IGN Dives into the soccer (football) of past and new to show you how far these epic games have come, just in time for the World Cup!

Read!!!!!!!! pppl who get digusted dont watch!!!!! worst soccer incident (injury) ever

Cassell Soccer Companion: History, Facts, Anecdotes

English Soccer History – Early Days

It’s hard to determine exactly how soccer became so popular in England in the 19th century, but the truth is that in the mid 19th century, almost every major town had a semi-professional soccer team. These teams were usually associations of workers from the same factory or institution or simply students at a local University.

Matches between those teams were played occasionally, with little to no prize, but only for competition’s sake. However, these matches were played without any rules or a referee and as soccer isn’t necessarily a sport that’s completely clean of violence, all it took was a harsh tackle or an argument about a particular rule to start a bloody fight between the two teams and their supporters.

But the year 1863 marked an extremely important chapter in English soccer history, as several soccer clubs from all over the country (prominently from London) met up in the English capital and set up a sort of “soccer constitution” called the Laws of the Game (a modified version of the original rules are still in effect today and are still called as such).

That was also the birth certificate of the Football Association, or simply FA that is still ruling over English soccer nowadays and had a tremendous importance throughout the history of soccer in England and the way it evolved.

English Soccer History – Important Milestones

With England being rightfully considered the inventors of modern soccer, one would expect them to be amongst the most successful national squads in the World. However, despite having some world class soccer players throughout time and despite always being favorites for the competitions they start in, the English national squad only achieved few important milestones throughout the entire soccer history in England.

The apogee of English soccer and the most important chapter ever to be written in the entire history of soccer in England was definitely the successful World Cup run in 1966, a competition that was held on English ground, giving them the advantage to grasp their long-awaited trophy.

The 1966 team, captained by legendary Bobby Moore and with other key components such as Jackie Charlton or Geoff Hurst playing regularly, remains the best national squad in the entire English soccer history, especially since their success has not been equaled ever since.

English Soccer History – Modern Era

England is still a top team in Europe and throughout the World and has some players that are considered having world class quality, but the national team still has moderate success, despite being star-studded.

Recently, the form of English clubs overshadowed the poor performance of the national team, as Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool or Arsenal continue to be heavy contenders for each year’s European Champion’s League, the most prestigious club competition in the World.

Despite being happy with the respect English clubs impose in Europe, fans are still yearning for that long awaited European or World Cup which could mark a new important chapter in the English soccer history.

Although soccer is not THE sport in the US, the history of soccer in US is one of the longest around, right next to that of the English or the Scottish.

After the English set out to form a set of rules for the game of soccer, these were soon taken to the new World, where Americans learned to love this rising sport, right next to another game that grew strong roots in the US back then: baseball. Actually, the American Football Association is the second oldest sports league in America, after the Major League Baseball one.

Obviously, the history of soccer in US didn’t start with a professional league though (in terms of what we call professional today). The American Football Association, started out in 1884, was a semi-professional competition involving New England and some Midwest areas and it was a rather chaotic environment to play soccer in, but nevertheless it was there and progressing with each year.

A parallel soccer organization, the American Amateur Football Association was founded around the same time and the two coexisted until 1913, when they merged into the US Football Association, the first fully professional soccer organization throughout the history of soccer in the US.

The US football association (or USFA) was one of the first to join FIFA and as such, the United States team participated in the early World Cups, although the game was beginning to become outshined by baseball or basketball.

With American football also on the rise, the organization adopted a new name to avoid any confusion and called itself the US Soccer Football Association. However, the US soccer history would soon witness a new change in its governing body’s name in 1974, when the USSFA dropped “Football” from its tag and instead adopted the title of United States Soccer Federation, which is still used today.

So many will wonder, if the history of soccer in US starts out so early, how come soccer is not the main sport in USA? Well the truth is that the rather modest performances from the men’s national side early on in the 20th century, combined with the high rise of baseball, basketball, football and hockey, meant that the nation soon lost interest in soccer and since American kids had so many alternatives, soccer slowly went out of fashion.

However, with the increasingly good performances from the US men’s soccer team and the huge success of the women’s soccer team (who managed to bring in the first trophies in the history of soccer in US and is still one of the world powers in the game today), soccer is climbing back to its rightful place and with more and more American kids favoring it in school as a start-up sport, things look bright for the future of US soccer.