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. The most prestigious senior international competitions are the FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Women's World Cup. The men's World Cup is the most-viewed sporting event in the world, surpassing the Olympic Games. The two most prestigious competitions in club football are the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Women's Champions League, which attract an extensive television audience worldwide. The final of the men's tournament is the most-watched annual sporting event in the world. (Full article...)

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Woolwich Arsenal v. Newcastle United, April 1906

Arsenal Football Club are an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London. They are one of the most successful clubs in English football, having won thirteen First Division and Premier League titles and ten FA Cups.

Arsenal were founded in 1886, though they won their first major trophies in the 1930s, with five League Championship titles and two FA Cups. After a lean period in the post-war years they became only the second club of the 20th century to win the Double in 1970–71, and during the past twenty years they have been one of the most successful clubs in English football — in this time Arsenal won two further Doubles, the Premier League in 2003–04 unbeaten, and in 2005–06 became the first London club to reach the UEFA Champions League final.

The club have appeared in a number of media "firsts" including being part of the first ever English League match to be broadcast live on radio in 1927 and contesting the first ever game to be televised live in 1937. (Full article...)

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Henrik Larsson playing for Barcelona in 2006

Henrik Larsson MBE (born September 20, 1971 in Helsingborg, Skåne) is a Swedish footballer. Larsson is best known for helping win four titles in seven years for Scottish club Celtic. He subsequently had a two-year spell at Barcelona of Spain, where he won two titles and the Champions League. He is the top scorer of all time in the UEFA Cup and one of the top ten scorers of all time in all UEFA club competitions.

Larsson amassed 93 caps over 13 years for Sweden, scoring 36 goals. In the summer of 2006 he retired from international football and returned to his home town club of Helsingborgs IF. He later joined Manchester United on a brief loan spell between January and March 2007.

Larsson amassed 93 caps over 13 years for Sweden, scoring 36 goals. In November 2003, the Swedish Football Association bestowed upon him the accolade "greatest Swedish football player of the last 50 years" as part of UEFA's Jubilee celebrations. (Full article...)

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All India Football Federation, aka AIFF, is the governing body of football, futsal and beach soccer in India. It is a member of FIFA, and is affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation and South Asian Football Federation.

It is affiliated with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India. India men's and women's football teams are governed by the AIFF, and represent India in various international football tournaments. (Full article...)

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... 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 Ecuadorian footballer Hernán Galíndez won a bicycle for beating a team featuring Lionel Messi when they were children?
... that Welsh footballer Jon Morgan went on to become a college principal after retiring?
... 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 Ryan Roberts, a defensive end for Notre Dame, was a soccer player in high school?
... that after his soccer career, Steve Palacios enlisted in the United States Army and played for the United States Armed Forces soccer team?

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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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If you're in the penalty area and don't know what to do with the ball, put it in the net and we'll discuss the options later.

— Bob Paisley

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

Image 1FC de Rakt DA1 (2008/2009) (from Women's association football)
Image 2The Royal Engineers team who reached the first FA Cup final in 1872 (from History of association football)
Image 3The 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 4Drawing of the first international game by artist William Ralston (from History of association football)
Image 5Mia Hamm (left) battles with German defender Kerstin Stegemann (from Women's association football)
Image 6Japanese high-school girls playing football in their traditional hakama with one team wearing sashes (c. 1920) (from Women's association football)
Image 7The Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies (from Women's association football)
Image 8Representation of a football match from the book Athletics and football, 1894 (from History of association football)
Image 9Marta of Brazil is the all-time leading scorer of the senior FIFA World Cups. (from Women's association football)
Image 10Olympique Lyonnais vs Paris Saint-Germain. (from Women's association football)
Image 11"North" team of the British Ladies' Football Club, 1895 (from Women's association football)
Image 12Iran vs Turkey in 2010 Youth Olympics (from Women's association football)
Image 13Florida state vs North Carolina soccer 2005. (from Women's association football)
Image 14Sam Kerr with Australia during the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinal against Japan in Edmonton, 2015 (from Women's association football)
Image 15A Welsh women's football team pose for a photograph in 1959 (from Women's association football)
Image 16United States Abby Wambach plays off a corner kick against Canada.
Image 17Old Etonians v Blackburn Rovers match. Illustration by S.T. Dadd, 1882 (from History of association football)
Image 18Portland Thorns traveling supporters at Seattle's Memorial Stadium. (from Women's association football)
Image 19Iran women's national football team maintained a higher rank internationally. (from Women's association football)
Image 20Sheffield F.C. (here pictured in 1876) is the oldest association club still active, having been founded in 1857 (from History of association football)
Image 21Harrow School team of 1867. (from History of association football)
Image 22Striker 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 23From 1866 to 1883, the laws provided for a tape between the goalposts (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 24An 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 25Megan Rapinoe speaks on equal pay in March 2021. (from Women's association football)
Image 26Arsenal in 2007 of the Women's FA Cup. (from Women's association football)
Image 27Players 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 28Cricket 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 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 1954 FIFA World Cup was the 5th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzerland was selected as the host country in July 1946. At the tournament, several all-time records for goalscoring were set, including the highest average number of goals scored per game. The tournament was won by West Germany, who defeated tournament favourites Hungary 3–2 in the final for their first World Cup title. Uruguay, the defending champions, were eliminated by Hungary and would lose to Austria in the third-place match.

The highest scoring match of a World Cup happened in the Quarterfinals of this tournament, when Austria defeated hosts Switzerland 7-5. The 12 goals of that match have never been surpassed in a World Cup since. (Full article...)

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... that Billy Kee was going to include "Wembley" in the name of his child who was being born during the 2014 Football League Two play-off Final if he scored? (11 February 2021)
... that Neil Warnock left Huddersfield Town shortly after they gained promotion by winning the 1995 Football League Second Division play-off Final because he said the club chairman had told him a "porky pie"? (21 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 while at Fiorentina, Mohamed Salah chose the shirt number 74 in honour of the victims of the Port Said Stadium riot (15 March 2021)
... that 23-year-old Michael Oliver refereed the 2009 Football League One play-off Final at Wembley Stadium the day after his father had officiated the 2009 Football League Two play-off Final? (11 March 2021)
... that some of the Sheffield Wednesday team participated in a conga on the M4 motorway after winning the 2005 Football League One play-off Final? (19 February 2021)