HOW IT ALL BEGAN…

Soccer started in Ancient Egypt in the III century a.C. as a fertility ritual. But in the other hand, China had already invented the leather ball a century ago. That was when Fu-Hi, inventor and a governor of China, made a ball by joining lots of roots together. Then he covered the whole sphere of roots with leather. But that was used to pass from hand to hand.

Although, the Aztecs played tlachtli, that was sort of a combination of soccer, tennis and basketball. But in this game you couldn’t use your hands OR feet. And finally, the team that lost would sacrifice their captain.

Something similar to soccer was going on in Greece too. They played something that they called “esfaira”. This sphere was made out of an ox’s bladder. They also played in Italy where they called the ball “pila” or “pilotta”, which explains were the word “pelota” (meaning ball) in Spanish comes from. The sport was beginning to get very popular between cultures and people.

Romans took this sport all the way to England. But During the Middle Ages, the sport was prohibited in some places for its violent action. But it was later modified and used by the British Islands. The “dribble” started in the XIX century in public schools. Then it was taken to universities such as Oxford or Cambridge. There, the first rules for soccer were written, but their first regulations were written until in 1848. In 1863 the Football Association was made and that made soccer more modern, or at least more alike to the soccer that is played in actuality. After that, what happened was that Rugby was separated from soccer and were both now made into two totally different sports.

The word football comes from “foot” and “ball” as you would have guessed. This relates to soccer by being able to hit the “ball” with your “foot”. Then where does the word soccer come from?… It’s an abbreviation from the word association football. It also depended in which social class you belonged to; if you were in the high class or in a private school you would probably call this sport soccer, but if you were in the lower class or in a public school you would probably call it football.

Soccer Positions

     For soccer, you need eleven players, which each have a certain position. One is the goalie, and the other ten, are outfield players (defensive, midfield, attacking). GOALKEEPER: The name says it, keeps the goal. Its job is to defend his team’s goal. They’re the only player that can grab the ball with their hands, but just in a certain area that is marked with lines, penalty area.DEFENDERS:  They play behind the midfielders, but in front of the goalkeeper. They help the goal keeper by trying to keep the ball from reaching the goalkeeper’s area.     -centre-backs: job is to stop attacking players (from opposite team) from entering team’s penalty area.     -sweeper/libero: sweeps the ball if opposite player get through the defense line     -full-back: one on each side of defensive line. Their job is to prevent opposite players cross into the penalty area to shoot. They also make passes down the sides for the forward positions.     -wingback: concentrate more to support strikers than defenseMIDFIELDERS: between strikers and defense     -centre midfielder: link the defense and attack. They must also defend when other team has the ball.     -defensive midfielder: stands in a central position.  Stops opposite team’s players from passing and makes passes to other midfielders or attackers.     -attacking midfielder: they are playmakers. Their job is to make great passes for strikers to score. They have to be able to read the defense to make these plays.     -wide midfielder: positioned to the left or right in the midfielders line. They help the back. They have to go back and forth to help attackers too. Usually they’re very good dribblers because they have to carry the ball throughout the byline avoiding opposite players who are trying to take the ball away.STRIKERS:  basic job is to score goals and to set plays for other players to score.     -centre forward: main job is to score goals     -striker: don’t have a lot of defensive responsibilities. Usually stay near goal to score.     -deep-lying forward: usually fill space between opposite forwards and midfielders. They’re like a second striker.