FOOTBALL

INTRODUCTION

Football is a cooperation-opposition team sport, in which two teams of 11players face each other. On the ground there are also 4 umpires whoseobjective is to make players obey the game rules.

The playground is a rectangular surface of natural or artifical grass with 2 goals,one on each side of the ground.

The aim of the game is to get a ball inside the opposite goal (which is called toscore a goal) and for that, players can move the ball all over the ground hittingit with any part of their bodies, except their arms or their hands. So, that´swhy it´s called football.

The winner will be the team which scores more goals all along the 90 minutesthat the match takes.

Football is played by more than 270 million people and so, it is considered themost popular sport in the world.

ETYMOLOGYThe word “football” comes from the English words “foot” (pie enespañol) y “ball” (balón en español). That´s why in Spanish it alsocan be called “balompié”.

BALLFOOT

FOOTBALL ORIGIN AND HISTORICAL EVOLUTION Football was created at the end of the Middle Ages,in the British Islands, and in its beginnings it camefrom several different team games which wereknown as football codes.

These football codes were unified during the XVII,XVIII and XIX centuries, appearing then all thedifferent sports in which the ball could be hit orpassed with the hands or the feet, like Americanfootball, Australian football, European football andrugby.

The kind of football we know nowadays in Europe isconsidered to have been created on October 26th,1863, as that day, Ebenezer Cobb Morley, startedseveral meetings with 12 different football clubswhich caused the creation of an universal anddefinitive football code which included 14 of thecurrent football basic rules, among them thenecesstity of hitting and passing the ball only withthe feet and the elimination of rude contact with theopponents to try to get the ball.

FOOTBALL'S PLAYGROUND AND MATERIALSFootball is played on a natural or artificial grass, rectangularpitch of 90 to 120 m long and 45 to 90 m wide.

The two lines along the pitch are called “side lines” or “touchlines”. The the two lines at the end fo the pitch are called“end lines” or “goal lines”. The central line that divides thepitch in two is called “half-way line”. In the middle of the half-way line there is a spot called “center spot”, from which acircular line is drawn called the “center circle”.

Starting at the middle of the end line and from outside toinside, we can find the goal, the goal box, the penalty box, thepernalty spot and the penalty arc.

The goal is composed of two vertical posts joined at the upperside by a horizontal post called a crossbar.

Football´s official ball is made of leather. It is composed of 12pentagonal faces and 20 hexagonal faces and it is about 22 cmdiameter and 69 cm perimeter (P = π • d / P = 2π • r).

Football players must wear a t-shirt, shorts, studded trainerswith a flat instep to be able to hit the ball properly, stockingsand shinpads.

FOOTBALL TECHNICAL SKILLS - 1RECEIVING AND CONTROLLING THE BALLThe reception and the control of the ball are two of the main football players skills for them to be able tohandle the ball in the best way possible. The ball can be received and controlled:1) On the ground (done with the inside or the outside of the foot or with the sole)2) In the air, with the aim of reducing the ball´s speed and taking it to the ground in the best conditions

possible and so being able to handle it properly. There are 3 types of ball receptions in the airdepending on the height, the speed and the trajectory of the ball:

• Inside of the foot control.• Inside of the thigh control.• Chest control.

HANDLING THE BALLHandling the ball is the ability to move all over the ground with the ball close to us and under our controlpreventing the opponents from stealing it. The ball can be handled with the inside or the outside of thefoot, with the instep or with the sole, depending on the player´s ability, the side of the ground he/she isplaying on and the position of his/her teammates and opponents on the ground.

FOOTBALL TECHNICAL SKILLS - 2

PASSING THE BALLIn order to keep the ball´s possession it is essential to pass the ball to the teammatesproperly. You can pass the ball with the inside of your foot, with the outside or with theinstep, depending on where your teammate is and how far he/she is. When a pass makespossible to score a goal, we call it assistance

SHOT.We call shot when a player sends the ball to the goal in order to score a goal. All the shotsshould be precise and powerful but, usually, it´s dificult to hold both things at the sametime. So, choosing between accuracy and power depends on each situation and on theplayer´s characteristics.

The place of the goal where we will shot the ball will depend on the number os defensiveplayers who are in front of it and the position of the goalkeeper on the pitch. When thegoalkeper is alone, shots should be sent close to the posts, and if the goalkeeper is faraway from de goal, a lob is the best option.

A football team is composed of 22 players, 11 ground players and 11 substitutes. On the pitch there mustalways be between 7 and 11 players

Players can be classified in 4 categories depending on the functions they have.- Goalkeeper: his main objective is to avoid the ball to enter the goal. He/she is the oly one player who cantouch the ball with his/her hands during the game, althoug he/she only can do it when standing on his/herown area. He/she also organizes the defensive players when a fault is whistled. He/she usually wears thenumber 1 or 13.- Defenses: They are the players who stand right in front of the goalkeeper and whose main objective is tostop the opponent´s attacks. The defensive players who stand on the sides of the pitch are called backs orwings (right wing or left wing). The goalkeeper must give diretions to the defensive players about what theyhave to do in order to defend their goal- Midfielders: they are the players who stand and play in the middle of the pitch. Their functions are recoverthe ball and organize the attacking plays.- Forwards: they are the players who stand in an offensive position, this is, they are the ones who are closerto the opponents´goal. So, they are the main responsables of scoring goals. These players must always be inmovement, trying to get away from the defneders in order to receive the ball. So, speed is a miancharacteristic for forwards.

A FOOTBALL TEAM: PLAYERS´ TACTIC POSITION.

FOOTBALL MATCHESThe aim of this sport is to score more goals than the opposite team.

We consider tha a team has socred a goal when the ball goes through the goal line, between the verticalposts and under the crossbar.

To start a match, a player must kick off the ball form the center spot and towards the opposite goal. A thismoment the time will start running. Each period of the match and each time a goal is scored the gamewill start in the same way.

A football match takes 2 periods of 45 minutes each, with a 15 minutes break between both periods. Allthe time missed during the match will have to be recovered at the end of the period in what be call extratme”. In some competitios, if both teams are drawn at the end of the match, they can be played twoextra times of 15 minutes. If after that extra time both teams go on drawn, each team will have to shot 5penalties. The team which scores more goals after the 10 penalties will be the winner. However, if afterthe penalties teams are still drawn, they will have to go on shotting penalties till any team score any goal.

Each match will be controled by a principal referee who is themajor authority of the match and who is the responsible of makingthe players obey the rules of the game. In addition, there will beother 2 assistant referees called “liniers” to help the principalreferee to take decisions and a 4th referee who confirms thepeincipal referee decisions and who controls the substitutes and thecoaches.

FAULTSEach time a player hits, pushes, holds back or spits an opponent or touches the ball with his/her hands, the

refere will whistle a free kick, which will take place in the same place where the player commited thefault. If the fault is commited inside the penalty box, the refere will whistle a penalty.

If a player plays in a dangerous way, blocks an opponent or doesn´t let the goalkeeper serve, the refereeewill whistele an indirect free kick, which will be shot at the same place where the fault was commited.

Players can get a yellow or a red card if he/she commits any fault. If he /she gets a red car, he/she will beexpelled and won´t be able to be replaced by any other palyer. If a player gets 2 yellow cards during thesame match, he/she will get a red card and will also be expelled.

If the ball goes out over the goal line after being hit by a defensive player, the referee will whistle a corner.However, if it´s hit at last by an attacker, the refere will whistle a goal kick which will be done by thegoalkeeper. If the ball goes out of the ground over a side line, the refereee will wihistle a throw-in.