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 only then 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, 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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Arsenal Stadium, commonly known as Highbury

Arsenal Stadium was a football stadium in Highbury, North London, which was the home ground of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006. It was popularly known as Highbury due to its location.

It was originally built in 1913 on the site of a local college's recreation ground and has been significantly redeveloped twice. The first came in the 1930s from which the still-existing Art Deco East and West Stands date; the second in the late 1980s and early 1990s following the Taylor Report, during which the terraces at both ends of the pitch were removed, making it all-seater with four stands. The resulting reduction in capacity and matchday revenue eventually led to Arsenal deciding to build the Emirates Stadium nearby, which they moved to in 2006.

Its presence also led to the local Tube station being renamed to "Arsenal" in 1932, making it the only station on the network to be named after a football club. (Full article...)

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Gilberto Silva

Gilberto Aparecido da Silva, commonly known as Gilberto Silva, is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder.

He began his football career in 1997 with América Mineiro, where good form earned him a move to Atlético Mineiro in 2000. He became a star player for Atlético, playing for three years in the Brazilian Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. He came to particular prominence when he helped the Brazilian national team win the 2002 FIFA World Cup, playing in all seven of Brazil's matches.

In August 2002, for a fee of £4.5 million, he joined Arsenal with whom he won the 2004 FA Premier League, and two FA Cup trophies. In his first five seasons with the club he played 208 games and scored 23 goals, including scoring Arsenal's first competitive goal at the newly built Emirates Stadium on 19 August 2006. He was made vice-captain of Arsenal in 2006 and is contracted to the club until June 2009. In 2007 he was selected as Brazil captain for the Copa América tournament, which Brazil went on to win. (Full article...)

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The German Football Association (German: Deutscher Fußball-Bund [ˈdɔʏtʃɐ ˈfuːsbalˌbʊnt]; DFB [ˌdeːʔɛfˈbeː] ^ⓘ) is the governing body of football, futsal, and beach soccer in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and is in charge of the men's and women's national teams. The DFB headquarters are in Frankfurt am Main. Sole members of the DFB are the German Football League (German: Deutsche Fußball Liga; DFL), organising the professional Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga, along with five regional and 21 state associations, organising the semi-professional and amateur levels. The 21 state associations of the DFB have a combined number of more than 25,000 clubs with more than 6.8 million members, making the DFB the single largest sports federation in the world. (Full article...)

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... that Welsh footballer Jon Morgan went on to become a college principal after retiring?
... that Ecuadorian footballer Hernán Galíndez won a bicycle for beating a team featuring Lionel Messi when they were children?
... 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 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?
... 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?

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Flowers and tributes left at Maine Road in memory of Marc Vivien Foe

Marc-Vivien Foé

Credit: en.wikipedia user Slipperman

Flowers and tributes left at in memoriam of Cameroon international Marc-Vivien Foé at Maine Road, home of his former club Manchester City. Foé collapsed in the 71st minute of the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup semifinal between Cameroon and Columbia and later died. Many of his former clubs created memorials in his honour, with Manchester City retiring the number 23 shirt.

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When I looked down the leg was lying one way and my ankle was pointing towards Hong Kong - so I knew I was in serious trouble.

— Alan Smith, on breaking his leg in 2006

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

Image 1Arsenal in 2007 of the Women's FA Cup. (from Women's association football)
Image 2The 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 3Drawing of the first international game by artist William Ralston (from History of association football)
Image 4Old Etonians v Blackburn Rovers match. Illustration by S.T. Dadd, 1882 (from History of association football)
Image 5Representation of a football match from the book Athletics and football, 1894 (from History of association football)
Image 6Players 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 7Iran vs Turkey in 2010 Youth Olympics (from Women's association football)
Image 8Iran women's national football team maintained a higher rank internationally. (from Women's association football)
Image 9Portland Thorns traveling supporters at Seattle's Memorial Stadium. (from Women's association football)
Image 10Cricket 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 11United States Abby Wambach plays off a corner kick against Canada.
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 13A Welsh women's football team pose for a photograph in 1959 (from Women's association football)
Image 14"North" team of the British Ladies' Football Club, 1895 (from Women's association football)
Image 15Olympique Lyonnais vs Paris Saint-Germain. (from Women's association football)
Image 16An 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 17FC de Rakt DA1 (2008/2009) (from Women's association football)
Image 18When first introduced in 1891, the penalty was awarded for offences within 12 yards of the goal-line. (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 19Sam Kerr with Australia during the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinal against Japan in Edmonton, 2015 (from Women's association football)
Image 20Florida state vs North Carolina soccer 2005. (from Women's association football)
Image 21The Royal Engineers team who reached the first FA Cup final in 1872 (from History of association football)
Image 22Megan Rapinoe speaks on equal pay in March 2021. (from Women's association football)
Image 23Sheffield F.C. (here pictured in 1876) is the oldest association club still active, having been founded in 1857 (from History of association football)
Image 24Mia Hamm (left) battles with German defender Kerstin Stegemann (from Women's association football)
Image 25Japanese high-school girls playing football in their traditional hakama with one team wearing sashes (c. 1920) (from Women's association football)
Image 26Marta of Brazil is the all-time leading scorer of the senior FIFA World Cups. (from Women's association football)
Image 27The Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies (from Women's association football)
Image 28Harrow School team of 1867. (from History of association football)
Image 29From 1866 to 1883, the laws provided for a tape between the goalposts (from Laws of the Game (association football))

Selected World Cup

The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the second time in the history of the tournament (the first was in 1938), defeating Morocco in the bidding process. It was the ninth time that it was held in Europe. Spanning 32 days, it was the longest World Cup tournament ever held.

Qualification for the finals began in March 1996 and concluded in November 1997. For the first time in the competition, the group stage was expanded from 24 teams to 32, with eight groups of four. 64 matches were played in 10 stadiums in 10 host cities, with the opening match and final staged at the newly built Stade de France in the Parisian commune of Saint-Denis. (Full article...)

List of selected World Cups