Jump to content

Portal:Association football

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Main page   Categories & Topics   WikiProjects & Things you can do

The Association football portal

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) 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

The Peruvian national team line-up prior to a Copa America game in 2007
The Peruvian national team line-up prior to a Copa America game in 2007
The Peru national football team represents Peru in international football competition and is managed by the Federación Peruana de Fútbol (FPF). Founded in 1927, the team's home matches are held primarily at the Estadio Nacional in Lima. Peru has won the Copa América on two occasions, and qualified for four FIFA World Cups and two Olympic tournaments; reaching the quarterfinal stage in both. Peru's traditional footballing rival is Chile, but the team also has a prominent football rivalry with neighboring Ecuador.

Throughout its history, the Peruvian team's performance has been inconsistent. The side's early years saw World Cup participations and victories in the 1938 Bolivarian Games and the 1939 Copa América. Its 1950s side, which included Alberto Terry and Valeriano López, was considered to be among the top 20 strongest footballing nations of the decade, despite not winning any major tournaments. The golden generation of Peruvian football in the 1970s brought Peru back into the world view, with greats such as Héctor Chumpitaz, Hugo Sotil, and Teófilo Cubillas leading to the belief that a new footballing powerhouse had emerged. This team qualified Peru for three FIFA World Cups, and won the Copa América in 1975.

Peru's most recent appearance in the final stages of an international competition was at the 1982 World Cup; the national team has not seen a major tournament victory or World Cup participation in over 27 years and was also temporarily suspended from international participation by FIFA in late 2008 due to allegations of corruption between government sport authorities and the FPF. (Full article...)

Selected biography

Francke Ribéry
Francke Ribéry
Franck Ribéry (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃k ʁibeʁi]; born 7 April 1983) is a French international footballer who currently plays for Italian club Fiorentina in the Serie A. He primarily plays as a winger, preferably on the left side, and is known for "pace, energy, skill and precise passing."[1] Ribéry is described as a player who is "fast, tricky and an excellent dribbler" who "has great control with the ball at his feet".[2] Since joining Bayern, he has been recognised on the world stage as one of the best French players of his generation. The previous talisman of French national team, Zinedine Zidane, has called Ribéry the "jewel of French football".[3]

Ribéry's career began in 1989 as a youth player for local hometown club Conti Boulogne. He left the club after seven years to join professional outfit Lille, but departed the club after three years after having difficulties adjusting. In 1999, Ribéry joined US Boulogne, where he played for two years. After spending two more years in the amateur divisions with two different clubs (Alès and Brest), in 2004, Ribéry earned a move to Ligue 1 club FC Metz. After six months with the club, Ribéry moved to Turkey in January 2005 joining Galatasaray where he won the Turkish Cup. After six months at Galatasaray, he departed the club in controversial fashion in order to return to France to join Marseille. Ribéry spent two seasons at the club helping the Marseillais reach the final of the Coupe de France in back-to-back seasons. In 2007, Ribéry joined German club Bayern Munich for a then club-record fee of €25 million. With Bayern, he has won the double on two occasions; in the 2007–08 and 2009–10 seasons. In 2010, Ribéry contributed to the team that reached the 2010 UEFA Champions League Final, but was unable to participate in the match due to suspension.

Ribéry is a French international. Prior to representing the senior team, he played at under-21 level. At senior level, Ribéry has represented his nation two FIFA World Cups and UEFA Euro 2008. He made his international debut in May 2006 against Mexico. At the 2006 World Cup, Ribéry scored his first international goal against Spain and played in the final match against Italy. Individually, Ribéry is a two-time winner of the French Player of the Year award and has also won the German Footballer of the Year becoming the first player to hold both honours. He has also been named to the UEFA Team of the Year and declared the Young Player of the Year in France. (Full article...)

Selected association

Football Australia is the governing body of soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Australia in its current form was only established in 1961 as the Australian Soccer Federation. It was later reconstituted in 2003 as the Australian Soccer Association before adopting the name of Football Federation Australia in 2005. In contemporary identification, a corporate decision was undertaken to institute that name to deliver a "more united football" in a deliberation from the current CEO, James Johnson. The name was changed to Football Australia in December 2020.

Football Australia oversees the men's, women's, youth, Paralympic, beach and futsal national teams in Australia, the national coaching programs and the state governing bodies for the sport. It sanctions professional, semi-professional and amateur soccer in Australia. Football Australia made the decision to leave the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), for which it was a founding member, and become a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 2006 and ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) in 2013. (Full article...)

Selected image

Brazil plays Argentina in the Final of the Football for 5 (for the blind) at the 2007 Parapan American Games in Rio de Janeiro
Brazil plays Argentina in the Final of the Football for 5 (for the blind) at the 2007 Parapan American Games in Rio de Janeiro
Credit: Agência Brasil
As part of the Paralympic games, Paralympic football is played by athletes with disabilities. The games use the majority of the FIFA Laws of the Game with alterations to the field of play, equipment, numbers of players, and other rules as required to make the game suitable for the athletes. The two most prominent versions of Paralympic football are Football 5-a-side, for athletes with visual impairments, and Football 7-a-side, for athletes with cerebral palsy.

Selected quote

Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win.

General images - load new batch

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

Selected World Cup

The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the 7th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place between August 1960 and December 1961, with 56 teams entering from six confederations, and fourteen qualifying for the finals tournament alongside Chile, the hosts, and Brazil, the defending champions.

Brazil successfully defended their World Cup title, defeating Czechoslovakia 3–1 in the final in the Chilean capital Santiago. They became the second team, after Italy in 1934 and 1938, to win the World Cup twice consecutively; no team has since achieved the feat. Host nation Chile finished third, defeating Yugoslavia 1–0 in the third-place play-off. (Full article...)

Selected topic

More did you know - load new batch

Association football portals

More sports portals

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

More portals

  1. ^ "Franck Ribéry". fcbayern.de. Retrieved 11 March 2009.
  2. ^ "Franck Ribéry ESPN Profile". ESPN. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  3. ^ "A Ferrari in the Bayern shirt". Bundesliga.de. 27 November 2007. Retrieved 10 April 2010.