FOOTBALL

HISTORY ORIGIN

Football is an amazing sport. It is the most popular sport around the world; two hundred seventy
million people play it. The first football match was in England on 19th December 1863.
The sport was born in the United Kingdom. The origins of football were in 1841 in Cambridge.
There were football rules similar to the ones we have now.

THE GAME

There are two teams. There are eleven players in a football team: a goalkeeper and ten players. A
Football pitch consists of natural or artificial grass. There are two goals. The pitch is 90 metres long
and 45 metres wide.
Footballers wear shorts and a T-shirt. They also wear long socks, knee guards and special trainers.
The goalkeeper wears special equipment and also gloves. Every team has different colours for the
equipment. For example, Real Madrid wears white and Barcelona FC wears blue and red.
The players play with a leather ball. A match lasts 90 minutes; there are two parts of 45 minutes
each and one break of a quarter of an hour.

RULES

Football has a lot of rules. The most important ones are:

-you can kick the ball and touch it with your head, shoulders, back...
-you can't touch the ball with your hands or arms.
-you must run forwards very fast and you must also run backwards
-you can jump
-you mustn't hit the other players very hard. It is a fault and you can get a red card
-you must kick the ball towards the goal.

The referee punishes the players when they don't respect the rules. He can send a player out of the
pitch when he doesn't respect the rules.

OTHER INFORMATION

Footballers play the Champions League in Europe. It is the most important league.
Every four years teams from all the world play the World Championship. Spain won this
Championship in 2010.

FAMOUS FOOTBALLERS

There are a lot of famous players. In the past, Pelé, Cruyff, Maradona and Zidane were very
famous. Now, the most important footballers are Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi. This year Luka
Modric won the Golden Ball. He plays for Real Madrid.

OPINION

Football is my favourite sport. I like to play it in my free time. But I usually watch the matches on
TV. I enjoy a lot when there is a big match.
My favourite team is Barça. They play really well and they usually win. I think Leo Messi is the
best.