil. It was founded on Monday, 8 June 1914, as Federação Brasileira de Sports [pt], and renamed Confederação Brasileira de Desportos in 1916. The football confederation, as known today, separated from other sports associations on 24 September 1979.

The CBF has its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. The confederation owns a training center, named Granja Comary, located in Teresópolis. (Full article...)

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... that Ecuadorian footballer Hernán Galíndez won a bicycle for beating a team featuring Lionel Messi when they were children?
... that after his soccer career, Steve Palacios enlisted in the United States Army and played for the United States Armed Forces soccer team?
... 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 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 Welsh footballer Jon Morgan went on to become a college principal after retiring?

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football in Japan

Credit: Flickr user Jack French

A futsal pitch in use on the top of a tower block in Tokyo. The sport of football in Japan is organized professionally by the J.League and the Japan Football Association. Association football and its variants are some of the most popular sports in the country.

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That's great, tell him he's Pele and get him back on.

— John Lambie, when told a concussed striker did not know who he was.

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

Image 1FC de Rakt DA1 (2008/2009) (from Women's association football)
Image 2A Welsh women's football team pose for a photograph in 1959 (from Women's association football)
Image 3Japanese high-school girls playing football in their traditional hakama with one team wearing sashes (c. 1920) (from Women's association football)
Image 4Yuki Ogimi (17) scores for Japan against the United States off a pass from Homare Sawa (10) as Kelley O'Hara (5) defends and Hope Solo (1) attempts to save. (from Women's association football)
Image 5When 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 6Chelsea, a women's football club of London, England in 2020. (from Women's association football)
Image 7Drawing of the first international game by artist William Ralston (from History of association football)
Image 8Marta wearing the Brazil number 10 during a match in the 2007 Pan American Games (from Women's association football)
Image 9From 1866 to 1883, the laws provided for a tape between the goalposts (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 10"North" team of the British Ladies' Football Club, 1895 (from Women's association football)
Image 11Abby Wambach and England captain Steph Houghton shake hands before kick off on February 13, 2015 (from Women's association football)
Image 12Representation of a football match from the book Athletics and football, 1894 (from History of association football)
Image 13Old Etonians v Blackburn Rovers match. Illustration by S.T. Dadd, 1882 (from History of association football)
Image 14Sheffield F.C. (here pictured in 1876) is the oldest association club still active, having been founded in 1857 (from History of association football)
Image 15Mia Hamm (left) battles with German defender Kerstin Stegemann (from Women's association football)
Image 16Iran vs Turkey in 2010 Youth Olympics (from Women's association football)
Image 17An 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 18Harrow School team of 1867. (from History of association football)
Image 19The Royal Engineers team who reached the first FA Cup final in 1872 (from History of association football)

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The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in late 2010. It was the eleventh time the championships had been held in Europe, the first time they were held in Eastern Europe, and the first time they were held across two continents (Europe and Asia). At an estimated cost of over $14.2 billion, it was the most expensive World Cup ever held until it was surpassed by the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The tournament phase involved 32 teams, of which 31 came through qualifying competitions, while the host nation Russia qualified automatically. Of the 32, 20 had also appeared in the 2014 event, while Iceland and Panama each made their debut at the World Cup. 64 matches were played in 12 venues across 11 cities. Germany, the defending champions, were eliminated in the group stage for the first time since 1938. Host nation Russia was eliminated in the quarter-finals. In the final, France played Croatia on 15 July at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. France won the match 4–2, claiming their second World Cup and becoming the fourth consecutive title won by a European team, after Italy in 2006, Spain in 2010, and Germany in 2014. (Full article...)

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... 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 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 both Robbie Williams and Michael Jackson played for Blackpool in the 2007 Football League One play-off Final? (24 March 2021)
... that despite losing the 1990 Football League Third Division play-off Final, Tranmere Rovers were temporarily promoted to the Second Division? (29 April 2021)
... that the 2010 Football League Two play-off Final at Wembley Stadium was won by "a pub team from Essex"? (25 February 2021)
... that the East Bengal Ultras, founded in 2013, became India's first ultras group? (29 March 2021)