Soccer World Cup Special Newsletter
Now that the 'Soccer Fever' has gripped you and the world, I am sure your would more than love to take an insight into the history of soccer and add to your ever-increasing knowledge. So Here We Go...!
Soccer - An Essential History
There is documentary evidence that a a game or skill building exercise, involving kicking a ball into a small net, was used by the Chinese military during the Han Dynasty - around the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC. Earlier evidence - of a field marked out to play a ball-kicking game has been found at Kyoto, in Japan. Both the Greeks and ancient Romans played a soccer-type game which resembled modern soccer - although in this early version, teams could consist of up to 27 players!
It is impossible to say accurately where and when soccer started - but it is reasonable to assume that some type of ball game - from which the organized sport we know today developed - has been played somewhere on the planet for over 3000 years.
Britain is the undisputed birthplace of modern soccer/association football. Scotland and England being co-founders of the organized game. Football - as soccer is called in Britain - was a popular sport of the masses from the 8th century onwards. But the game at that time was a war game!
There is a story which places the first football game in the east of England - where the locals played 'football' with the severed head of a Danish Prince they had defeated in battle! In medieval times, towns and villages played against rival towns and villages - and kicking, punching, biting and gouging were allowed. The object of the game was to move the ball to an agreed spot which had been marked out before play commenced. Hundreds of people took part and games could last all day.
So violent did these matches become that many attempts were made by the authorities to ban soccer. In England, King Edward III passed laws in 1331 to try and suppress football. In Scotland, King James 1, in 1424, proclaimed in Parliament, "That na man play at the Fute-ball" (No man shall play football/soccer). Queen Elizabeth 1 of England, had a law passed which provided for soccer players to be " jailed for a week, and obliged to do penance in church."
But no law could stop the game. It was too popular.
In 1815, the famous English School, Eton College, established a set of rules which other schools, colleges and Universities began to use. Later, these were standardised and a version, known as the Cambridge Rules, was adopted by most of England's Universities and Colleges in 1848.
But now, football was divided into two separate camps. Some colleges and schools preferred to follow rules drawn up by Rugby School - rules which permitted tripping, shin-kicking and carrying the ball - all forbidden by the Cambridge rules.
On 26 October 1863,
eleven London clubs and schools sent their representatives to a meeting in the
Freemason's Tavern to establish a single set of fundamental rules to govern the
matches played amongst them. This meeting created The Football Association. The
supporters of the Rugby School rules walked out - and On 8 December 1863,
Association Football and Rugby Football finally split. In 1869 The Football
Association included in their rules a provision which forbade any handling of
the ball - so establishing the foundation on which the modern game stands.
Soccer World Cup - An Essential History
Jules Rimet, the president of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), suggested in 1926 that an international soccer tournament "could reinforce the ideals of a permanent and real peace."
His idea was given impetus by an ongoing and escalating struggle between the FIFA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over control of the sport at the international level.
Only teams made up of amateur players were admitted to the Olympics Games, but most of the best players in the world were professionals. After several countries refused to compete in the 1928 Olympics because of the amateur rule, the FIFA voted on May 26, 1928, to hold its own world championship tournament.
The tournament was originally to be held in 1929, but it was delayed by financial problems. At a meeting in May of 1929, FIFA Vice-President Rodolfe Seeldrayers proposed that the host country should pay transportation and lodging expenses for the participating teams.
At first, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Uruguay offered to host the tournament, but Holland and Sweden withdrew shortly afterward to back Italy as the host country. Gradually, all the European countries withdrew their offers and Uruguay was selected, basically by default.
Because of the difficulties involved in traveling to South America, only four European teams, Belgium, France, Romania, and Yugoslavia took part. They were joined by Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, the United States and Uruguay.
Although it was commonly referred to as the World Cup, the championship trophy was formally named the Jules Rimet Cup. Host Uruguay was the first winner, beating Argentina, 4-2, in the championship game.
Brazil was given permanent possession of the trophy after winning it for the third time in 1970. It was stolen in 1983 and has never been recovered.
The Jules Rimet Cup was replaced in 1974 by the present trophy, the FIFA World Cup, which is made up solid gold and malachite. The winning country keeps it until the next tournament, but the trophy remains the permanent property of the FIFA. However, each country that wins the World Cup is given a gold-plated replica.
In 1998, the World Cup field expanded from 24 to 32 teams, with the defending champion and the host country automatically given berths. The other 29 are allotted by region. For the 2002 tournament, 13 slots were given to Europe, 5 to Africa, 4 to South America, 3 to Central and North America, and 2 to Asia.
The two remaining berths were filled between home-and-away playoff series, one between the #3 Asian team and the #14 European team, the other between the Oceania champion and the #5 South American team.
The teams are divided among eight groups that play round-robin tournaments, with the top two teams in each group advancing into the single-elimination tournament round.
Know me?
Soccer Facts
The World Cup
is the biggest soccer tournament in the world. It is held every four years in a
different country. Billions of people watch the televised games as the national
teams from countries around the globe battle it out for soccer supremacy.
The 2002 World Cup was held in two places—Seoul, South Korea
and Tokyo, Japan. Brazil won the 2002 World Cup and also has won the most World
Cups (five) since the tournament began in 1930. The Women's World Cup was played
in the United States in 1999 and again in 2003, and the U.S. won their second
Cup in 1999 when Brandi Chastain scored in a penalty shootout to defeat China.
The German team took the 2003 Women's World Cup.
Gerd Müller, who played for West Germany in the 1970 and 1974
World Cups, holds the career record for most World Cup goals with 14.
The University of North Carolina has won an incredible 16
national championships in women's soccer since the first tournament was played
in 1982.
Brazilian striker Ronaldo was named the Most Valuable Player
of the 1998 World Cup, even though his team lost in the championship game to
France. The has also been named World Player of the Year three times.
In 2002, Germany's Oliver Kahn became the first goalkeeper to
win the Most Valuable Player of the World Cup.
Only seven countries have won the World cup Championship since it began in 1930.
BRAZIL : 5
ITALY : 3
GERMANY : 3
URUGUAY : 2
ARGENTINE : 2
ENGLAND : 1
FRANCE : 1
Football or Soccer?
In the 1880's, Oxford University students used slang which involved adding an "er" to the end of words they had deliberately shortened.
"Rugger," was slang for Rugby Football. A student, named Charles Wreford Brown, was asked if he liked to play rugger.
'No soccer!' Was his witty reply.
He had shortened asSOCiation (football) and added "er." The term was coined!
Wreford Brown went on to play international football, (oops!) soccer, for England!
From these beginnings world soccer developed. Today Soccer is played on all five continents. It is the world's largest spectator sport. The world cup 2002 was watched by a a cumulative in-home audience of 28.8 billion viewers. 46 million viewers watched the 2002 WC England v Brazil quarter final match.
The English Premier League - widely regarded as the world's best league is telecast weekly to 163 countries attracting an audience of 550 million. " Fueled by the capture of eight Premier League championships during the past 11 years, England's Manchester United pulled in $289 million in revenue last season.That figure makes the team worth, we estimate, $1.2 billion and thus the most valuable in soccer.
Players to Watch this World Cup...
Who do you think is gonna win?