Association football, or more commonly known as football or soccer, has been called the World Sport, or The Beautiful Game. It is a team game played between two teams of eleven players with a round ball. It is played by over 250 million players in over two hundred countries, making it a truly global sport, and the most popular as well.
All countries have a national team, and they all inspire enormous passion and patriotism, and the World Cup finals which is held every four years in a different country, is the world largest and most televised sporting event. Every country runs competitions and leagues, which generates a huge number of soccer matches around the world, which can consequently offer huge opportunities for soccer betting.
Soccer Now Governed by FIFA
The rules of Association Football were originally codified in England by the Football Association in 1863, and the name association football was used to distinguish it from other forms of football, notably rugby football. Today soccer is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, or FIFA. This Association selects the country which is to hold the next World Cups for both men and women, and helps to organise the competition. The term soccer began is the 1880s as an abbreviation of the word Association. The world’s oldest soccer competition is the FA Cup, which has been contested by English teams since 1872. The first international match took place between Scotland and England in 1872.
Rules are Easy to Understand
Soccer is a game easy to understand. It is played on a rectangular field, with a goal at each end, and the object of the game is to get the ball into the opposing goal, more often than the opposition can do so. Goalkeepers are the only players allowed to touch or pick up the ball in their hands, and then only in their own penalty area. Other players use their feet to kick or strike the ball, but can also use their heads or torsos. The team that scores the most goals at the end of the game wins the match. If the scores are level, it is declared a draw, or the match may go into extra time. If the scores are still equal at the end of extra time, there may be a penalty shootout.
Soccer Betting
Betting on a soccer match is easy and convenient here, as somewhere in the world there will be a soccer match in progress. The volume and availability of wagering opportunities makes soccer betting sites attractive to everyone wishing to place a bet. Another inviting feature of betting on the outcome of a soccer match is the variety and scope of the wagers available on any particular match. Apart from the result of the match, you can bet on the winning or losing team, the half time scores, the full times scores, and of course who scored the goals for each team. Betting on soccer can be rewarding, and people who know the history of each team and the current form of the players can reap some good payouts. Betting is extremely easy and convenient these days with the option of online or mobile betting sites becoming ever more commonplace.
Soccer is now generally called football in the UK and Europe, as well as Australia and New Zealand, while people in the USA and Canada still prefer the name soccer, probably to distinguish it from other forms of football.