Mary Scott, age 13, of Fresno, Calif., for her question:
WHEN WAS SOCCER FIRST PLAYED?
As early as 400 B.C., the Chinese played a game that was very similar to our soccer. And by the A.D. 200s, the ancient Romans had taken up a soccer like game in which two teams tried to move a ball across a line on the field.
Children on London streets played a form of soccer during the 1100s and by the early 1800s, the game had changed and developed until it was very much like our present game.
Soccer quickly became a favorite game in English schools. But each school interpreted the rules differently.
In 1848, an association of school representatives had a meeting at Trinity College in Cambridge and they drew up the world's first official set of soccer rules.
Soccer was called football. In 1863, various clubs joined to establish the Football Association and in 1871 they introduced the Football Association Challenge Cup Competition. This competition is still one of the most famous in soccer.
Professional soccer started in England in 1885 and three years later, 12 clubs formed the Football League of England.
By the late 1800s, soccer started to spread to other parts of the world. Associations were started in The Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Chile, Belgium and Denmark by 1900, and in 1904, the national associations founded the Federation Internationale de Football Association. This group is known as the FIFA.
Today the FIFA has more than 130 members. The group supervises international matches. Also, soccer rules are made by a 20 man board made up of equal numbers of representatives from the FIFA, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Soccer was the only form of football played in the United States until the mid 1800s, when American football became popular. However, soccer is still played by many college teams.
Soccer today is regarded as one of the world's most popular sports. It is called the national sport in many European and South American countries.
To play the game, two teams of 11 men each try to knock a round ball through the opponent's goal. Speedy players wear only shirts and shorts, heavy knee length socks and cleated soccer shoes. Some wear shin guards.
The object of soccer is simple: the team that scores the most goals wins the game.
Only goalkeepers, playing within a certain area, can touch the ball with their hands in soccer. Other players must kick it with their feet or hit it with their heads or bodies. Players often leap high to bounce the ball away with their heads or turn in midair to kick the ball back over their heads.
Soccer is a fast, tough, exciting game that requires a great deal of physical endurance. Players rarely stop as they move up and down the field. Play is stopped only when a goal is scored, a foul occurs, or if a player is injured.