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Soccer History Timeline

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A Football History - from its origin to now

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There is no clear documentation stating the date

and place of origination of today's most popular
sport - world football. However, most historians
agree that some type of a ball game has been played
for at least over 3000 years. The origins of the
game can be seen in games played in China, Japan,
Egypt, Greece before our modern game developed in
England.

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Here is a brief outline of some of the events that

have shaped the game of soccer throughout
history.

5000-300
B.C.

There is evidence in Ch in a that military forces around 2nd and 3rd

century BC (Han Dynasty) played a game, originally named "Tsu Chu",
that involved kicking a leather ball stuffed with fur into a small hole. Like
Soccer, no hands were permitted during the play of the game.

2500 B.C

There was possibly a version of a type of ball game played by young

women in Egypt during the age of Baqet III, as images of this sport were
depicted on his tomb, though there is not much known of this sport
except that it was played with a ball.

1000 B.C.

The Japan es e version of 'soccer' is was called Kemari, a game much like
modern hackysacks, played with two to twelve players, and played a
larger ball stuffed with sawdust. There was also a field designated by
four trees (cherry, maple, pine and willow).

Soccer Resources
B.C.

Soccer Clipart

50 B.C.

In ancient Greece, they played a game called Episkyros, in which two

equally numbered teams would try to throw the ball over the heads of
the other team. There was a white line between the teams and another
white line behind each team. Teams would change the ball often until
one of the team is forced behind the line at their end.
China's Tsu Chu players and Japan's Kemari players were the first to
have an "International" game of their versions of soccer, believed to
have occurred roughly 50 B.C.. There is a definite date of such a game
occurring in 611 A.D.

600 1600 A.D.

In Mexico & Cen tral Am erica the rubber ball was created, and used in
a game on a recessed court 40-50 feet long shaped like a capital "I". In
the middle of each wall, was a mounted stone or wooden ring and the
object was to project the hard rubber ball through the ring.

700s

The first Football games played in Britain was played by the locals of
east of England, starting after a 'legendary' game that involved kicking
around the severed head of a Danish prince that they have defeated in a
war. These games were violent, where injury and death were not
uncommon

1331

Despite the violence of these games, they were still popular. This led
King Edward III of England to pass laws in 1331 to stop the game

1424

King James I of Scotland also passed a law banning the game

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Soccer History Timeline

1424

King James I of Scotland also passed a law banning the game

1500

In Italy they played a game called "calcio" with teams of 27+ people.
The game involved kicking, carrying or passing a ball across a goal line. In
1580, Giovanni Bardi published a set of rules of the game of calcio.

1572

Queen Elizabeth I of England, enacted laws that could sentence a

football player to jail for a week followed by penance in a church.

1600

In Alas ka an d Can ada the native Eskimos played a game called

aqsaqtuk on ice, using balls stuffed with grass, caribou hair, and moss.
One legend tells of two villages playing against each other with goals 10
miles apart.

1605

Football became legal again in England

1620

In North Am erica, native American Indians in the original Jamestown

settlement played a game called pasuckuakohowog, meaning "they
gather to play ball with the foot." It was a rough game, played the
beach, the field a half-mile wide with goals 1 mile apart, with as many as
1000 players at a time.

1815

Eton College of England established a set of rules for the games.

1820

In the USA, football was played among the Northeastern universities and
colleges of Harvard, Princeton, Amherst and Brown.

1848

The rules were further standardized and a new version was adopted by
all the schools, college and universities, known as the Cambridge Rules.

1862

The first soccer club formed anywhere outside of England was the
Oneida Football Club, Boston USA.

1863

October 26 of 1863, the Football Association was formed when eleven

London schools and clubs came together at the Freemason's Tavern to
establish a single set of rules to administer any football match that were
to be played among them. On December 8 1863, Association Football
and Rugby Football finally split onto two different organizations. Later in
the year, the first ever soccer match was played on Barnes common at
Mortlake, London on 19th December 1863 between Barnes Football
Club and Richmond Football Club. The game ended in a 0-0 draw.

1869

The Football Association rules were further amended to exclude any

handling of the ball.

1872

The first official international football match was played, between the
national teams of Scotland and England, played in Glasgow Scotland.
The game was played on 30 November 1872, and finished with a 0-0
draw.

1883

The four British associations agreed on a uniform code and formed the
International Football Association Board.

1885

The first international match played by teams outside of Great Britain

was between USA and Canada, played in Newark and ended with Canada
winning 1-0.

1888

Introduction of the penalty kick.

1904

Establishment of FIFA by delegates from France, Belgium, Denmark, the

Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland at a meeting in Paris on the
21st of May.

1900

Soccer played the Olympic Games for the first time

1930

In 1930, The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)

held soccer's first World Cup tournament in Montevideo, Uruguay, with
13 teams.

1932

Soccer was taken off the program for the Olympic games in Los
Angeles, due to a controversy between FIFA and the IOC over the
definition of amateur and the reluctance of many strong soccer
countries to travel the US because of the expense involved.

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Soccer History Timeline

1991

The inaugural Women's World Cup in 1991 in China was won by the
United States

1996

The American women's team won the first-ever women's soccer event
at the Olympics.

Related Pages
History of the FIFA World Cup

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1997-2012 Topend Sports Network : http://www.topendsports.com/sport/soccer/history.htm, Last Modified: 06/07/2012 01:23:29

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