History of association football

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Its history back at least to medieval times.^[1][2][3] FIFA cites Cuju in ancient China is the earliest form of a kicking game for which there is scientific evidence, a military manual from the Han dynasty, and it closely resembles modern association football. Similar games were played in ancient Japan, Greece, and Rome.^[4] The first written evidence of a football match came in England in about 1170.

The development of association football has its origins in medieval ball games and English public school games. The modern game of association football originated in the mid-nineteenth century by the efforts of English football clubs to standardize the varying sets of football rules, culminating in the formation of The Football Association (The FA) in London, England, in 1863, and their issuing of the Laws of the Game in the same year.^[5][6] The "Laws of the Game" were later trusted to the International Football Association Board (IFAB) and then adopted by the International association football Federation (FIFA). This set of rules drafted by The FA allowed clubs to play each other without dispute, and banned a number of contentious practices, notably both hacking and handling of the ball (except by goalkeepers) during open play. After the fifth meeting of the Association, a schism emerged between association football and the football played by the rules of the Rugby School, which later became rugby football.

Besides its dedicated competitions, football has also been an Olympic sport since the second modern Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France, in 1900.^[7]