Soccer

Soccer Team Wins Championship

The game of soccer, otherwise known as football outside of the United States, is a team sport. Soccer games consist of two opposing teams of eleven players who attempt to score goals by kicking a soccer ball. The official term for soccer is “association football,” and it is thought to be the most popular sport in the world – far more popular than the beloved United States games of basketball, baseball and American football.


Soccer games are played on a rectangular field consisting of grass or artificial turf. Each soccer team has a goal placed on opposite sides of the field. Kicking the soccer ball through the opposing team’s goal scores points. Players are not allowed to use their hands unless they are goalkeepers, forcing players to use their feet to propel the ball. Many a soccer pro also uses their head or torso to intercept the ball. In order to win the game, one team must score more points by the end of the predetermined match.

Soccer as we know it today was established in England in 1863, when the Football Association put together “Laws of the Game,” thus officially codifying the rules. The rules of soccer cover everything from what soccer shoes to wear to how soccer club members should behave themselves. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football), also known as FIFA, governs the rules of soccer today and runs an international soccer competition known as the FIFA World Cup.

The FIFA World Cup, also known as the Football World Cup and simply World Cup, occurs every four years and is considered to be the most prestigious international soccer event. The thirty-two teams allowed to compete are drawn from the men’s national teams that are members of FIFA. The competition began in 1930 and has continued ever since, except in the years of 1942 and 1946 due to World War II. So far, there have been eighteen competitions. The World Cup is around a month long, but takes three years to pick the teams that will play and the location for the actual event. The countries that have won the World Cup championship title include Brazil, Italy, Germany, Uruguay, Argentina, England and France. The competition is aired on television and watched by millions, as well as attended by thousands of people.