ACOG - Football - IBM

History of Football

With so many cultures playing a role in the development of the game, it's no wonder football enjoys such world-wide appeal. Played in various forms by the Greeks, the Romans and the Chinese, football in its earliest stages was often a wild and rowdy affair involving entire villages. The chaotic game often resulted in more fighting than football until the British brought order to the contests through a uniform set of rules in 1863.

The popularity of the sport increased when football debuted at the Olympic Games in 1900. The sport was further unified in 1904 with the founding of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's organizing body that set the standards for international play. Today, every FIFA-affiliated team, regardless of the level of competition, is governed by the same laws of the game.

Milestones in Football History

80 B.C. — Games resembling football are played in China, Greece, Rome and Florence.

1314 — King Richard II of England outlaws football because of its rowdy nature. Nonetheless, the sport continues to thrive, forcing similar bans on the game in 1389, 1401, 1436 and 1491.

1580 — The sport appears on British college campuses and becomes an intercollegiate event in 1620.

1863 — Modern football begins in England with the foundation of the Football Association.

1900 — Great Britain wins the first Olympic football tournament in Paris.

1904 — FIFA, the Federation Internationale de Football Association, is founded as the game's governing body.

1930 — Defending Olympic champion Uruguay wins the first World Cup tournament.

This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publication Department. Written by Howard Thomas.


Olympic Factoid
More tickets were sold to the competitions of the 1996 Games than to any other Olympic Games or sports event in history. The 8.6 million ticket sales figures topped sales to the Los Angeles and Barcelona Games combined.