About Football

Who doesn’t know about football? It is a sport which is played by approximately 250 million players in over 200 countries. Apart from that, it is watched and supported by 3.5 billion fans globally. The majority of the statistics which are related to competitive sports indicate that football is currently the most popular game in the world and is succeeded by cricket, which is the second most popular game in the world. It is a sport which can be played round the year, in almost all seasons, though football is played with more enthusiasm in the rainy season. People of all ages simply love the game. Everyone, starting from the youths to the adults plays this game with great fervor.

Now, a little bit of information regarding the history of football can be mentioned. The earliest history of football indicates that the game may have been played in other forms, as early as in 1100 AD. But, the football, which we see today, i.e. professional football first started in England in the early 19th century. It was started in the form of league games. Since then, the game has flourished and has gained much fame and popularity. Perhaps, during that time, no one even though how huge the impact of football would be in the future!

In the present system of football, mainly two types of matches are played. They are- international and domestic matches. A short description of each is given below:

1) International football:

In this category, all the qualified countries represent themselves in the international arena of football. The countries are embodied by their national football squad. International matches are frequently held in various forms, like friendly matches, continental cups, FIFA World Cup etc. Friendly matches are usually not very competitive. But, the continental and World Cup matches are highly contested. In the continental cups, different nations which fall under the same continent compete against each other for the cup, like the Copa America. As of the FIFA World Cup, it is held after an interval of four years and is the most popular competition in the game. All the nations of the world try to qualify and participate in the FIFA World Cup. Finally, amongst all the qualified nations, only one takes the ultimate vessel of glory to their respective nation.

2) Domestic football:

The league games fall under this category. Each country which is involved in football has its own league. For example, Liga BBVA is one of the domestic football leagues of Spain. Different clubs take part in the league matches, like FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, m88a etc. They compete against each other for club titles, domestic cups and other tournaments. Domestic football has different names in different nations. We can cite the example of the Premier league in this case, which is the domestic football league of England. It is more commonly called the ‘English Premier League’. In football, domestic leagues are also highly appreciated due to the intense rivalries between the participating clubs.

The trends of football are changing and many new things are included to make the game even more interesting. But one thing is for sure- football is keeping its fame intact as a sport, despite all the changes which are being made, whether they are for good or for bad.