Games, that are similar to modern football, were quite long time national games of different people. But the first written rules date back to 1848. Birth date of football is 1863, when association football was organized and the rules were made. They are similar to modern ones. The history of football began long ago. For example, in Egypt, and Germany, and China there were games similar to football. The most successful of them was called Garpastum and it was devised by the Italians. But when there was a modern football, Garpastum been forgotten. When the British invented football, they immediately began to popularize it in all countries.

Football is played on a field with grass or synthetic coverage. Two teams take part in the game: each of them has 7-11 players. One person in the team (goalkeeper) may play by hands in the penalty area at the gate; his main task is to defense the gate. Other players also have their tasks and positions on the field. Defenders are located mainly on their half of the field; their task is to counteract the offensive player of the opposing team. Midfielders are in the middle of the field; depending on the game situation their role is to help the defenders or forwards. The forwards are mostly on the opponent's half of the field, their primary aim is to score goals.
Goal of the game is to kick the ball into the opponent's goal, to make it as a lot of times and try to prevent the goal into his own net. Team, that scored the biggest number of scores, wins.

If during the two times team scored the same number of goals, then draw or will be fixed, or the winner is revealed according to established regulations of match. In this case, extra time can be assigned. It is two times (one time lasts15 minutes). As a rule, between the main and the extra time match, the teams have a break. At one time in football there a rule: team, that scored the first goal, was declared the winner. This rule was called the rule of “golden goal”. The team, which won at the end of any extra time, was declared the winner. In this case this rule was called the rule of “silver goal”. At the moment, the extra time is played or not played in full (2 times of 15 minutes). If during extra time the winner can’t be identified, a series of penalty kicks are held: at the gates of the enemy from a distance of 11 meters are made five kicks by different players. If the number of scored penalties for both teams is equal, then players make one pair of penalty kicks until a winner will be declared.

According to the FIFA in 2001, about 250 million people play football on the planet. Of these, more than 20 million are women. There are about 1.5 million teams and 300 000 professional clubs.  The best place for my online www.williamhill.com sports betting.

Among countries the United States take the first place with the number of football players (about 18 million, 40% of them are women), then Indonesia (10 million), Mexico (7.4 million), China (7,2 million), Brazil (7,000,000) Germany (6,2 million), Bangladesh (5.2 million), Italy (4 million), Russia (3.8 million).