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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Inside the City of Manchester Stadium

The City of Manchester Stadium is a sports venue in Manchester, England. Originally designed as part of Manchester's failed bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics, the stadium was built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games at a cost of GB£110 million.

After the Games, it was converted for use as a football ground. This conversion involved removing the running track and installing it elsewhere and also adding 12,000 more seats. The operation cost over £35 million and took a year to complete before it became the home of Manchester City F.C., who moved there from Maine Road in 2003 signing a 250-year lease.

The stadium is bowl-shaped, with two tiers all the way around the ground and a third tier along the two side stands. As of 23 June 2007, it is the fifth largest stadium in the FA Premier League and tenth largest in the United Kingdom with a seating capacity of 47,726. On 4 October 2006 it was announced that the stadium will host the 2008 UEFA Cup Final. (Full article...)

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Klaas-Jan Huntelaar

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (born August 12, 1983) is a Dutch footballer who plays as a striker for [Milan] and the Netherlands. He previously represented PSV Eindhoven, De Graafschap, AGOVV Apeldoorn, and SC Heerenveen.

First scouted as a youth talent by the Go Ahead Eagles, Huntelaar eventually signed his first contract with De Graafschap in 1994 at the age of eleven. He was trialled in a number of positions until finding prowess as a striker in 1997 when, whilst playing for the De Graafschap C-team, he scored 33 goals in 20 games. He was the league's top scorer for the following season and was spotted by PSV Eindhoven, the team that went on to give him his first professional contract in June 2000.

Various media outlets noted him as a rising star in Dutch football, being named Dutch Football Talent of the Year and Ajax "Player of the year" in 2006. He was also named in the UEFA Team of the Tournament. He was a part of the Dutch side that won the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, where he became the tournament's leading goal-scorer. He is the all-time highest goal-scorer for the Netherlands U21 squad with 18 goals in 22 matches. In domestic football he was Eredivisie's top scorer in the 2005–06 season with 33 goals in 31 games. (Full article...)

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The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF (/ˈkɒŋkəkæf/ KONG-kə-kaf; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 41 member associations represent countries and territories mainly in North America, including the Caribbean and Central America, and, for geopolitical reasons, 3 nations from the Guianas subregion of South America-Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana (an overseas region of France). The CONCACAF's primary functions are to organize competitions for national teams and clubs, and to conduct the World Cup and Women's World Cup qualifying tournaments.

The CONCACAF was founded in its current form on 18 September 1961 in Mexico City, Mexico, with the merger of the NAFC and the CCCF, which made it one of the then five, now six, continental confederations affiliated with FIFA. Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles (Curaçao, Aruba), Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname and the United States were founding members. (Full article...)

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... 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 goalkeeper Sophie Whitehouse, who has lived in England, Africa and the US, has been chosen to play soccer for the Republic of Ireland?
... that football manager Darren Moore led Sheffield Wednesday to promotion even after they lost the first leg of their play-off semi-final 4–0?
... 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?
... that Welsh footballer Jon Morgan went on to become a college principal after retiring?

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Algerian Championnat National

Credit: Flickr user Emma

Omar Hammadi Stadium in Bab-El-Oued, Algiers, Algeria. Home to USM Alger and Paradou AC of the Algerian Championnat National

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The rules of soccer are very simple, basically it is this: if it moves, kick it. If it doesn't move, kick it until it does.

— Phil Woosnam

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

Image 1Japanese high-school girls playing football in their traditional hakama with one team wearing sashes (c. 1920) (from Women's association football)
Image 2Megan Rapinoe speaks on equal pay in March 2021. (from Women's association football)
Image 3Sam Kerr with Australia during the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinal against Japan in Edmonton, 2015 (from Women's association football)
Image 4Harrow School team of 1867. (from History of association football)
Image 5An 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 6Sheffield F.C. (here pictured in 1876) is the oldest association club still active, having been founded in 1857 (from History of association football)
Image 7United States Abby Wambach plays off a corner kick against Canada.
Image 8Iran women's national football team maintained a higher rank internationally. (from Women's association football)
Image 9Iran vs Turkey in 2010 Youth Olympics (from Women's association football)
Image 10Mia Hamm (left) battles with German defender Kerstin Stegemann (from Women's association football)
Image 11FC de Rakt DA1 (2008/2009) (from Women's association football)
Image 12Striker 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 13Marta of Brazil is the all-time leading scorer of the senior FIFA World Cups. (from Women's association football)
Image 14A Welsh women's football team pose for a photograph in 1959 (from Women's association football)
Image 15Players 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 16The Royal Engineers team who reached the first FA Cup final in 1872 (from History of association football)
Image 17Representation of a football match from the book Athletics and football, 1894 (from History of association football)
Image 18Olympique Lyonnais vs Paris Saint-Germain. (from Women's association football)
Image 19Drawing of the first international game by artist William Ralston (from History of association football)
Image 20From 1866 to 1883, the laws provided for a tape between the goalposts (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 21Florida state vs North Carolina soccer 2005. (from Women's association football)
Image 22Old Etonians v Blackburn Rovers match. Illustration by S.T. Dadd, 1882 (from History of association football)
Image 23The 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 24The Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies (from Women's association football)
Image 25Portland Thorns traveling supporters at Seattle's Memorial Stadium. (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 27"North" team of the British Ladies' Football Club, 1895 (from Women's association football)
Image 28Arsenal in 2007 of the Women's FA Cup. (from Women's association football)
Image 29When first introduced in 1891, the penalty was awarded for offences within 12 yards of the goal-line. (from Laws of the Game (association football))

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The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in 2007. It was the second time that Brazil staged the competition, the first being in 1950, and the fifth time that it was held in South America.

31 national teams advanced through qualification competitions to join the host nation in the final tournament (with Bosnia and Herzegovina as the only debutant). A total of 64 matches were played in 12 venues located in as many host cities across Brazil. For the first time at a World Cup finals, match officials used goal-line technology, as well as vanishing spray for free kicks. FIFA Fan Fests in each host city gathered a total of 5 million people, and the country received 1 million visitors from 202 countries. Spain, the defending champions, were eliminated at the group stage. Host nation Brazil, who had won the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, lost to Germany 7–1 in the semi-finals and eventually finished in fourth place. (Full article...)

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... that the East Bengal Ultras, founded in 2013, became India's first ultras group? (29 March 2021)
... that, during his time in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, footballer Ernie Curtis would obtain extra food by teaching his captors how to play with a ball made of paper? (27 March 2021)
... that after winning the 2013 Football League One play-off Final, Yeovil Town were promoted to the second tier of English football just ten years after being a non-League club? (12 February 2021)
... that a team including bricklayers, assistant bank managers and insurance clerks defeated Coventry City in the third round of the FA Cup in 1989? (5 April 2021)
... that the Cambridge United team took a cold shower before winning the 1990 Football League Fourth Division play-off Final? (26 March 2021)
... that professional goalkeeper Scott Brown lost his father to Parkinson's, witnessed the birth of his son, and then signed with Aberdeen in the space of ten days? (29 March 2021)