What is soccer? broad question to answer

What is soccer? That’s a pretty broad question. But I’ll try an answer it.
Soccer is sport more commonly known around the world as association football.
Materials:
- A soccer ball (football for non-Americans)
- 2 sets of goals (quite often things just marking goals)
- Playing space
- Teammates and opponent (technical games 11 vs. 11)
- Cleats usually used
First things first, the soccer ball:
The above image is a pretty standard soccer ball. As you can see they are round. Nothing that fancy. The more fancy soccer balls are aerodynamic, tested in wind tunnels, and blah blah.
Point of the Game:
In soccer, you try to kick the ball into the opponent’s goal, which is subsequently called a goal. You do that with your 10 other teammates, while trying to to get scored on.
Rules of the Game:
  • Soccer is a limited-contact sport. That means that slight contact is fine. But anything over that would be a foul/card.
  • There are many different kinds of fouls.
  • Fouls that result in Direct Free Kicks (will explain later) are listed in the “Laws of the Game”, Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct:
Direct free kick offences
A direct is awarded when a player commits any of the following in a manner considered by the referee to be careless, reckless or using excessive force:
  • Kicks or attempts to kick an opponent
  • Trips or attempts to trip an opponent
  • Jumps at an opponent
  • Charges an opponent
  • Strikes or attempts to strike an opponent
  • Pushes an opponent
  • Tackles an opponent
Or commits any the following offences:
  • Holds an opponent
  • Spits at an opponent
  • Handles the ball deliberately (except for the goalkeeper within his own penalty area).[1]:36
In determining whether or not a player deliberately handled the ball, the referee has several considerations:
  • Movement of the hand towards the ball (not the ball towards the hand)
  • Distance between the opponent and the ball (unexpected ball)
  • Position of the hand ('natural' position versus 'unnatural' position) does not necessarily mean that there is an infringement
  • Touching the ball with an object held in the hand (clothing, shinguard, etc.) counts as an infringement (considered an extension of the hand)
  • Hitting the ball with a thrown object (boot, shinguard, etc.) counts as an infringement (also considered an extension of the hand)
If a player commits a direct free kick offence within his own penalty area, a penalty kick is awarded irrespective of the position of the ball, provided the ball is in play.
Indirect Free Kick Offences (will also describe later) include:
Fouls punishable by an indirect free kick are:
  • When a goalkeeper, inside his own penalty area:controls the ball with his hands for more than six seconds before releasing it from his possession, touches the ball again with his hands after he has released it from his possession and before it has touched another player, touches the ball with his hands after it has been deliberately kicked to him by a team-mate (the back-pass rule) touches the ball with his hands after he has received it directly from a throw-in taken by a team-mate
  • When any player in the opinion of the referee:plays in a dangerous manner impedes the progress of an opponent prevents the goalkeeper from releasing the ball from his hands commits any other offence, not previously mentioned in Law 12, for which play is stopped to caution or send off a player[1]:37
Some technical breaches of the rules, such as the offside offence, result in play being restarted with an indirect free kick, though these are not considered fouls.
When a player commits a foul, the referee has a choice of what to do. The referee can either call a foul, where the player is warned, and a direct or indirect free-kick is awarded to the other team.
The referee can caution the perpetrator of the foul by giving them a yellow card is a caution to the player, and his/her name is listed. If the same person gets a yellow card again, then the player is dismissed from the game as a red card.
A red card is an automatic dismissal from the game from a high-enough of an offense. A player can get a red card from one bad foul (straight red card) or by collecting two yellow cards.
(The yellow and red cards, self-explanatory which is which, yellow left, red right)
The entirety of the rules of the game are listed in FIFA’s “Laws of the Game”
Free Kicks + Penalty Kicks:
When a player commits a foul, the referee awards a free kick or penalty kick. A indirect free kick is for minor fouls or technical breaches (i.e. offside, explained later). An indirect free kick means that ball is placed where the foul took place. One player can pass to another player (or cross). However, in an indirect free kick, the player administering the free kick can’t shoot/score. For more major fouls, the team is awarded a direct free kick. In a direct free kick, all the rules are the same as an indirect free kick, but you can shoot/score. If the foul occurs in the penalty box, then the opposing team is awarded a penalty box, where the player taking the penalty, stands on the penalty spot, and shoots, with only the goalkeepers allowed to stop it,
Games are 90 minutes (+stoppage time, to account for game stoppages, like fouls) with two teams of 11 players each. There is usually one referee and two assistant referees. In professional games, there is also a fourth official which aids the referee, shows substitutions (switching out players, limited to 3 switches) and showing stoppage time (explained above).
Tie Breaking:
In the game of soccer, the team that scores more goals wins the game. However, if the game is tied at the end of the 90 minutes + stoppage time. There are different options depending on the scenario:
- The game ends in a tie. This is most common in leagues where ties give 1 point (compared to 3 points for winning and 0 points for losing). In tournaments, if the game ends in a tie, then there is a replay or second leg to decide the winner.
- Extra time + penalties. This is most common in tournaments (i.e. World Cup), where if 90 minutes + stoppage time, there is a tie, the game goes on for 30 extra minutes. If there is a winner by the end of the extra 30 minutes, that team wins the game. If the teams are still tied, it goes to a penalty shoot-out. In a penalty shoot-out, players take penalty shots (as explained above) until one team leads, and wins the game
- FIFA tried out the golden rule, which was like extra time, but the first team to score wins. UEFA tried out the silver goal, where the half that the goal was scored was finished, then the game ended. That was scrapped too.
Origin and Name:
According to FIFA, cuju was the farthest back ancestor to soccer.
According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju (蹴鞠, literally "kick ball") is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence.
Cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to modern football, though similarities to rugby occurred.
During the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), cuju games were standardised and rules were established.
Soccer was first officially played on December 19th, 1863 in Limes Field, Mortland, London, England, United Kingdom.
The rules of association football were codified in England by the Football Association in 1863 and the name association football was coined to distinguish the game from the other forms of football played at the time, specifically rugby football. The first written "reference to the inflated ball used in the game" was in the mid-14th century: "Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe". The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word "soccer" was "split off in 1863".
According to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford “-er-” abbreviation of the word "association"
Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use "football" for the formal name.
All in all football (or soccer) is a great game. I love it. 250 million people around the world play it. Many more play it recreationally. 200 countries/territories enjoy the game.
Hope this helped!

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