Football

Some of the many different games known as football. From top left to bottom right: Association football or soccer, Australian rules football, International rules football, rugby union, rugby league, and American football. Football refers to a number of sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer". Unqualified, the word football applies to whichever form of football is the most popular in the regional context in which the word appears, including association football, as well as American football, Australian rules football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, rugby league, rugby unionand other related games. These variations of football are known as football codes. Various forms of football can be identified in history, oftaen as popular peasant games. Contemporary codes of football can be traced back to the codification of these games at English public schools in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The influence and power of the British Empire allowed these rules of football to spread, including to areas of British influence

outside of the directly controlled Empire,though by the end of the nineteenth century, distinct regional codes were already developing: Gaelic Football, for example, deliberately incorporated the rules of local traditional football games in order to maintain their heritage.In 1888, The Football League was founded in England, becoming the first of many professional football competitions. During the twentieth century, the various codes of football became amongst the most popular team sports in the world.

Early history
Ancient Greek football player balancing the ball. Depiction on an Attic Lekythos. The Ancient Greeks and Romans are known to have played many ball games, some of which involved the use of the feet. The Roman game harpastum is believed to have been adapted from a Greek team game known as which is mentioned by a Greek playwright, Antiphanes (388311 BC) and later referred to by the Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215 AD). These games appear to have resembled rugby football.The Roman politician Cicero (10643 BC) describes the case of a man who was killed whilst having a shave when a ball was kicked into a barber's shop. Roman ball games already knew the air-filled ball, the follis.

A Song Dynasty painting by Su Hanchen, depicting Chinese children playing cuju. Documented evidence of an activity resembling football can be found in the Chinese military manual Zhan Guo Ce compiled between the 3rd century and 1st century BC. It describes a practice known as cuju (, literally "kick ball"), which originally involved kicking a leather ball through a small hole in a piece of silk cloth which was fixed on bamboo canes and hung about 9 m above ground. During the Han Dynasty (206 BC220 AD), cuju games were standardized and rules were established.[citation needed] Variations of this game later spread to Japan and Korea, known as kemari and chuk-guk respectively. Later, another type of goal posts emerged, consisting of just one goal post in the middle of the field. Medieval and early modern Europe The Middle Ages saw a huge rise in popularity of annual Shrovetide football matches throughout Europe, particularly in England. An early reference to a ball game played in Britain comes from the 9th century Historia Brittonum, which describes "a party of boys ... playing at ball". References to a ball game played in northern France known as La Soule or Choule, in which the ball was propelled by hands, feet, and sticks,date from the 12th century.

Rules Regulations and Terminology 1a Ten metres 1b Two feet on floor, feet behind the line, ball must be played using two hands and from behind head 1c Points to centre circle 1d Severity of incident, e.g. receiving a ball inside the box from a goal kick indirect free kick/ foul direct 1e Attacking player must be in line with or behind the last defender (not goal keeper) as the ball is played to them. Observation Analysis and Evaluation Short Pass- Balanced over the ball On toes Non kicking foot to the side of the ball Pass using the instep of the foot Strike the middle of the ball.

Lofted Pass- As above but strike under the centre of the ball, Lean back more Preparation phase kicking leg extended further back for greater power. Greater follow through with the kicking leg. Curled Ball- As above plus Angle of attack on the ball different Contact point off centre and allow the ball to run along the foot as it is kicked. Two types of kick, In-swing and Out-swing. Use different areas of the foot, in step and out step depending on which way you want the ball to go. Goal keeper- Awareness of where the ball is being played from Eyes on the ball as it is kicked Strong body position

Feet shoulder width apart- balanced and ready to change direction (agility) if needs be. Movement in goal area strong; holding a position that is keeping the narrowest angle of shot. Communication with defence Awareness of attacking players Timing of the jump/catch to suit the ball Taking the ball cleanly at full stretch and bringing ball into chest for safety Block Tackle - Strong body position. Feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart, knees flexed. Weight forward. Tackle leg strong and aiming for the back/middle/centre of the ball. Transfer body weight through the ball.

Control the loose ball as soon as possible. Dribble - Low stance for stability and agility Using inside and outside of both feet for close control Looking up awareness of others and what is going on around the player Ball close to feet. But not in line with running strides, to keep speed and maintain control. Offensive tactics: attacking 'Pass and move': This is the most basic team tactic as soon as the ball has come into possession of the player, they need to be quick to decide whether to pass it or not. If they don't pass it immediately, they need to move with it; if they do pass it, they again need to move along, following the general ball movement. This can also be used to mean that once a player has passed the ball he does not remain stationary but moves into a position where he can receive the ball again and give more options to the player in possession. The 'through ball': Using the space behind the opponent's defensive line: Passes into this area have a number of pros: If an attacking player reaches

the pass, taking care to avoid offside, he may get a 1-on-1 challenge with the goalkeeper, or be in an excellent position for a flank attack. Even if a defender reaches the pass first, the outcome could still be good for the attacking team. The defender will face his own goal, which could prompt him to give away a corner kick or a throw-in, make a risky pass to his team's goalkeeper, or being put under heavy pressure near the corner flag. Typically, teams with faster attackers than the opponent's defenders will try challenging this space, while the defending team in these cases will want to keep their defenders low when defending in order to give away as little space as possible between the defenders and the goalkeeper. The long through ball: This is a long, and usually high, pass from a teams' own half, over the heads of the other team's defence. It is intended for the attacking players to chase and it is important that they remain in an onside position until the ball is kicked. The tactic works best with strong and fast forwards who will have a good chance of winning back the ball, taking control over it, and eventually getting a shot on goal. In the diagram, the ball (red line) is played in front of the furthermost forward, the dotted blue line showing their run. In this example, a through-ball pass along the ground would be picked up by one of the defenders (black team) because the gap between the two central defenders is too small.

Using the space between the opponent's defensive line and midfielder line ('the hole'): A common build-up of attacks is to pass the ball into the space between the opponent's defenders and midfielders. Normally, an attacker with his back to the goal will receive the pass. He will seek to turn with the ball, or distribute it to a player facing the goal, who optimally also is in front of the opponent's midfielders - or even on the move into the space behind the opponent's defenders. Triangular movement: This is a movement tactic that allows a safe and quick shifting of the offensive flanks while maintaining control of the ball. In a triangular play the ball is passed between three players to form a triangle. The triangle is then shifted to a different position when a new player is added. Many triangles can be created with various combinations of players with the intention of slowly moving the ball forward and never really compromising possession. This tactic works well when trying to gain control in the midfield. However, it can also be used for pure attacking purposes. The effectiveness of this tactic lies in the fact that defenders are unable to quickly 'adapt' to the other attacker's style of play. Swapping of the wing men: Sometimes, a team with two flexible (position wise) wide men will allow them to interchange as the game progresses. The aim of this is to confuse the defenders who are assigned to mark them,

thus maybe leading to opportunities as the defender tries to find their man in set pieces (corners, free kicks etc., where the man may be in a totally different position and thus evade his grasp). Also, if the wingers are different types of player (one favouring crossing from deep positions whilst the other is prone to trying to dribble past their marker for example), then it might be to exploit a weakness in the opposing defender. Strong Side Overloads: An offensive attack can pressure the defense on to one side of the pitch by running most of its attackers and midfielders to one side letting a wing player or defender come to the opposite side with little or no coverage. The ball is then crossed or passed to that unmarked player for a free or near free shot. Using a target man: This tactic is useful when the team possesses a quality striker who has the ability of taking on the whole defence on his own. He will usually occupy two defenders, thus making the defence more vulnerable. Combined with two fast wingers, this tactic may give the 4-man defence potential problems. The team may also benefit from a target man at set pieces.Alan Shearer, Duncan Ferguson, Chris Sutton, Emmanuel Adebayor, Luca Toni, Emile Heskey, Jan Koller, Nikola igi, Zlatan Ibrahimovi, Peter Crouch, Didier Drogba and Miroslav Klose are all examples of strikers adept at playing this role.