soccer

Ball game originating in the UK, popular in Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America. It is played between two teams each of 11 players, on a field 100–130 yd/90–120 m long and 50–100 yd/45–90 m wide, with a spherical, inflated (traditionally leather) ball, with a circumference of 27 in/0.69 m. The object of the game is to send the ball with the feet or head into the opponents' goal, an area 8 yd/7.31 m wide and 8 ft/2.44 m high.

A team is broadly divided into defence (the goalkeeper and defenders), midfield (whose players collect the ball from the defence and distribute it to the attackers), and attack (forwards or strikers). The number of players assigned to each role varies according to the tactics adopted, but a typical formation is 4–4–2 (four defenders, excluding goalkeeper, four midfield, and two forwards).

The field has a halfway line marked with a center circle, two penalty areas, and two goal areas. Corner kicks are taken from the nearest 1 m/1 yd area at each corner of the field, when the ball goes behind the goal-line having last touched a defender. A ball kicked over the sidelines is thrown in by one of the opposing side. Only the goalkeeper is allowed to touch the ball with the hands and only then in an assigned penalty area, which stretches 16.5 m/18 yd out from the goal.

For major offences committed within the defenders' penalty area, a penalty kick may be awarded by the referee to the attacking team. This is taken 11 m/12 yd from the goal's center, with only the goalkeeper inside the area and standing still on the goal-line.

The game is started from the center spot. At the adult level, it is played for two periods of 45 minutes each, the teams changing ends at half-time; for younger players the games are shorter. The game is controlled by a referee; two linesmen bring rule infringements to the referee's attention.

Played in England from the 14th century, soccer developed in the 19th century and the first set of rules were drawn up at Cambridge University in 1848. The modern game is played in the UK according to the rules laid down by the Football Association, founded in 1863.

There are very slight differences in the rules of the sport's world governing body, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA, 1904), whose rules are followed in the US. FIFA organizes the competitions for the World Cup, held every four years from 1930.