Soccer is a complicated sport with an even more complicated history. Indeed, many underestimate the stamina required to be successful, as players commonly run an average of six miles in an individual game (“soccer facts”).
There is a great amount of history regarding soccer, like its birthplace, rules, how it is played, and how it became so popular over time. Soccer is played worldwide and it is a very popular sport besides in the United States of America, which is predominated by football. The only difference I can possibly think between soccer and football is that soccer is played using your feet unlike football in which it is ok to use your hands. Soccer it’s played every year like football, both sports share an identical objective, which is to score against the other team during a fixed period of time. If ever were to be bored and wanted to watch a soccer match I could easily get online and browse throughout all of the types of soccer leagues and start watching one. There are plenty of leagues in soccer; it all depends on the region. For instance if I were to watch the Major League soccer (MLS) I would be watching people play on football fields with names that I have never heard of, besides a couple of Europeans players. All of this is due to the fact that the MLS is held in the United States of America and soccer is not the forte of American sports and it does not get much attention. However, if I were to watch an Italian league, Mexican, Spanish or any European league I could easily identify almost all of the players.
Soccer has a important place in the history of several countries. It is the most popular sport in the world. I will be exploring soccer’s place in American history and how it has been growing in America throughout the years. I will explore how soccer got to America and how it has spread across the nation. These questions and more will be answered as I explore soccer in America.
Even today, although it is an international game, it has been slow to gain popularity as an intercollegiate sport in this country. It is however, gaining popularity and is being included in physical education programs in many schools. Also, many local communities have started youth soccer leagues for children of all ages. The game of soccer, or association football as it is properly called, is the Europe's most popular sport. Just about every country in the world plays soccer in some form or another. It is both physically and mentally demanding, requiring athletic skill and quick thinking. There are many tales about how soccer began. Many civilizations claim that they discovered the sport. There are records of soccer like games having been played in China, Greece, Japan, and Mexico more than 2,000 years ago. Also the
Popularity of Soccer Around the World
I am going to talk about the most popular sport in the world: football. Now, you may be having visions of huge quarterbacks, dressed up in their padding and helmets, parading down the field during the Super Bowl. But the other kind of football, the football the rest of the world knows, has no padding or helmets. This other football is known in America as soccer. In more than 175 countries across the globe, football, or soccer, rates as the number 1 national sport.
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Book Review: How Soccer Explains the World
Soccer is not seen like merely a game around the globe. People from all around the world seem to virtually integrate with the passion towards soccer. There is no denying that this sport is linked to the emotional, social and political aspects of life of a person. In his book, “How Soccer Explains the World”, Franklin Foer sheds light on all these facets by linking it with the concept of globalization. Soccer and globalization are both linked together by an American in this book for the Americans who are passionate about this game.
Money impacted the life of everyone in a certain way. It even changed the way in which the sport is moving. To be more specific money changed soccer from the 90s to how it is today. In fact, in the 90s, the soccer was about pride, fun and competition. On the other hand, the soccer of the present is managed as a way to get money. There are many contrasts between soccer from the 90s and the present, thanks to the money. Money very likely had changed soccer from the 90s to the present in three main ways: inflation, marketing and sports scandals.
In the summer of 2007 Canada was hosting one of the biggest soccer tournaments in the world, the u20 Men’s FIFA World Cup. It was the first time that Canada was the host of a major soccer competition. Many argue that after hosting this event, soccer started exploding in Canada. The general secretary of the CSA also shares this view; in an interview he says Montopoli acknowledges 2007 (when Canada hosted the FIFA U-20 World Cup) as an important year for the sport in this country, calling it “the jumping off point”. We set FIFA attendance records with 1.2 million people coming through the gates, which I think surprised a lot of people in our country (SOURCE APA). Part of the success after hosting the World Cup has also brought professional soccer into Canada through the MLS and there have been multiple expansions in Canada. Moreover, the success with hosting the men’s U20 World Cup has allowed us to bid for bigger tournaments. Canada recently won the bid to host the 2015 Women’s World Cup while also hosting the U20 Women’s World Cup in 2014 (SOURCE). These two huge events will surely attract many Canadians to come watch and attend the games. Furthermore there will be increased media coverage of the games. Hosting these huge international events really allows soccer to grow from the grassroots level because of increased media coverage and also multiple parents bringing their kids to attend soccer games. Appendix A shows proof that Montopoli’s statement is accurate as there is an increase in soccer registration around the country following the 2007 World Cup.
Today soccer is classified as one of the most popular sports in the world, from Europe to South America. A synonym for soccer is “Football.” Soccer is played in approximately every nation of the world. The sport has a lot of international fans, with spectacular stadiums worldwide (Auerbach). Soccer is a sport that brings countries together from all around the world to play.
Globalization is erasing country borders. It’s expanding something to a worldwide scale, and generally making the world a little bit smaller. When you think of globalization in terms of sports, the best example is soccer. Soccer is something that started in 1863 as a simple game played in England by people of humble beginnings and not long after that turned into a worldwide phenomenon (Parrish). Soccer has over 3.5 billion fans worldwide. When you really think about that number you realize how big of a deal that is. That’s about 50% of the world’s population. Meaning that 1 in every 2 people watch, play, and generally enjoy soccer. The globalization aspect of it comes in when you know that its regional popularity is in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas: basically, almost the entire world.