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 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.

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, except for their hands or arms, to control, strike, or pass the ball; the head, chest, and thighs are commonly used. Only the goalkeepers may use their hands and arms, and that only within the penalty area. The team that has scored more goals at the end of the game is the winner. Depending on the format of the competition, an equal number of goals scored may result in a draw being declared with 1 point awarded to each team, or the game may go 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. National associations (e.g. the FA in England, U.S. Soccer in the United States, etc.) 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 competition is the FIFA World Cup. The men's World Cup is the most-viewed sporting event in the world, surpassing the Olympic Games. The most prestigious competition in European club football is the UEFA Champions League, which attracts an extensive television audience worldwide. The final of the men's Champions League is the most-watched annual sporting event in the world. (Full article...)

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Formative shot of York City in 1922.

York City Football Club is an English football club based in York. The club participates in the Conference National, the fifth tier of English football. Founded in 1922, they joined the Football League in 1929, and have spent most of their history in the lower divisions.

The club briefly rose as high as the second tier of English football, spending two seasons in the Second Division in the 1970s. At the end of the 2003–04 season the club lost their League status when they were relegated from the Third Division, and have since remained in the Conference.

York have enjoyed more success in cup competitions than in the league, with highlights including an FA Cup semi-final appearance in 1955. In the 1995–96 League Cup, York beat Manchester United 3–0 at Old Trafford.

Traditionally, York City's two main rivalries have been with Scarborough and Hull City with the rivalry between Hull and York being represented as a battle between a lion (York City's mascot) and a tiger (Hull City's mascot). (Full article...)

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Thierry Henry

Thierry Henry (born 17 August 1977), is a French football player who plays in the position of striker and is renowned for his pace and goal scoring record.

Henry was spotted by AS Monaco in 1990 and signed to a youth contract instantly, making his professional début in 1994. Good form led to an international call-up for France in 1998, after which he signed for the Italian defending champions Juventus. He had a disappointing season playing on the wing, before joining Arsenal for £10.5 million in 1999.

Despite initially struggling in the Premiership, under long-time mentor and coach Arsène Wenger he emerged as Arsenal's top goal-scorer for almost every season he played. Henry won two league titles and three FA Cups with The Gunners, was twice nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year and became Arsenal's all-time leading scorer with 226 goals in all competitions. In June 2007, after eight years with Arsenal, he transferred to FC Barcelona for a fee of £16.1 million.

Henry has also had success with the French national squad, having been part of the squad that won both the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000. In October 2007, he surpassed Michel Platini's record becoming the country's top goal-scorer of all time. (Full article...)

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The Football Association of Indonesia (Indonesian: Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia; lit. 'All-Indonesian Football Association'; abbreviated as PSSI) is the governing body of football in Indonesia. It was founded on 19 April 1930. The PSSI joined FIFA in 1952 and the Asian Football Confederation in 1954. (Full article...)

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... that Ryan Roberts, a defensive end for Notre Dame, was a soccer player in high school?
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... 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 after his soccer career, Steve Palacios enlisted in the United States Army and played for the United States Armed Forces soccer team?

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Goalkeeper (football)

Photo credit: Nick Wiebe

Congo national football team goalkeeper Destin Onka (right) prevents Austrian forward Rubin Okotie (left) from scoring a goal at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. In association football, the goalkeeper is the only player who is permitted to touch the ball with his hands or arms in open play.

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I have never started a fight in my life but I have finished a few... sometimes I shudder when I think about what I have done.

— Tommy Smith (footballer, born 1945)

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

Image 1The Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies (from Women's association football)
Image 2Cricket and Foot-Ball, one of the earliest books about association football, published by Beadle & Co. in New York in 1000 It contained the rules and laws of the game (from History of association football)
Image 3An 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 4Sheffield F.C. (here pictured in 1876) is the oldest association club still active, having been founded in 1857 (from History of association football)
Image 5United States Abby Wambach plays off a corner kick against Canada.
Image 6Portland Thorns traveling supporters at Seattle's Memorial Stadium. (from Women's association football)
Image 7When 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 8Sam Kerr with Australia during the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinal against Japan in Edmonton, 2015 (from Women's association football)
Image 9Iran women's national football team maintained a higher rank internationally. (from Women's association football)
Image 10Striker 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 11Megan Rapinoe speaks on equal pay in March 2021. (from Women's association football)
Image 12The 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 13A Welsh women's football team pose for a photograph in 1959 (from Women's association football)
Image 14Iran vs Turkey in 2010 Youth Olympics (from Women's association football)
Image 15Drawing of the first international game by artist William Ralston (from History of association football)
Image 16"North" team of the British Ladies' Football Club, 1895 (from Women's association football)
Image 17Olympique Lyonnais vs Paris Saint-Germain. (from Women's association football)
Image 18Florida state vs North Carolina soccer 2005. (from Women's association football)
Image 19Representation of a football match from the book Athletics and football, 1894. The goal has no net. (from History of association football)
Image 20FC de Rakt DA1 (2008/2009) (from Women's association football)
Image 21Japanese high-school girls playing football in their traditional hakama with one team wearing sashes (c. 1920) (from Women's association football)
Image 22The Royal Engineers team who reached the first FA Cup final in 1872 (from History of association football)
Image 23Mia Hamm (left) battles with German defender Kerstin Stegemann (from Women's association football)
Image 24From 1866 to 1883, the laws provided for a tape between the goalposts (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 25Old Etonians v Blackburn Rovers match. Illustration by S.T. Dadd, 1882 (from History of association football)
Image 26Players 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 27Arsenal in 2007 of the Women's FA Cup. (from Women's association football)
Image 28Harrow School team of 1867. (from History of association football)
Image 29Marta of Brazil is the all-time leading scorer of the senior FIFA World Cups. (from Women's association football)

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The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the 10th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the current trophy, the FIFA World Cup Trophy, created by the Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga, was awarded. The previous trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, had been won for the third time by Brazil in 1970 and awarded permanently to the Brazilians.

West Germany won the title, beating the Netherlands 2–1 in the final at the Olympiastadion in Munich. This was the second victory for West Germany, who had also won in 1954. Australia, East Germany, Haiti and Zaire made their first appearances at the final stage, with the latter two also making their only appearance, and East Germany making their only appearance before Germany was reunified in 1990. Brazil, the defending champions, were eliminated in the second round, and lost the third-place match to Poland. (Full article...)

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York City F.C.

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... that South African association footballer Amanda Sister has played for clubs in Hungary and Italy? (9 March 2021)
... that, such was his popularity with the club's supporters, when footballer Hughie Ferguson was sold by Motherwell F.C., the local steel works closed to allow workers to wave him off? (31 March 2021)
... that Irish sportswoman Carol Breen has played internationally in both association and Australian rules football? (17 March 2021)
... that MLS Cup 1999 was played with new rule changes that were approved days before the game? (28 March 2021)
... that when Irene del Río was called up to the Spain women's national football team squad, she was the only player who did not compete in the country's top division? (28 April 2021)
... that, during his time in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, footballer Ernie Curtis would obtain extra food by teaching his captors how to play with a ball made of paper? (27 March 2021)