AMERICAN ENGLISH BOOK 5

READING 8
Football

The most popular sport in the world is

almost certainly “Association football”,
known simply as football, in most
countries. In the U.S it is usually called
“Soccer”. The sport is played by amateurs
and professionals in over 140 countries.
And once every four years, millions of fans
all around the world turn on their TV, sets
to watch the most important football
tournament of all, the world cup.
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The first “cup” known officially as the Jules

Rimet Trophy, was named after one of the
presidents of the Federation International
Football Association (FIFA) Founded in
1904, FIFA organized the first world cup
tournament, which was held in
Montevideo, Uruguay, in the summer of
1930. Uruguay was chosen as the site of
the first tournament because they had won
the gold medal for soccer in both 1924 and
1928 Olympic Games. Thirteen countries
participated in the first World Cup in 1930,
including teams for Belgium, France,
Rumania, Yugoslavia, the U.S, and eight
South American countries.
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Each team competed for the honor of

being named World Champions. It was a
very close and exciting match, but in the
end, Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2, in front
of 100,000 excited fans. Since those early
days, the sport has grown enormously in
popularity. Few people remember the
names of the players on those first world
cup teams, but today’s top players are
superstars, and heroes to millions of fans.
Children everywhere would give anything
if they could play as well as Messi or
Cristiano. And because soccer is so
popular in many countries, the winners of
the World Cup can truly be called the
“Champions of the world”
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Glossary

Match: A contest in which people or

teams compete against each other in a
particular sport.
Champion: A person who has defeated
or surpassed all rivals in a competition,
especially in sports.
Amateur: Nonprofessional.

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