Goal
Soccer is the world’s largest spectator sport. Historians say that it started in Britain around the eighth century A.D. as a war game. In the Middle Ages, entire towns played one another for an entire day. The object of the game was to move the ball to a spot marked on a field. Kicking and biting opponents were allowed.
Soccer as we know it today dates from the late nineteenth century. In 1863, London clubs and schools created the Football Association. In 1869, it established an important rule: players could not carry the ball. British sailors and settlers help spread the game around the world. In 1904, FIFA was formed to organize matches among teams of different nations.
The first World Cup took place in Uruguay in 1930, and 13 countries participated. Today over 200 countries are members of FIFA.
Technology has helped contribute to the popularity of the game. The first televised World Cup was in 1954. The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa reached 3.2 billion TV viewers, or almost half the world’s population.
Soccer now has a long history, and its rules change very slowly. Sometimes wrong decisions by the referees have led to violence in stadiums. However, technology can help referees. Starting at the World Cup in 2014, FIFA agreed to install a goal control system using high speed cameras. If the ball crosses the goal line the referee receives confirmation in 0.3 seconds on a chronometer. In the future, referees may be able to use video replays to check fouls and off-sides too.