Soccer

“The History of Soccer” Attention Getter There are 99 days left for the world’s most watched event, some of you may know or may not know what I am talking about, but I am referring to the World Cup Topic Disclosure Today I am going to talk about the history of soccer. Audience Link Many of you have played soccer at least once, at the park or foosball which is a mini soccer field with plastic players which you can control with your hands. Preview During my speech I will discuss how soccer got started, what made soccer get popular and finally about the first World Cup. Many different cultures have played a similar game to the modern game but no one can say with certainty where soccer began, but its known that the early variations of what later became soccer were played 3000 years ago.(according to Athletics Scholarships, 2008) An early type of soccer was traced back to 1004 B.C in Japan. At 611 A.D the Chinese also recorded a similar game played between two teams. The teams would kick a leather ball that was hand stitched and not filled with air but instead filled with hair. Teams consisted of twenty players in each team; it would take place in a very large field. The point of the game was to get to the other side with the ball, without being stopped by the opponents. Many people believe that soccer came from Mexico, and that it originated from there. Soccer did not start in Mexico nor was it invented in that country. It started in China about 3000 years ago. Soccer was not brought to Mexico until a 1000 years later(according to Athletic Scholarships, 2008). England was where soccer became popular and spread around the world. At first, playing soccer was illegal in England King Henry IV said that it was a useless practice. The game became so popular around the 1800’s that contest were held at Northern and Middle England. England exported modern soccer to every continent in the world Today undisputedly soccer Is the most watched and played sport in the world, enjoyed by 8 million people(according to Paul Gardner, Simplest Game 1994) The past World Cup that was held in the United States was watched by an estimated 33 million people around the world for 27 days. This makes soccer, the most watched single sports event in the world. Soccer is not even surpassed by the Olympics. This sport is bigger than baseball, football, and basketball combined (according to soccerballworld.com) The first World Cup was held in 1930 in the country of Uruguay The final game for the Cup was between the countries of Uruguay and Argentina. FIFA had first thought of the idea of having all countries participate in a championship game, at first this was taken as a joke to everyone. 26 years later this idea because possible right after the Olympics were done. Now the world cup happens every four years in different countries. At first none of the countries did not want to participate in the Cup as it would make their players be absent for two months. Employers did not want to have their workers absent for that long as it would make their business go down. At the end they let their workers go to the Cup as it brought them more business announcing the World Cup.