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 that only 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 with 1 point awarded to each team, 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. (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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Lionel Messi

Lionel Andrés Messi (Spanish pronunciation: [ljoˈnel anˈdɾes ˈmesi]; born 24 June 1987 in Rosario) is an Argentine footballer of Italian descent who plays for Spanish La Liga club FC Barcelona and the Argentine national team. Messi is considered to be one of the best football players of his generation, having received several Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations by the age of 21. His playing style and ability have drawn comparisons to football legend Diego Maradona, who himself declared Messi his "successor".

Messi began playing football at a young age and his potential was quickly identified by FC Barcelona. He left Rosario-based Newell's Old Boys' youth team in 2000 and moved with his family to Europe, as Barcelona offered treatment for his growth hormone deficiency. Making his debut in the 2004–05 season, he broke the La Liga record for the youngest footballer to play a league game, and also the youngest to score a league goal. Major honours soon followed as Barcelona won La Liga in Messi's debut season, and won a double of the league and UEFA Champions League in 2006. His breakthrough season was in 2006–07: he became a first team regular, scoring a hat-trick in El Clásico and finishing with 14 goals in 26 league games. Perhaps his most successful season was the 2008–09 season, in which Messi scored 38 goals to play an integral part in a treble winning campaign. (Full article...)

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The Confederation of Brazilian Football (Portuguese: Confederação Brasileira de Futebol; CBF) is the governing body of football in Brazil. It was founded on Monday, 8 June 1914, as Federação Brasileira de Sports [pt], and renamed Confederação Brasileira de Desportos in 1916. The football confederation, as known today, separated from other sports associations on 24 September 1979.

The CBF has its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. The confederation owns a training center, named Granja Comary, located in Teresópolis. (Full article...)

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... that Welsh footballer Jon Morgan went on to become a college principal after retiring?
... 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 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 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 Ryan Roberts, a defensive end for Notre Dame, was a soccer player in high school?

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Switzerland national football team

Credit: R. Niemeyer

The Swiss national team pose before a 2006 friendly against China in Zurich. Controlled by the Swiss Football Association, Switzerland have reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup three times as well as winning silver at the 1924 Summer Olympics.

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Five days shalt thou labour, as the Bible says. The seventh day is the Lord thy God's. The sixth day is for football.

— Anthony Burgess

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

Image 1A Welsh women's football team pose for a photograph in 1959 (from Women's association football)
Image 2Players 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 3Representation of a football match from the book Athletics and football, 1894 (from History of association football)
Image 4Drawing of the first international game by artist William Ralston (from History of association football)
Image 5When 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 6FC de Rakt DA1 (2008/2009) (from Women's association football)
Image 7"North" team of the British Ladies' Football Club, 1895 (from Women's association football)
Image 8The Royal Engineers team who reached the first FA Cup final in 1872 (from History of association football)
Image 9An 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 10Arsenal in 2007 of the Women's FA Cup. (from Women's association football)
Image 11Sheffield F.C. (here pictured in 1876) is the oldest association club still active, having been founded in 1857 (from History of association football)
Image 12The 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)
Image 13Iran women's national football team maintained a higher rank internationally. (from Women's association football)
Image 14Megan Rapinoe speaks on equal pay in March 2021. (from Women's association football)
Image 15Mia Hamm (left) battles with German defender Kerstin Stegemann (from Women's association football)
Image 16Old Etonians v Blackburn Rovers match. Illustration by S.T. Dadd, 1882 (from History of association football)
Image 17United States Abby Wambach plays off a corner kick against Canada.
Image 18From 1866 to 1883, the laws provided for a tape between the goalposts (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 19Harrow School team of 1867. (from History of association football)
Image 20The Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies (from Women's association football)
Image 21Iran vs Turkey in 2010 Youth Olympics (from Women's association football)
Image 22Portland Thorns traveling supporters at Seattle's Memorial Stadium. (from Women's association football)
Image 23Japanese high-school girls playing football in their traditional hakama with one team wearing sashes (c. 1920) (from Women's association football)
Image 24Marta of Brazil is the all-time leading scorer of the senior FIFA World Cups. (from Women's association football)
Image 25Striker 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 26Cricket 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 27Olympique Lyonnais vs Paris Saint-Germain. (from Women's association football)
Image 28Florida state vs North Carolina soccer 2005. (from Women's association football)
Image 29Sam Kerr with Australia during the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinal against Japan in Edmonton, 2015 (from Women's association football)

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The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the 7th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place between August 1960 and December 1961, with 56 teams entering from six confederations, and fourteen qualifying for the finals tournament alongside Chile, the hosts, and Brazil, the defending champions.

Brazil successfully defended their World Cup title, defeating Czechoslovakia 3–1 in the final in the Chilean capital Santiago. They became the second team, after Italy in 1934 and 1938, to win the World Cup twice consecutively; no team has since achieved the feat. Host nation Chile finished third, defeating Yugoslavia 1–0 in the third-place play-off. (Full article...)