Association Football, also known as soccer or football, originated in England and is the most popular sport on the planet. From China to the United States, from Sweden to South Africa, people from all over the world enjoy the spectacle. To prepare you for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, we are bringing you a series of articles about this sport. Today, we start the series with the most elemental of problems: What do we call it?
The Name of the Game
Association Football, the most popular sport on the planet, is a game in which two teams composed of eleven players each compete to push a ball into a goal using mainly their feet. It originated in the 19th Century (the time period from 1801 to 1900, including both) in England. It is called like this because at that time it was one of the many sports played using a ball and the players’ feet, and its rules were defined by the Football Association, so people started referring to it as Association Football.
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When we say everybody is playing it, we mean EVERYBODY
This sport is also known as soccer or simply football. This is a bit confusing for many people because there are other sports known as football. Some of the most popular are American football, rugby union or rugby football, Gaelic football and Australian rules football.
The confusion doesn’t end there; in the places where this sport is known as football, it also has other names such as footie or footy.
So, How do we know which sport a person is talking about if they just say football?
- If the individual is from the United Kingdom, they are most likely referring to Association Football.
- If they are from the United States or Canada, the word football tends to refer to American football, not association football. North American English speakers use the word soccer (which comes from the word association) to refer to Association Football.
- If the person is from Australia, it is likely that when they say football they mean either Australian rules football or rugby football, but some people have started using football there to refer to association football.
- If the person is from another English-speaking country such as New Zealand, the best way is to ask them if they refer to association football or to another sport.
Now that you know how it’s called, you can start enjoying it! The first step is to watch (not see) a match or game (both words can be used, but match is a bit more formal). It doesn’t matter whether you’re going to the stadium or watching it on tv, you can use the verb watch in both situations. When you watch the match, you are a spectator, somebody who watches the match.
to watch + a + football (or other similar sport) + game / match + on tv / at the stadium
Let’s practise with some sample sentences:
- We are going to watch a soccer match at the stadium.
- I will watch a soccer game tonight on TV.
- I have never watched a football association match.
- The tickets were very expensive, but there were still a lot of spectators watching the match.
This is only the beginning! In the coming weeks, we are going to publish a series of posts that will help you understand and enjoy this great sport!