Portal:Association football

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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players each, who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposing team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed goal defended by the opposing team. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45-minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries and territories, it is the world's most popular sport.

The game of association football is played in accordance with the Laws of the Game, a set of rules that has been in effect since 1863 and maintained by the IFAB since 1886. The game is played with a football that is 68–70 cm (27–28 in) in circumference. The two teams compete to score goals by getting the ball into the other team's goal (between the posts, under the bar, and fully across the goal line). When the ball is in play, the players mainly use their feet, but may also use any other part of their body, such as their head, chest and thighs, except for their hands or arms, to control, strike, or pass the ball. Only the goalkeepers may use their hands and arms, and only then within the penalty area. The team that has scored more goals at the end of the game is the winner. There are situations where a goal can be disallowed, such as an offside call or a foul in the build-up to the goal. Depending on the format of the competition, an equal number of goals scored may result in a draw being declared, or the game goes into extra time or a penalty shoot-out.

Internationally, association football is governed by FIFA. Under FIFA, there are six continental confederations: AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC, and UEFA. Of these confederations, CONMEBOL is the oldest one, being founded in 1916. National associations (e.g. The FA in England) are responsible for managing the game in their own countries both professionally and at an amateur level, and coordinating competitions in accordance with the Laws of the Game. The most prestigious senior international competitions are the FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Women's World Cup. The men's World Cup is the most-viewed sporting event in the world, surpassing the Olympic Games. The two most prestigious competitions in club football are the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Women's Champions League, which attract an extensive television audience worldwide. The final of the men's tournament is the most-watched annual sporting event in the world. (Full article...)

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Margate (blue shirts) in action in 2007

Margate Football Club are an English football team based in the seaside resort of Margate, Kent. Nicknamed "The Gate", the club have reached the third round proper of England's premier cup competition, the FA Cup, on two occasions.

Founded in 1896, the club joined the Southern Football League in 1933 and remained there until 2001 when they gained promotion to the Football Conference, the highest level of English non-league football.

Their tenure in the Conference saw the team forced to groundshare with other clubs due to drawn-out and problematic redevelopment work at their Hartsdown Park stadium, and during the three years spent away from their own ground they were expelled from the Conference National and subsequently relegated to the Isthmian League. (Full article...)

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Torres with Atlético Madrid in 2017

Fernando José Torres Sanz (born 20 March 1984) is a Spanish footballer who plays for La Liga club Atletico Madrid and the Spanish national team as a striker.

Torres started his career with Atlético Madrid, progressing through their youth ranks. He made his professional debut in 2001 and finished his career with the club having scored 75 goals in 174 La Liga appearances, earning the nickname El Niño ("The Kid"). Prior to the La Liga debut, Torres played two seasons in the Segunda División, making 40 appearances and scoring seven goals. He joined Liverpool in 2007, after Liverpool signed him with the club's record transfer fee. He marked his first season at Anfield by being Liverpool's first player, since Robbie Fowler in 1995–96, to score more than 20 league goals in a season.

He is also a Spanish international and made his debut for the country against Portugal in 2003. He has since participated in three major tournaments, UEFA Euro 2004, 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2008. He did not score a goal at Euro 2004, but he scored three at World Cup 2006. Torres scored the winning goal for Spain in their 1–0 win over Germany in the UEFA Euro 2008 Final. (Full article...)

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The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA /juːˈeɪfə/ yoo-AY-fə; French: Union des associations européennes de football; German: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach football in Europe and the transcontinental countries of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan, as well as the West Asian countries of Cyprus, Armenia and Israel. UEFA consists of 55 national association members. Since 2022, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, FIFA and UEFA suspended all Russian national teams and clubs from any FIFA and UEFA competitions.

UEFA consists of the national football associations of Europe, and runs national and club competitions including the UEFA European Championship, UEFA Nations League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League, and UEFA Super Cup, and also controls the prize money, regulations, as well as media rights to those competitions. (Full article...)

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... that Ryan Roberts, a defensive end for Notre Dame, was a soccer player in high school?
... that after his soccer career, Steve Palacios enlisted in the United States Army and played for the United States Armed Forces soccer team?
... that Ecuadorian footballer Hernán Galíndez won a bicycle for beating a team featuring Lionel Messi when they were children?
... that Carlton Town F.C., now competing at the eighth tier of the English football pyramid, was once denied promotion by a hat-trick scored by future England international Jamie Vardy?
... that goalkeeper Sophie Whitehouse, who has lived in England, Africa and the US, has been chosen to play soccer for the Republic of Ireland?
... that Welsh footballer Jon Morgan went on to become a college principal after retiring?

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Argentina national football team

Credit: Flickr user Moazzam Brohi

Supporters of the Argentina national football team react as they are knocked out of the 2006 FIFA World Cup quarter-finals by hosts Germany. La Selección, as the team is known locally, have won the World Cup on three occasions and the Copa América fourteen times. Players who have worn the national colours include Diego Maradona, Gabriel Batistuta, Mario Kempes, Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricardo Villa.

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Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win.

— Gary Lineker

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The following are images from various association football-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Harrow School team of 1867. (from History of association football)
Image 2Marta of Brazil is the all-time leading scorer of the senior FIFA World Cups. (from Women's association football)
Image 3Olympique Lyonnais vs Paris Saint-Germain. (from Women's association football)
Image 4Representation of a football match from the book Athletics and football, 1894 (from History of association football)
Image 5Players fighting for the ball during the match between Germany and Norway in UEFA Women's Euro 2009 in Tampere, Finland. (from Women's association football)
Image 6Sam Kerr with Australia during the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinal against Japan in Edmonton, 2015 (from Women's association football)
Image 7Megan Rapinoe speaks on equal pay in March 2021. (from Women's association football)
Image 8When first introduced in 1891, the penalty was awarded for offences within 12 yards of the goal-line. (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 9FC de Rakt DA1 (2008/2009) (from Women's association football)
Image 10Arsenal in 2007 of the Women's FA Cup. (from Women's association football)
Image 11Florida state vs North Carolina soccer 2005. (from Women's association football)
Image 12Cricket and Foot-Ball, one of the earliest books about association football, published by Beadle & Co. in New York in 1866. It contained the rules and laws of the game (from History of association football)
Image 13A Welsh women's football team pose for a photograph in 1959 (from Women's association football)
Image 14Old Etonians v Blackburn Rovers match. Illustration by S.T. Dadd, 1882 (from History of association football)
Image 15Sheffield F.C. (here pictured in 1876) is the oldest association club still active, having been founded in 1857 (from History of association football)
Image 16From 1866 to 1883, the laws provided for a tape between the goalposts (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 17Striker Cristiana Girelli and coach Rita Guarino of Juventus in 2019. Juventus is one of the most storied and successful football clubs in Italy. (from Women's association football)
Image 18Portland Thorns traveling supporters at Seattle's Memorial Stadium. (from Women's association football)
Image 19The Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies (from Women's association football)
Image 20Drawing of the first international game by artist William Ralston (from History of association football)
Image 21An early draft of the original hand-written 'Laws of the Game' drawn up on behalf of The Football Association by Ebenezer Cobb Morley in 1863 on display at the National Football Museum, Manchester. (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 22Iran women's national football team maintained a higher rank internationally. (from Women's association football)
Image 23The Royal Engineers team who reached the first FA Cup final in 1872 (from History of association football)
Image 24Japanese high-school girls playing football in their traditional hakama with one team wearing sashes (c. 1920) (from Women's association football)
Image 25Iran vs Turkey in 2010 Youth Olympics (from Women's association football)
Image 26Mia Hamm (left) battles with German defender Kerstin Stegemann (from Women's association football)
Image 27"North" team of the British Ladies' Football Club, 1895 (from Women's association football)
Image 28United States Abby Wambach plays off a corner kick against Canada.
Image 29The official record attendance for a women's football match was set at Camp Nou on 22 April 2022, with 91,648 people watching Barcelona defeat Wolfsburg 5–1 (pictured). (from Women's association football)

Selected World Cup

Official poster

The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the 3rd edition of the World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in France from 4 to 19 June 1938. Italy defended its title in the final, beating Hungary 4–2. Italy's 1934 and 1938 teams hold the distinction of being the only men's national team to win the World Cup multiple times under the same coach, Vittorio Pozzo. It would be the last World Cup until 1950; the 1942 and 1946 World Cups were cancelled due to World War II. (Full article...)

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... that Ipswich Town won the Football League First Division in their 1961–62 season having been promoted from the Second Division the previous season? (26 January 2021)
... that Dwayne De Rosario is Canada's all-time leading male soccer goalscorer, with 22 international goals? (22 March 2021)
... that despite his side winning the 1998 Football League Second Division play-off Final, Grimsby's Alan Buckley said "Anybody who says they enjoy play-offs aren't football managers"? (19 April 2021)
... that the 2002 Football League Third Division play-off Final was one of the last matches shown on the ITV Sport Channel? (24 March 2021)
... that Crewe Alexandra were promoted back to the second tier of English football for the first time in 101 years when they won the 1997 Football League Second Division play-off Final? (27 March 2021)
... that the opening goal of the 1992 Football League Third Division play-off Final was described as a "Russian linesman job"? (28 February 2021)