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Portal:Association football

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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players each, who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposing team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed goal defended by the opposing team. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45-minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries and territories, it is the world's most popular sport.

The game of association football is played in accordance with the Laws of the Game, a set of rules that has been in effect since 1863 and maintained by the IFAB since 1886. The game is played with a football that is 68–70 cm (27–28 in) in circumference. The two teams compete to score goals by getting the ball into the other team's goal (between the posts, under the bar, and fully across the goal line). When the ball is in play, the players mainly use their feet, but may also use any other part of their body, such as their head, chest, and thighs, except for their hands or arms, to control, strike, or pass the ball. Only the goalkeepers may use their hands and arms, and that only within the penalty area. The team that has scored more goals at the end of the game is the winner. There are situations where a goal can be disallowed, such as an offside call or a foul in the build-up to the goal. Depending on the format of the competition, an equal number of goals scored may result in a draw being declared with 1 point awarded to each team, or the game goes into extra time or a penalty shoot-out.

Internationally, association football is governed by FIFA. Under FIFA, there are six continental confederations: AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC, and UEFA. Of these confederations, CONMEBOL is the oldest one, being founded in 1916. National associations (e.g. the FA in England, the U.S. Soccer in the United States, Canada Soccer in Canada, Football Australia in Australia, New Zealand Football in New Zealand, etc) are responsible for managing the game in their own countries both professionally and at an amateur level, and coordinating competitions in accordance with the Laws of the Game. (Full article...)

Selected article

Panoramic image of Brøndby stadium taken in 2006
Panoramic image of Brøndby stadium taken in 2006
Brøndby IF is a Danish professional football club based in the town of Brøndby, on the western outskirts of Copenhagen. The club, founded in 1964 as a merger between two local Brøndby clubs, has won 10 national Danish football championship titles and five national Danish Cups, since the club joined the Danish top-flight football league in 1981. Brøndby is the most successful Danish club in European competitions, with their appearance in a UEFA Cup semi-final being the best ever Danish result. Furthermore the club was the first Danish club to qualify for the UEFA Champions League, during the 1998-99 tournament.

Since the founding of fellow Copenhagen club F.C. Copenhagen in 1992, the two clubs have had a fierce rivalry, and the so-called "New Firm" games between the two sides attract the biggest crowds in Danish football. With F.C. Copenhagen, Brøndby has consistently formed a duo which have won eleven of the last sixteen Danish Superliga championships, and from 1995 to 2006, the club did not finish below second spot in the league. (Full article...)

Selected biography

Mido in 2008
Mido in 2008
Ahmed Hossam Hussein Abdelhamid (born February 23, 1983 in Cairo, Egypt), commonly known as Mido, is an Egyptian footballer who plays in the position of striker.

Mido started his career with El-Zamalek in Egypt in 1999 and left the club for K.A.A. Gent of Belgium in 2000 where he won the Belgian Ebony Shoe, this led to a move to Dutch side Ajax Amsterdam in 2001. A player with a fiery temperament, Mido has clashed with players and coaching staff in a number of clubs that he has subsequently played for including - Celta Vigo, Olympique de Marseille, A.S. Roma and Tottenham Hotspur. At one point he was relegated to playing for the A.S. Roma reserve team due to breaking club disciplinary rules. He has attracted high prices for his services, moving to Marseille for €12 million in 2003 and £6 million for his transfer to Premier League club Middlesbrough in 2007. As such he is one of the most valuable Egyptian-born players in footballing history.

Mido is an international player for Egypt and has amassed over 40 caps and scored in excess of 15 goals. However, his career with Egypt has been struck by controversy, having twice been banned from selection by the national team. (Full article...)

Selected association

The Football Association of Indonesia (Indonesian: Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia; lit. 'All-Indonesian Football Association'; abbreviated as PSSI) is the governing body of football in Indonesia. It was founded on 19 April 1930. The PSSI joined FIFA in 1952 and the Asian Football Confederation in 1954. (Full article...)

Selected image

The Sheffield F.C. team of 1890
The Sheffield F.C. team of 1890
Credit: Public domain
The Sheffield F.C. team in 1890. Sheffield F.C. are regarded as the oldest football club in the world and were awarded the FIFA Order of Merit in 2004 to reflect this. The amateur team played Inter Milan in 2007 to celebrate their 150th anniversary at Bramall Lane with Pele as the guest of honour.

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When I looked down the leg was lying one way and my ankle was pointing towards Hong Kong - so I knew I was in serious trouble.
Alan Smith, on breaking his leg in 2006

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The following are images from various association football-related articles on Wikipedia.

Selected World Cup

Official poster

The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the 4th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. It was the first World Cup tournament in over twelve years, as the 1942 and 1946 World Cups were cancelled due to World War II. Italy, the two-time defending champions, were eliminated in the first round for the first time in history. Uruguay, who had won the inaugural competition in 1930, defeated the host nation, Brazil, in the deciding match of the four-team group of the final round, causing what is sometimes known as one of the biggest upsets in sports history, occasionally called the Maracanaço. This was the only tournament not decided by a one-match final. It was also the inaugural tournament where the trophy was referred to as the Jules Rimet Cup, to mark the 25th anniversary of Jules Rimet's presidency of FIFA. (Full article...)

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