The History Behind Soccer – The Most Popular Sport in the World

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Ariela, Reporter

Most of you probably know what soccer is, but just in case you don’t, soccer is a sport played between two teams with eleven players on each team with a ball. In the United States and Australia they call it soccer, but every where else in the world they call it “football.” 250 million people play soccer and over 200 countries participate in the sport, making soccer the most popular sport in the world.

No one really knows when soccer was first introduced, but the earliest version of the game was thought to be played over 3,000 years ago. 150 years ago, England formed the Football Association. Woman started playing soccer around the same time men did in England, but men were originally the main players in the game. In the 1990’s woman’s soccer started to become very popular. The first soccer balls were made in China and made from sewn clothing and filled with rubble.