Soccer (association football), known simply as football in many countries, has long been a popular sport in the United States. It is the most popular recreational sport for both boys and girls, and according to History of Soccer: The Beautiful Game, has been so for about 25 years. This late 20th century boom is attributed for the most part to the existence of the North American Soccer League from 1967 to 1984, and the New York Cosmos, its marquee team which included among its players stellar names like Franz Beckenbauer and Pelé.

However, professional soccer has been less popular in the United States than in the other Americas or most European nations. Its professional first-division league is not as well-attended in general as the major leagues of baseball, basketball, American football or ice hockey, but Major League Soccer is also much younger, and has far fewer teams. Major League Soccer debuted in 1996, while other major U.S. leagues have each existed since the first half of the 20th century.

Although MLS is also much younger than most other countries' first divisions, and has only 13 teams in 2007, they are already the 12th most-attended premier division in the entire world. In 2006, MLS broke its all-time record for attendance at a regular-season match, which saw 92,650 spectators fill the Los Angeles Coliseum on a Sunday in August; although that claim is somewhat misattributed to the MLS game as it was one of two games played that night, the second being a match between two power-houses of the Spanish speaking soccer world: FC Barcelona and CD Guadalajara.

In 2007, with the arrivals of international superstar players such as David Beckham, attendance records for specific MLS teams and stadiums continued to rise. Additionally, the USA national team and Mexico national team have been playing to full houses in the U.S. in recent years, and have also broken several stadium, city, and state attendance records for matches held in the past five years. Television viewership of soccer in the U.S. is at an all-time high, with many channels now dedicated to the sport.

Until recently, American soccer was more of a regional phenomenon than it is today. Soccer flourished in hotbeds such as New Jersey, New York, St. Louis, Southern California, and in areas with large immigrant populations that grew up with football (soccer) in their homelands. But soccer is now gradually gaining popularity across the country, partially due to youth programs, the creation of a respectable professional league, and the success of the men's and women's national teams.

The governing bodies in each country operate league systems, normally comprising several divisions, in which the teams gain points throughout the season depending on results. Teams are placed into tables, placing them in order according to points accrued. Most commonly, each team plays every other team in its league at home and away in each season, in a round-robin tournament. At the end of a season, the top team are declared the champions. The top few teams may be promoted to a higher division, and one or more of the teams finishing at the bottom are relegated to a lower division. The teams finishing at the top of a country's league may be eligible also to play in international club competitions in the following season. The main exceptions to this system occur in some Latin American leagues, which divide football championships into two sections named Apertura and Clausura, awarding a champion for each.

The majority of countries supplement the league system with one or more cup competitions. These are organised on a knock-out basis, the winner of each match proceeding to the next round; the loser takes no further part in the competition.

Some countries' top divisions feature highly-paid star players; in smaller countries and lower divisions, players may be part-timers with a second job, or amateurs. The five top European leagues-the Premier League (England), the Bundesliga (Germany), La Liga (Spain), Ligue 1 (France) and Serie A (Italy)-attract most of the world's best players.

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Soccer is played in accordance with a set of rules, known as the Laws of the Game. The game is played using a single round ball (the soccer ball) and two teams of eleven players each compete to get the ball into the other team's goal, thereby scoring a goal. The team that has scored more goals at the end of the game is the winner; if both teams have scored an equal number of goals, then the game is a draw. There are exceptions to this rule, however; see Duration and tie-breaking methods below.

The primary rule is that the players (other than the goalkeepers) may not deliberately handle the ball with their hands or arms during play (though they do use their hands during a throw-in restart). Although players usually use their feet to move the ball around, they may use any part of their bodies other than their hands or arms.

In typical game play, players attempt to propel the ball toward their opponents' goal through individual control of the ball, such as by dribbling, passing the ball to a team-mate, and by taking shots at the goal, which is guarded by the opposing goalkeeper. Opposing players may try to regain control of the ball by intercepting a pass or through tackling the opponent who controls the ball; however, physical contact between opponents is limited. Soccer is generally a free-flowing game, with play stopping only when the ball has left the field of play, or when play is stopped by the referee. After a stoppage, play recommences with a specified restart.

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A standard adult football match consists of two periods of 45 minutes each, known as halves. Each half runs continuously, meaning that the clock is not stopped when the ball is out of play; the referee does, however, make allowance for time lost through significant stoppages as described below. There is usually a 15-minute "half-time" break between halves. The end of the match is known as full-time.

The referee is the official timekeeper for the match, and may make an allowance for time lost through substitutions, injured players requiring attention, or other stoppages. This added time is commonly referred to as stoppage time or injury time, and is at the sole discretion of the referee. The referee alone signals the end of the match. In matches where a fourth official is appointed, toward the end of the half the referee signals how many minutes of stoppage time he intends to add, and the fourth official then informs the players and spectators by holding up a board showing this number. The signalled stoppage time may be further extended by the referee.

In league competitions games may end in a draw, but in some knockout competitions if a game is tied at the end of regulation time it may go into extra time, which consists of two further 15-minute periods. If the score is still tied after extra time, some competitions allow the use of penalty shootouts (known officially in the Laws of the Game as "kicks from the penalty mark") to determine which team will progress to the next stage of the tournament. Goals scored during extra time periods count toward the final score of the game, but kicks from the penalty mark are only used to decide the team that progresses to the next part of the tournament (with goals scored in a penalty shootout not making up part of the final score).

Competitions held over two legs (in which each team plays at home once) may use the away goals rule to attempt to determine which team progresses in the event of equal aggregate scores. If the result is still equal following this calculation kicks from the penalty mark are usually required, though some competitions may require a tied game to be replayed.

Soccer is called football in most countries, and the football that we play in America is called American football.

Games revolving around the kicking of a ball have been played in many countries throughout history. According to FIFA, the "very earliest form of the game for which there is scientific evidence was an exercise of precisely this skilful technique dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries B.C. in China. In addition, the Roman game Harpastum may be a distant ancestor of football. Various forms of football were played in medieval Europe, though rules varied greatly by both period and location.

The rules of football as they are codified today are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played at the public schools of England. The first ever set of football rules were written at Eton College in 1815. The Cambridge Rules were a code of football rules, first drawn up at Cambridge University in 1848, which have influenced the development of Association football and subsequent codes.

For more rules and regulation visit this link at Wikipedia.



Find Jewelry For Your Favorite Sports!

If you've made it to the bottom of this page I feel complimented because it means that something on this lens has peaked your interest, and that's why I made it. So now I'll tell you a little about myself.

As I said in my profile, I enjoy collecting and since I retired I've found that building these lenses is a great way to stay busy; And, I hope that I'm helping some of you out by gathering information on your favorite subject and putting it all in one place so you don't have to spend hours searching for it.

I spend part of my time designing t-shirts and buttons to help supplement my social security because, as many of you know, it's pretty difficult to make it on social security. My on-line t-shirt shop is called Dene's Place after my wife.

My "retirement" came a few years earlier than I would have liked because they found that I have an inoperatable tumor about the size of a softball in my right pelvic area. They still don't know what to do about it because for now it has quit growing. One of those "leave it alone and see what happens" type things.

Anyway, if you've made it this far, I'd appreciate it if you would check out Dene's Place to see if there's anything that you might like for yourself or as a gift. It helps me pay the bills!

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out my other lenses when you have time.

Much of the information used here has been researched from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

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I have to admit to being a Squidoomaniac!

I have well over one hundred Squidoo lens. Mainly because I enjoy building them and consider it a compliment if I can build a lens that is both helpful and enjoyable for my visitors.

One of the things I like about being a Squidoomaniac is supporting other Squids whenever I can. One of the ways that I try to support other Squids is to make sure that if I decide to buy something on-line, I start from a Squid members site so they can get a commission from my purchase.

I know that there are a lot of people who hate to see someone else get a commission from their purchases, but I don't mind a bit as long as I'm buying anyway; and their commission doesn't raise my cost any.

Then there's the little stars at the top of the lenses! I always like to rate other sites. Why? Because I like to have my sites rated so others will check them out, and if I can help others with a little constructive criticism or make them feel good because someone likes their lens, I'm happy to do it.

There are many other reasons for being a Squidoomaniac, but supporting each other is the most important one!

10 Piece Soccer Set $27.95

Backpack Carry Bag Designed with shoulder straps Includes side pockets Size 4 Competition 1601 Soccerball Shiny PVC Hand sewn construction Butyl bladder for longer air retention Youth Size Shinguards High density shell Shock absorbing foam Elastic strap 4 high visibility training disks Pump and needle included

10 Piece Soccer Set $24.95

Excellent for backyards and leagues, the 10 Piece Soccer Set really gets children on the road to proficiency and success! The perfect 10 Piece Soccer Set help build skills and coordination for beginners. Includes pump and needle, size 4 ball, youth shin guards, high visibility training disks, water bottle and a back pack to get it all to the field in one convienient piece. Ages 3 and up.

Franklin Soccer Goal 10' x 5' Premier Folding Goal $76.99

This Franklin Soccer Goal is the premier folding goal! This goal assembles to 10' W x 5' H x 4' D. It has a new pull-pin folding joint design for easy set up and storage, and it has heavy duty galvanized steel tubing (1.25" OD). It has precision fit couplings with locking pins for easy and secure assembly. It comes with an all-weather 4" x 4" PE net and 6 galvanized ground stakes. This is recommended for training, backyards, leagues, and club practices! Availability: This item takes 4 business days to leave the warehouse, plus ship time.