Henry Murray, age 9, of White Plains, N.Y., for his question:
WHEN WAS SOCCER FIRST PLAYED?
Today soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world. It is the Number One sport of many European and South American countries. The game can trace its roots back to China in the year 400 B.C.
The ancient Chinese played a game that was very similar to today's game.
Then in the A.D. 200s, the Romans played a game in which two teams tried to move a ball across a line on the field. This was followed in the 1100s by a form of today's soccer that was played by children in the streets of London.
During the early 1800s, many English schools played a game that was very much like our soccer. The players made a number of rule changes but each school seemed to interpret the rules different.
In 1848, an association of school representatives met at Trinity College, Cambridge, to draw up the world's first set of official rules.
In 1863, representatives of English football clubs founded the Football Association. In Great Britain, soccer is called football or association football. The word soccer comes from "assoc.," an abbreviation for association. American and Canadian football and rugby developed from soccer.
In 1871 in England, the association introduced the Football Association Challenge Cup Competition. This competition is still one of the most famous in soccer.
Professional soccer started in 1885 in England and three years 12 clubs formed the Football League of England.
Soccer started to spread throughout the world in the late 1800s. By 1900, associations were founded in Belgium, Chile, Denmark, Italy, The Netherlands and Switzerland.
In 1904, the national association founded the Federation International de Football Association (FIFA).
Today 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. The FIFA, which has over 130 members, supervises international matches, which have become a very important part of soccer.
The World Cup, won this year by Italy, was started in 1930. The winner of this important competition is determined in a famous series between national teams from many countries. The World Cup games are only held once every four years.
Soccer was the only form of football played in the United States until the mid 1800x, when American football became popular. However, many United States and Candian colleges and universities still have soccer teams.
The United States Soccer Football Association, founded in 1913, is a member of the FIFA. Until the mid 1960x, it was mainly concerned with amateur soccer. In 1967, professional teams started to play in the United States.