| |
Betting
System
Sports betting is the general
activity of predicting sports results by making a wager on the
outcome of a sporting event. Perhaps more so than other forms of
gambling, the legality and general acceptance of sport betting
varies from nation to nation.
Promotional codes
|
|
Soccer
Association
football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport
played between two teams of eleven players, and is widely considered to
be the most popular sport in the world. It is a football variant played
on a rectangular grass or artificial turf field, with a goal at each of
the short ends. The object of the game is to score by maneuvering the
ball into the opposing goal. In general play, the goalkeepers are the
only players allowed to use their hands or arms to propel the ball; the
rest of the team usually use their feet to kick the ball into position,
occasionally using their torso or head to intercept a ball in midair.
The team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the
score is tied at the end of the game, either a draw is declared or the
game goes into extra time and/or a penalty shootout, depending on the
format of the competition.
The modern game was codified in England following the formation of The
Football Association, whose 1863 Laws of the Game created the
foundations for the way the sport is played today. Football is governed
internationally by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association
(International Federation of Association Football), commonly known by
the acronym FIFA. The most prestigious international football
competition is the FIFA World Cup, held every four years. This event,
the most widely viewed in the world, boasts an audience twice that of
the Summer Olympic Games.
Football is played in accordance with a set of rules known as the Laws
of the Game. The game is played using a single round ball, known as the
football. Two teams of eleven players each compete to get the ball into
the other team's goal (between the posts and under the bar), thereby
scoring a goal. The team that has scored more goals at the end of the
game is the winner; if both teams have scored an equal number of goals
then the game is a draw.
The primary rule is that players (other than goalkeepers) may not
deliberately handle the ball with their hands or arms during play
(though they do use their hands during a throw-in restart). Although
players usually use their feet to move the ball around, they may use any
part of their bodies other than their hands or arms.
In typical game play, players attempt to create goal scoring
opportunities through individual control of the ball, such as by
dribbling, passing the ball to a team-mate, and by taking shots at the
goal, which is guarded by the opposing goalkeeper. Opposing players may
try to regain control of the ball by intercepting a pass or through
tackling the opponent in possession of the ball; however, physical
contact between opponents is restricted. Football is generally a
free-flowing game, with play stopping only when the ball has left the
field of play or when play is stopped by the referee. After a stoppage,
play recommences with a specified restart.
At a professional level, most matches produce only a few goals. For
example, the 2005–06 season of the English Premier League produced an
average of 2.48 goals per match. The Laws of the Game do not specify any
player positions other than goalkeeper, but a number of specialised
roles have evolved. Broadly, these include three main categories:
strikers, or forwards, whose main task is to score goals; defenders, who
specialise in preventing their opponents from scoring; and midfielders,
who dispossess the opposition and keep possession of the ball in order
to pass it to the forwards on their team. Players in these positions are
referred to as outfield players, in order to discern them from the
single goalkeeper. These positions are further subdivided according to
the area of the field in which the player spends most time. For example,
there are central defenders, and left and right midfielders. The ten
outfield players may be arranged in any combination. The number of
players in each position determines the style of the team's play; more
forwards and fewer defenders creates a more aggressive and
offensive-minded game, while the reverse creates a slower, more
defensive style of play. While players typically spend most of the game
in a specific position, there are few restrictions on player movement,
and players can switch positions at any time. The layout of a team's
players is known as a formation. Defining the team's formation and
tactics is usually the prerogative of the team's manager.
History of association football
Map showing the popularity of football around the world. Countries where
football is the most popular sport are coloured green, while countries
where it is not are coloured red. The various shades of green and red
indicate the number of players per 1,000 inhabitants.
Games revolving around the kicking of a ball have been played in many
countries throughout history. According to FIFA, the "very earliest form
of the game for which there is scientific evidence was an exercise of
precisely this skilful technique dating back to the 2nd and 3rd
centuries BC in China (the game of cuju)." In addition, the Roman game
harpastum may be a distant ancestor of football. Various forms of
football were played in medieval Europe, though rules varied greatly by
both period and location.
The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts
to standardise the widely varying forms of football played at the public
schools of England.
The Cambridge Rules, first drawn up at Cambridge University in 1848,
were particularly influential in the development of subsequent codes,
including association football. The Cambridge Rules were written at
Trinity College, Cambridge, at a meeting attended by representatives
from Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester and Shrewsbury schools. They were
not universally adopted. During the 1850s, many clubs unconnected to
schools or universities were formed throughout the English-speaking
world, to play various forms of football. Some came up with their own
distinct codes of rules, most notably the Sheffield Football Club,
formed by former public school pupils in 1857, which led to formation of
a Sheffield FA in 1867. In 1862, John Charles Thring of Uppingham School
also devised an influential set of rules.
These ongoing efforts contributed to the formation of The Football
Association (The FA) in 1863, which first met on the morning of 26
October 1863 at the Freemason's Tavern in Great Queen Street,
London.[15] The only school to be represented on this occasion was
Charterhouse. The Freemason's Tavern was the setting for five more
meetings between October and December, which eventually produced the
first comprehensive set of rules. At the final meeting, the first FA
treasurer, the representative from Blackheath, withdrew his club from
the FA over the removal of two draft rules at the previous meeting, the
first which allowed for the running with the ball in hand and the
second, obstructing such a run by hacking (kicking an opponent in the
shins), tripping and holding. Other English rugby football clubs
followed this lead and did not join the FA, or subsequently left the FA
and instead in 1871 formed the Rugby Football Union. The eleven
remaining clubs, under the charge of Ebenezer Cobb Morley, went on to
ratify the original thirteen laws of the game. These rules included
handling of the ball by "marks" and the lack of a crossbar, rules which
made it remarkably similar to Victorian rules football being developed
at that time in Australia. The Sheffield FA played by its own rules
until the 1870s with the FA absorbing some of its rules until there was
little difference between the games.
The laws of the game are currently determined by the International
Football Association Board (IFAB). The Board was formed in 1886 after a
meeting in Manchester of The Football Association, the Scottish Football
Association, the Football Association of Wales, and the Irish Football
Association. The world's oldest football competition is the FA Cup,
which was founded by C. W. Alcock and has been contested by English
teams since 1872. The first official international football match took
place in 1872 between Scotland and England in Glasgow, again at the
instigation of C. W. Alcock. England is home to the world's first
football league, which was founded in Birmingham in 1888 by Aston Villa
director William McGregor. The original format contained 12 clubs from
the Midlands and the North of England. The Fédération Internationale de
Football Association (FIFA), the international football body, was formed
in Paris in 1904 and declared that they would adhere to Laws of the Game
of the Football Association. The growing popularity of the international
game led to the admittance of FIFA representatives to the International
Football Association Board in 1913. The board currently consists of four
representatives from FIFA and one representative from each of the four
British associations.
Today, football is played at a professional level all over the world.
Millions of people regularly go to football stadiums to follow their
favourite teams, while billions more watch the game on television. A
very large number of people also play football at an amateur level.
According to a survey conducted by FIFA published in 2001, over 240
million people from more than 200 countries regularly play football. Its
simple rules and minimal equipment requirements have no doubt aided its
spread and growth in popularity.
In many parts of the world football evokes great passions and plays an
important role in the life of individual fans, local communities, and
even nations; it is therefore often claimed to be the most popular sport
in the world. ESPN has spread the claim that the Côte d'Ivoire national
football team helped secure a truce to the nation's civil war in 2005.
By contrast, football is widely considered to be the final proximate
cause in the Football War in June 1969 between El Salvador and Honduras.
The sport also exacerbated tensions at the beginning of the Yugoslav
wars of the 1990s, when a match between Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star
Belgrade devolved into rioting in March 1990. |
|
