Soccer Informative Speech

Soccer

Soccer has been around for a very long time. Many people around the world play soccer. An abundance of people love soccer, but just as many people hate soccer; they prefer hockey, baseball, or football. Football is just an Americanized version of soccer. Here are three interesting things about soccer.

The History:
Soccer has been around for over 3000s years. The first game happened between the Barnes football club and Richmond football club. The game ended with a total score 0-0 draw in 1863. It was the first recorded game in the United States. Soccer was first started in China in 5000-300b.c where the military men would kick a ball stuffed with fur, they would kick the ball into a hole in the ground, the rules were no hands. The only different thing was that they called it Tsu Chu. The

Japanese, Greece, Egyptians, Mexicans, Britain's, Brazilians, Americans etc.; all have a version of soccer over the last 3000 years. A soccer ball could have possibly been a human head a very long time ago. The actual name of soccer is Futbol but the Americans renamed it soccer. Futbol doesn't mean football in Spanish. It also doesn't mean foot in Spanish or any other language. It was the Americans that came up with the name. Soccer came to America in the late 19th century. At that time it wasn't as popular as baseball. Over the years it has become more and more popular.

The Facts:
Soccer is a highly loved sport in the world.

It is the most popular sport in the world today. There are at least 240 million people that play soccer in the world according to FIFA (Federation de Football Association). FIFA is the main source of soccer. When people talk about soccer they reference FIFA a lot. There are several American soccer teams. One of the more famous one are the Portland Timbers. In the year of 2015 they won the championships. There are a bunch of cool things about soccer. Here are some cool things that might interest you. The exact size of an average soccer ball is 27’’ in circumference; the goals are 2.44 meters tall and 7.32 meters wide. The USA women’s team was the first team to win the championships in 1991. They won it for a second time in 1999; they have never been less than the top 3 places. Brazilian Ronaldo hold the record for the most goals scored in the world cup games with a high of fifteen goals in three games. The United States has the most soccer players in the world with eighteen million, with 78% of the eighteen million are under the age of eighteen. Arthur Wharton was the first professional African American

goalie.

The rules:
There are sixteen main rules for soccer.
1. There has to be a referee.
2. There has to be the proper ball size (5).
3. There cannot be more than eleven players on the field at once.
4. Players must all have the same uniform and the proper gear, cleats, shin guards, no piercings in, sometimes no bobby pins, tall socks.
5. There has to be a linesmen or a lineswoman, meaning that there has to be a man or woman to assist the referee in some way.
6. The game has to be a certain time (unless overtime) there are usually two halves and it’s an 80min. game.
7. How the game starts is another one whether it is a kickoff or in a rare occasions a drop ball.
8. Where the ball goes out of bounds whether is the line all the way on the other side of the line or half way.
9. The method of scoring is another rule whether the ball has to be all the way over the line or on it, if the goalie caught it but falls back does it count?
10. Off sides depending on the age there is a thing called off sides. Offside is where a forwards passes to its team mate ahead of the oncoming defenders.
11. Fouls- what counts as fouls or not, it depends on the referee and how he sees things. Here is a list of possible fouls:

• Kicking a player

• Jumping up at a player

• Charging a player in a rough way
• Charging a player from behind
• Tripping a player
• Hitting or spitting at a player

• Pushing a player

• Holding a player

• Handling the ball. (Except by a goalkeeper). This foul is called if the player is trying to control the ball with his hands or arms.
12. Free kicks, whether or not they are taken after the foul.
13. Penalty kicks, where they are on the field and what kind of penalty kick it is.
14. Throw-ins on throw-ins you have to keep your feet down and the ball has to come all the way over your head or the ball goes to the other team.
15. Goal kicks whether or not the goalie takes it or the defender of you team takes it.
16. Corner kicks depending on where the ball goes out of bounds it could be a corner kick, and then the referees have to wait to blow the whistle before you can go.
Soccer is a very fun sport to many people and has a lot of rules but it is a complicated game. That is why it is the most popular sport in the world today. Soccer is a team sport it’s not a one man’s game you have to work as a team if you want to win the game. You have to be willing to play any position. The positions are, goalie, defenders, mid field, forwards.