Football | Soccer
Football (EU/International), or soccer (US), is a team sport where points are scored by kicking a ball through a goal. A common game enjoyed and shared by hundreds of millions of people around the world, nearly anyone can participate in the sport because the only equipment required is a ball. Professional football is regulated internationally by FIFA (International Federation of Association Football), which coordinates male and female international FIFA World Cup tournaments every four years.
Soccer games are made up of two 45 minute halves with a halftime rest period of 15 minutes. Additional stoppage time is commonly added to the end of each half at the discretion of the referee to make up for any lost time due to game delays. If the game cannot end in a tie (commonly during an elimination tournament), two additional 15 minute overtime periods are added to the game with the possibility of a final penalty kick round if the game still remains tied. Soccer games commonly last roughly two hours.
Each soccer team is allowed to have a maximum of 11 players on the pitch at a single time. Teams are able to have a bench of additional players that ranges from 3 to 12 substitute players.
England invented the modern game of football (soccer). Though there were similar types of football sports dating thousands of years in the past, the English were the first to create the uniform rule set for the sport that is played around the world today.
