Soccer is an incredible sport loved by 4 billion people around the world, just for perspective, 4 billion people is about half of the worlds. Therefore soccer (or as English countries called it, football) is the most popular world sport according to, “World Atlas, The Most Popular Sport”. Now I know this may seem crazy to some with all the jokes about soccer players like being “floppers” and “Grass Fairies” but it is a very popular sport that most people probably played when we were younger and some went on to become large fans and/or to continue playing the sport.
Also unlike usual theory, England technically wasn’t the first country to create soccer. The First games of soccer can be traced back to 2,000 years ago in China where the original form of soccer was created, it was called “Tsu Chu ̈ which helps inspire England and other countries to develop the sport. England is given the most credit for creating todays know soccer and continuing to develop it. England made the sport a hands free sport (with exception for the goalkeeper) and also created the penalty kick in 1891. Two men are created for making the actual very first league, “William Mcgregor and Charles W. Alcock were the inventors of the 1st soccer league and the 1st world cup competitions.”
This early in the history of soccer however, only men could play. The women’s first national world cup wasn’t until November 6th, 1991. Know one really knows this for sure but there are some unspoken and unheard of minor leagues for women before this time period. But the first official major women’s league besides the national teams was established in 2012 as the NWSL. Since the first women’s World Cup the sport for women has taken off and tends to sell out more full stadiums than the men’s teams can. Now there’s still an issue within soccer between the men and women as far as pay goes, seeing that the women have been more successful and bring in a considerably lower pay.
But even through conflict big influencers are the people and the sport have been created in both men and women. “Lev Yashin from Russia, who claimed to have saved more than 150 penalty shots during his outstanding goal-tending career” and “Pele (Edson Arantes Do Nascimento) from Brazil, who scored six goals in the 1958 World Cup”, are two players who broke barriers for what is possible to do within the sport. The things they did were unheard of ever doing before their time. Alex Morgan was a big influence on the women’s side of things for becoming “the youngest member of the U.S. women’s national soccer team in 2009.” Lastly, Jimmy Hogan was a very big influence on the coaching side of the game, “he came up with the philosophy of dynamic attacking, by playing possession based soccer and he made the game very aggressive.”
To conclude, soccer is a very popular sport that has big influencers. It’s still a developing sport even after 2,000 year but it’s only becoming more challenging and fun to play and watch. So stay tuned into the sport with the other half of the population.
Sources:
Gorby, Rylie. “Sutori.” Sutori, 2000, www.sutori.com/story/10-influencers-of-soccer–FtKDRPLfzWFW2tAddST4rqCc.
scholarships, athletic. “How Soccer Originated. Soccer History.” How Soccer Originated. Soccer History., 2000, www.athleticscholarships.net/history-of-soccer-football.htm.
Sawe, Benjamin Elisha. “The Most Popular Sports in the World.” WorldAtlas, 16 Sept. 2016, www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-most-popular-sports-in-the-world.html#targetText=1.,popular%20sport%20in%20the%20world.