History Of Soccer & Quotes On Soccer

 Don’t forget to share these popular football quotes with your buddies as well!

History Of Soccer

One of the most popular games played in the world, Soccer has a history that dates back to almost 3000 years. It used to be one of the popular pastimes in ancient China, Japan, Italy, Greece and Persia. In fact, even in South and Central America, a similar game by the name of ‘Tlatchi’ flourished. Soccer is a game that has evolved with time and has had minor changes, though sticking to its initial game principles. Check out some interesting information on the background of soccer. 

During the ancient times, football was actually banned by rulers like Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V, due to the ruckus it created when people used to practice. They used to abandon military tasks and used to avoid honing up their warring skills and instead used to spend time playing the football. Soccer basically began to take shape and assume a form in England. During the year 1863, two football association teams namely, association football and rugby football split off, going on different directions due to disagreement on setting rules and regulations for playing the game. 

The first Football Association thus, was founded in England. Eight years after its formation, the Football Association had 50 member clubs. The spread of football outside England basically took place due to the British influence in other continents. The associations that were formed after the English Football Association were Scottish FA (1873), FA of Wales (1875) and Irish FA (1880). The sudden matches that were organized resulted in attracting huge crowds and that led to mismanagement of many things. One of those was professionalism. However, professionalism was legalized in 1885 and players used to get paid and were given remuneration according to set rules. 

Other football associations to be formed in the late 19^th century and early 20^th century were New Zealand (1891), Argentina (1893), Chile (1895), Switzerland, Belgium (1895), Italy (1898), Germany, Uruguay (1900), Hungary (1901) and Finland (1907). FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) was founded in Paris in May 1904 and it had 7 founding members - France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The community grew steadily and in 1912, 21 national associations got affiliated to FIFA. The first World Cup for soccer was held in 1930 and the number increased to 41. today, FIFA has 204 members in every part of the world, recorded after the 2000 FIFA congress.

Soccer or football is one of the most popular sports in the world. This high action-packed game has an ancient history that dates back to almost 3000 years. The game is played between two teams where each team consists of eleven players, one of whom is the goalkeeper. The main aim of the game is to score majority of the goals. At the end of the match, the team that scores the maximum number of goals is declared the winner. Characteristically, a football match is played in two halves, each half lasting for 45 minutes. Be it kids or adults, soccer is played and loved by people of all ages. Football or soccer is also considered as a part of national heritage in many countries. If you are a soccer fan, then here is a list of soccer quotes from some of soccer’s most legendary figures. Read and enjoy! 

Football Quotes

• I'm sure sex wouldn't be so rewarding as this World Cup. It's not that sex isn't good but the World Cup is every four years and sex is not. - Ronaldo
• Every time I went away I was deceiving my mum. I'd tell her I was going to school but I'd be out on the street playing football. I always had a ball on my feet. - Ronaldo
• I'm here to score a lot of goals. It's my specialty, that's what I've been brought here to do, and I want to score plenty ; like I did with Barcelona. And here, there's every reason to think I can do it. - Ronaldo
• Every single day I wake up and commit to myself to becoming a better player. - Mia Hamm
• In football everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team. - Jean Paul Sartre
• The goal was scored a little bit by the hand of God, another bit by the head of Maradona. - Maradona
• To say that these men paid their shillings to watch twenty-two hirelings kick a ball is merely to say that a violin is wood and catgut, that Hamlet is so much paper and ink. - J. B. Priestley
• Every kid around the world who plays soccer wants to be Pele. I have a great responsibility to show them not just how to be like a soccer player, but how to be like a man. - Pele
• At a football club, there's a holy trinity the players, the manager and the supporters. Directors don't come into it. They are only there to sign the checks. - Bill Shankly
• If a team wants to intimidate you physically and you let them, they've won. - Mia Hamm
• Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I'm very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that. - Bill Shankly
• Football's a difficult business and aren't they prima donnas. But it's a wonderful game. - Queen Elizabeth II
• The rules of soccer are very simple, basically it is this: if it moves, kick it. If it doesn't move, kick it until it does. - Phil Woosnam
• I fell in love with football as I would later fall in love with women: suddenly, uncritically, giving no thought to the pain it would bring. - Nick Hornby
• The vision of a champion is someone bent over, drenched in sweat, to a point of exhaustion, when no one else is watching. - Anson Dorrance
• I loathed the game, and since I could see no pleasure or usefulness in it, it was very difficult for me to show courage at it. Football, it seemed to me, is not really played for the pleasure of kicking a ball about, but is a species of fighting. - George Orwell
• Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. - Roy Keane
• Pele called me the greatest footballer in the world. That is the ultimate salute to my life. - George Best
• Football is all very well a good game for rough girls, but not for delicate boys. - Oscar Wilde
• I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion. - Mia Hamm
• Rugby is a beastly game played by gentlemen; soccer is a gentlemen's game played by beasts; football is a beastly game played by beasts. - Henry Blaha
• The goalkeeper is the jewel in the crown and getting at him should be almost impossible. It's the biggest sin in football to make him do any work. - George Graham
• Italians can't win the game against you, but you can lose the game against the Italians. - Johan Cryuff
• Some people tell me that we professional players are soccer slaves. Well, if this is slavery, give me a life sentence. - Bobby Charlton
• Whoever invented football should be worshipped as a God. - Hugo Sanchez
• Five days shalt thou labour, as the Bible says. The seventh day is the Lord thy God's. The sixth day is for football. - Anthony Burgess
• In Latin America the border between soccer and politics is vague. There is a long list of governments that have fallen or been overthrown after the defeat of the national team. - Luis Suarez
• If you are first you are first. If you are second, you are nothing. - Bill Shankly
• The person that said winning isn't everything, never won anything. - Mia Hamm
• Failure happens all the time. It happens every day in practice. What makes you better is how you react to it. - Mia Hamm
• When I go to the press conference before the game, in my mind the game has already started. - Jose Mourinho
• We lost because we didn't win. - Ronaldo
• You can have the top stars to bring the attention, you can have the best stadium, you can have the best facilities, you can have the most beautiful project in terms of marketing and all this kind of thing. But if you don't win... All the work these people are doing is forgotten. - Jose Mourinho