Journal 2

FOOTBALL

Football is a team game that is played with a special ball by 11 people for each team. Football is the most popular sport on earth with 250 million players over 200 countries. It is played on a natural or artifical grass square field. Football matches last for 90 mins; 45 mins for each half. While the team managing to score more goals then the other team wins, equal number of goals in a match results in deuce. 

     Cuju, a sport remarkable to Football played 2000-3000 years ago in China, is considered as the ancestor of modern football. Modern football rules were symstematized by English Football Federation in 1863. The International management organization of football is FIFA. 

    The ball games played with foot dates back to Asian Hun Empire, 3000. The Chinese developed it and created the game named Cuju. On the tombs in Egypt, some images demonstrating a human figure playing a game with foot were found. Some leather balls from 2500 years before has reached  today's world, and they are being exhibited in some museums. In some history books, there is a game named "Tepük" in Turkish Culture. It is very similar to modern football from some aspects. For example: It has rules that one cannot touch the ball with hand, perform a fault, and the ball cannot go out of the play field. The roots of today's modern football is the game "harpastum" played by roman soldiers. 

   

    The first women match was played in Northern London in 1895. During the World War I, while men were at war, women working in factories used to play football matches. Today, besides continental national team competitions; some other club tournaments are being held. As of the April, 2013, there are 176 woman national teams all over the world.