Safekipedia

Association football

Explorer · ages 7 and underAdapted from Wikipedia
Mario Götze kicks the winning goal in extra time of the 2014 FIFA World Cup final, giving Germany its fourth World Cup title.

What Is It?

Association football is a team sport. It is also called football or soccer. Two teams with 11 players each take turns playing. Players mostly use their feet to kick a round ball around a field.

The goal is to get more balls into the other team's net than they do. A game is usually played in two halves of 45 minutes. It is the most popular sport in the world, with players in over 200 countries.

A Long History

The game grew out of many ball games that people played for a very long time. The Chinese game cuju is the oldest kicking game we have proof of. It was played during the Han dynasty.

In 1863, the Football Association was started in London. It wrote down the first full set of rules. The name "association" helped people tell this game apart from rugby football.

Playing the Game

Players try to score by kicking, passing, and dribbling the ball. Only goalkeepers may use their hands and arms. If both teams have the same score, the game may end in a draw, or it may go on for extra time.

Around the world, the game is looked after by FIFA. The most famous competition is the FIFA World Cup, which is held every four years. The 2022 tournament was watched by about 5 billion people. The 1958 World Cup helped Pelé become a famous sports star.

Quiz time!

3 questions about Association football

Question 1 of 3

How many players are on each team?

Pictures

The heading of The Sportsman newspaper from November 25, 1910, showing how the word "Football" was used to cover both association football and rugby.
A painting of many children playing together during a long spring day.
A 1560s painting by Giovanni Stradano showing people playing Calcio Fiorentino, an old ball game, in Florence's Piazza Santa Maria Novella.
The original handwritten laws of association football, drafted in 1863 by Ebenezer Cobb Morley for The Football Association, on display at the National Football Museum in Manchester.
The Aston Villa football team in 1897, after winning both the Football League and the FA Cup that season.
A youth girls' football team posing together for a group photo in 2014.
The official match ball, an adidas Conext '21, used in a German 3. Liga football game between 1. FC Magdeburg and FSV Zwickau in 2022.
A football goal at Sandskogens Idrottsplats, a sports ground in Ystad, Sweden.
A programmable robot painting lines on a soccer field at Sandskogens Idrottsplats in Ystad, Sweden, in June 2025.
A carved marble relief from ancient Greece, about 2,400 years old, showing a young man practicing ball skills at a sports ground. Ball games like this were popular in ancient Greece, and this piece once decorated a grave.
The North team of the British Ladies' Football Club, one of the first women's football teams in England, photographed in 1895.
A player makes a sliding tackle to win the ball from an opponent.
English football referee Howard Webb officiating at a match between Fulham and Newcastle.
Standard pitch measurements
Headquarters of FIFA, the world governing body of football
The FIFA World Cup is the largest international competition in football and the world's most viewed sporting event
A 2009 Spanish La Liga match between Real Madrid and Barcelona. The fixture, known as El Clásico, is one of the most renowned in sport.

Keep exploring

FIFA
England
Football
Team sport
Han dynasty
London

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Association football, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Tap any image to view credits and license.