John Caldwell age 13, of Las Vegas, Nev., for his question:
WHEN WAS SOCCER FIRST PLAYED?
As early as 400 B.C., a game very similar to soccer was played by the Chinese. Then in the A.D. 200s, the Romans played a similar game in which two teams tried to move a ball across a line on the field.
Through the Middle Ages in London, children played a form of soccer in the street.
By the early 1800s, many children in English schools were playing football games that were variations of soccer. Each school interpreted the rules differently. Then in 1848, an association of school representatives met at Trinity College in Cambridge to draw up the first set of official rules.
In 1863, members of English football clubs founded the Football Association. The group introduced the Football Association Challenge Cup Competition in 1871. This competition is still one of the most famous in soccer.
Professional soccer started in England in 1885 and three years later there were 12 teams in the Football League of England.
Acceptance of the game of soccer grew quickly and by the late 1800s, the game was being played throughout the world. By 1900, clubs were founded in Switzerland, Belgium, Chile, Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands.
An international association of soccer teams was founded in 1904. It is called the Federation Internationale de Football Association, or FIFA. Soccer rules are made by a 20 man board made up of equal members of representatives from the FIFA, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The size of a soccer field may vary. In international competition and college games in the United States, a field may be from 110 to 120 yards long and from 65 to 80 yards wide. Boundary lines on the long side are called touch lines and those on the short are called goal lines.
In Great Britain today, soccer is called football or association football. The word "soccer" comes for "assoc.," an abbreviation for "association." American and Canadian football as well as rugby developed from soccer.
Soccer is an extremely fast, exciting game in which two teams of 11 men each try to knock a round ball through the opponent's goal. Players wear only shirts and shorts, heavy knee length socks and cleated soccer shoes. They do not wear shoulder pads or helmets, although some of the players may wear shin guards.
Players must kick the ball with their feet or hit it with their heads or bodies. Only the goalkeepers can touch the ball with their hands, and then only within a certain area near the goal.
Soccer is a fast game. Play rarely stops as players move up and down the field almost continuously. Play stops only when a goal is scored, a foul occurs or when a player is injured.
A player taken out of a soccer game because of an injury cannot play again in that game. So often soccer players stay on the field despite injuries.