Football and soccer are the two most popular sports in the world. However, many people are confused by the difference between the two terms. They assume that “soccer” is a more American name for the game. The truth is that these two words are actually synonyms.
One of the oldest sports in the world, football has roots that date back over 2,000 years. It originated in England and is now played in over 200 countries worldwide. Soccer is the name of the sport in most of the rest of the world.
Both are team games, with eleven players on a field. Teams have a designated goalkeeper and ten outfield players who can play anywhere on the field. Most outfield players are specialized in defending or attacking.
The standard game is played for 90 minutes, with the two halves separated by 45 minutes. There are 17 rules, called the Laws of the Game, which are designed to be universal. These are modified to take into account factors such as age, gender, and disability.
In the early 1900s, Americans invented a variant of the game. They dubbed it “Association football.” This term eventually became “soccer.”
The word football is an English invention. It was originally used to refer to a variety of games. Many different languages borrowed the word for their respective sports. Some languages, like Chinese, even translated the word into the word for “foot”.
By the late 19th century, “association football” and “rugby football” were the two most popular types of the game. Around 1863, the Football Association codified the game.
