Football

All about Association Football, the Beautiful Game

The term ‘the beautiful game’ is synonymous with Association Football. Many people claim to have coined the phrase, including Stuart Hall, a football commentator. It was Stuart Hall who popularized the phrase in his commentating career. Others are of the opinion that the person who came up with the phrase was Valdir Pereira who is a former Brazilian footballer.

The phrase is used widely outside commentating and in 1977, the famous Brazilian footballer Pelé named his autobiography ‘My Life and the Beautiful Game’ and in the dedication it read ‘I dedicate this book to all those who make the game beautiful’. The phrase is also widely used in the media.

One reason why football is termed as the beautiful game is the fact that the tactics employed, pitch conditions, individual decision-making, team rapport, technical skill, wind velocity, and crowd influence affect the outcome of the game. The fact that both teams have an equal chance of winning at the beginning of the game makes this a truly beautiful game. The term ‘the beautiful game’ comes from the fact that this is the only game that has a defined global phenomenon.

The game is the national sport of 175 countries – this represents roughly 90% of the nations of the world. The game is termed as ‘the beautiful game’ because it has an important role in society. The game, as is indeed the case with all sports, has been known to resolve conflict between communities and even between nations. The game is termed as ‘the beautiful game’ because it is one of the easiest games to play, the basic rules being to pass the ball using the feet and to score a goal.

Association football, called soccer in some countries, is played between 2 teams, each with 11 players, and a spherical ball. At the turn of the twenty first century, the game was played by 250 million players in more than 200 countries – this makes it the most popular sport in the world. The game is played on rectangular fields of grass or artificial turf (green in color) and with a goal at the middle of each of the narrow ends. The length of the pitch for international adult matches is in the range of (110–120 yd) and the ball is 71 cm in circumference.

The length of the pitch ranges from 100–110 m length by 64–75 m width. The object of the sport is to score as many goals as possible by driving the ball into the goal of the opposing team. The goalkeeper is the only player allowed to touch the ball with his/her arms within his/her territory. The footballers use their feet to kick the ball around. However, they are allowed to use their torso and their heads to intercept the ball mid-air. The team that wins is the one that scores the most goals. If the teams score, a draw is declared. In tournaments, extra time with 15 minutes in each half is played and then penalties are taken until the winner is determined if the teams are still drawn after the extra time. In some tournaments, teams go straight to penalties. Up until recently, the first team that scored during extra time is the team that won – this was called the golden goal rule.

The Laws of the Game have their origin in the English Football Association where they were codified in 1863. These laws have evolved ever since. The game is governed internationally by FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association).

FIFA’s headquarters are in Zurich. There are six regional confederations under FIFA and these are AFC or Asian Football Confederation, CAF or Confederation of African Football, UEFA or Union of European Football Associations, CONCACAF or North/Central America & Caribbean: Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, OFC or Oceania Football Confederation, and CONMEBOL or Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol/Confederação Sul-americana de Futebol. Under these confederations are national federations such as the Fédération Camerounaise de Football in Cameroon and the Scottish Football Association in Scotland.

The laws are currently determined by the IFAB or the International Football Association Board, not FIFA, but it is FIFA which publishes them. There are 17 official laws in total. These laws are flexible to incorporate women football, disabled football, and depending on where the game is played such as beach football.

The beautiful game is to have started in the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC in China. The oldest rules [16] the rules that relate closely to what we have today were the Cambridge Rules which were drawn up in 1848. The beautiful game features local leagues and championships, regional leagues and championships, and international championships such as the FIFA World Cup.