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 each, who primarily 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.

The game of 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 get the ball into the other team's goal (between the posts, under the bar, and fully across the goal line), thereby scoring a goal. When the ball is in play, the players mainly use their feet, but may use any other part of their body, except for their hands or arms, to control, strike, or pass the ball. Only the goalkeepers may use their hands and arms, and only then within the penalty area. The team that has scored more goals at the end of the game is the winner. There are situations where a goal can be disallowed, such as an offside call or a foul in the build-up to the goal. Depending on the format of the competition, an equal number of goals scored may result in a draw being declared, or the game goes 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. Of these confederations, CONMEBOL is the oldest one, being founded in 1916. National associations (e.g. The FA or JFA) 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 senior and prestigious international competitions are the FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Women's World Cup. The men's World Cup is the most-viewed sporting event in the world, surpassing the Olympic Games. The two most prestigious competitions in European club football are the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Women's Champions League, which attract an extensive television audience throughout the world. Since 2009, the final of the men's tournament has been the most-watched annual sporting event in the world. (Full article...)

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Manchester City pictured in 1904.

Manchester City Football Club is an English professional football club based in the city of Manchester. Originally formed in 1880 as "St. Marks (West Gorton)", they then became "Ardwick A.F.C." in 1887 before changing their name to Manchester City F.C. in 1894.

Manchester City entered the Football League in 1899, and won their first major honour with the FA Cup in 1904. It had its first major period of success in the late 1960s, winning the League, FA Cup and League Cup under the management of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison. After losing the 1981 FA Cup Final, the club went through a period of decline, which eventually saw them relegated as far down as third tier of English football by the end of the 1997–98 season. They since regained promotion to the top tier in 2001–02 and have remained a fixture in the Premier League since 2002–03. In 2008, Manchester City was purchased by Abu Dhabi United Group for £210 million and received considerable financial investment.

The club have won six domestic league titles. Under the management of Pep Guardiola they won the Premier League in 2018 becoming the only Premier League team to attain 100 points in a single season. In 2019, they won four trophies, completing an unprecedented sweep of all domestic trophies in England and becoming the first English men's team to win the domestic treble.

Manchester City's biggest rivalry is with neighbours Manchester United, against whom they contest the Manchester derby. (Full article...)

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Katie Sarah Chapman (born 15 June 1982) is an English footballer who plays for English club Arsenal Ladies in the FA WSL and is a former member of the England women's national team. She primarily plays as a central midfielder, although she has also been deployed in central defence while playing for England. Chapman is known for her strength, fierce tackling and heading ability. A mother of three, Chapman is described as "a physical player who handles a brunt of the dirty work in the middle of the pitch. She also can produce on the offensive end in a big game." Her playing ability, profile and influence have drawn comparisons to former England captain and fellow Londoner David Beckham.

Chapman is a former England U–18 captain. She made her senior international debut aged 17 in May 2000 in a 2001 UEFA Women's Championship qualification match against Switzerland. The following month, she made her first start against Norway. In March 2002 she netted her first senior international goal in a 4–1 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification win in the Netherlands. Chapman has represented England at four major international tournaments; UEFA Euro 2001, UEFA Euro 2005, 2007 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2009. A two–time winner of the FA International Player of the Year in 2002 and 2010, Chapman took a break from the national team in March 2011 with a total of 82 caps and eight goals. She remains available for England selection.

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AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation (ALFC) was the section of AFC that managed women's association football in Asia. The group was independently founded in April 1968 in a meeting involving Taiwan, British Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. In 1986, ALFC merged with AFC. (Full article...)

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... that after his soccer career, Steve Palacios enlisted in the United States Army and played for the United States Armed Forces soccer team?
... that Ecuadorian footballer Hernán Galíndez won a bicycle for beating a team featuring Lionel Messi when they were children?
... 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 Carlton Town F.C., now competing at the eighth tier of the English football pyramid, was once denied promotion by a hat-trick scored by future England international Jamie Vardy?
... that Ryan Roberts, a defensive end for Notre Dame, was a soccer player in high school?
... that Welsh footballer Jon Morgan went on to become a college principal after retiring?

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Football at the Summer Olympics

Credit: Wikimedia Commons User:Parutakupiu

The sport of Association football has been played at the Summer Olympic Games since 1896. An unofficial event until the 1908 London Olympics, teams have participated for medals in every event since with one exception. In 1932, FIFA prevented the playing of football at the 1932 Summer Olympics due to the perception that it may overshadow the newly created FIFA World Cup competition. It was an amateur event until 1984, when the IOC admitted professional players for the first time in order to boost popularity and Women's football was added to the program in 1996.

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Away from home our fans are fantastic...but at home they have a few drinks and probably the prawn sandwiches, and they don't realise what's going on out on the pitch.

— Roy Keane, on the prawn sandwich brigade

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

Image 1United States Abby Wambach plays off a corner kick against Canada.
Image 2From 1866 to 1883, the laws provided for a tape between the goalposts (from Laws of the Game (association football))
Image 3Old Etonians v Blackburn Rovers match. Illustration by S.T. Dadd, 1882 (from History of association football)
Image 4A Welsh women's football team pose for a photograph in 1959 (from Women's association football)
Image 5Harrow School team of 1867. (from History of association football)
Image 6FC de Rakt DA1 (2008/2009) (from Women's association football)
Image 7The 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 8The Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies (from Women's association football)
Image 9Sam Kerr with Australia during the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinal against Japan in Edmonton, 2015 (from Women's association football)
Image 10Portland Thorns traveling supporters at Seattle's Memorial Stadium. (from Women's association football)
Image 11An 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 12Iran vs Turkey in 2010 Youth Olympics (from Women's association football)
Image 13Sheffield F.C. (here pictured in 1876) is the oldest association club still active, having been founded in 1857 (from History of association football)
Image 14Florida state vs north carolina soccer 2005. (from Women's association football)
Image 15Iran women's national football team maintained a higher rank internationally. (from Women's association football)
Image 16Arsenal in 2007 of the Women's FA Cup. (from Women's association football)
Image 17Players 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 18Marta of Brazil is the all-time leading scorer of the senior FIFA World Cups. (from Women's association football)
Image 19Mia Hamm (left) battles with German defender Kerstin Stegemann (from Women's association football)
Image 20Striker 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 21Megan Rapinoe speaks on equal pay in March 2021. (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 23Representation of a football match from the book Athletics and football, 1894 (from History of association football)
Image 24"North" team of the British Ladies' Football Club, 1895 (from Women's association football)
Image 25Drawing of the first international game by artist William Ralston (from History of association football)
Image 26When 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 27Japanese high-school girls playing football in their traditional hakama with one team wearing sashes (c. 1920) (from Women's association football)
Image 28Olympique Lyonnais vs Paris Saint-Germain. (from Women's association football)

Selected World Cup

The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. It took place between 7 June and 7 July 2019, with 52 matches staged in nine cities in France, which was awarded the right to host the event in March 2015, the first time the country hosted the tournament. The tournament was the first Women's World Cup to use the video assistant referee (VAR) system. This was the second and last edition with 24 teams before expanding to 32 teams for the 2023 tournament in Australia and New Zealand.

The United States entered the competition as defending champions after winning the 2015 edition in Canada and successfully defended their title with a 2–0 victory over the Netherlands in the final. In doing so, they secured their record fourth title and became the second nation, after Germany, to have successfully retained the title. Unlike Germany, however, this victory held a distinction as the United States won both 2015 and 2019 tournaments under one manager, Jill Ellis. It was the first time in 81 years since Vittorio Pozzo did so for the Italian men's team at the 1934 and 1938 FIFA World Cups. (Full article...)

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... that Camillo Vaz managed Paris Saint-Germain Féminine when they qualified for the UEFA Women's Champions League for the first time? (1 May 2021)
... that the French football club GPSO 92 Issy was founded by three Peruvian sisters in 1997? (8 April 2021)
... that Wycombe Wanderers secured back-to-back promotions when they won the 1994 Football League Third Division play-off Final? (11 March 2021)
... that Neil Warnock left Huddersfield Town shortly after they gained promotion by winning the 1995 Football League Second Division play-off Final because he said the club chairman had told him a "porky pie"? (21 March 2021)
... that Icelandic footballer Þórdís Hrönn Sigfúsdóttir has had to self-isolate on four occasions during the COVID-19 pandemic? (18 March 2021)
... that Mark Cullen was named as League Two Player of the Month for October 2014 after scoring a perfect hat-trick? (3 April 2021)