The History of Soccer

Fußball, Fútbol, fodbold, football, voetbal, and Soccer. Where did it start and where is it now? 

Soccer has been claimed to be started across the world, in China, Greece, Rome, and central America. In Central America, or Ancient Maya, there is a ball game, with similar rules including a goal on either side, for a ball that the teams can hit with any part of their body besides the head, hands, and feet. This game, however, only dates to around 400 years ago while, Rome, Greece, China, and other countries had concepts like soccer over 2000 years ago.  

Rome and Greece shared remarkably similar games and had many different ball games. Many of these games included air-filled balls, or balls of hair, or other filling covered in linen, that they would kick around with their feet. And while these are some of the oldest origins related to soccer, FIFA, or International Federation of Association Football states that, “Cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence.”  

In ancient China, the military game called CUJU (which translates to Kick leather ball) was used to test the physical conditions of soldiers. Originally, the game only had one goal in the center of a field, shared by both teams. However, depending on the audience or event, sometimes multiple goals would be implemented on either side of the field for scoring as many points as possible.  

While China may be credited for the invention of soccer, we have England to thank for modern day soccer or football. According to FIFA, modern soccer and the game’s basic rules were set in 1863 in England. Some rules like red and yellow cards, whistles, Goal kicks, crossbars, and center referees did not exist until years after the game was made.  

After the modern-day invention of soccer in England, the game quickly spread to other parts of Europe such as Germany, and across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. These first migrations of the sport were believed to be around 1874, and not long after merchants, immigrants, travelers, teachers, and anyone who knew the sport spread soccer globally. Ironically though, China is currently home to 700 million soccer fans. Which is the largest number of soccer fans in any country in the world and is equivalent to 1/11 of the world population.