The game of soccer has been played for hundreds and hundreds of years. When it started to be popular it was being played in the streets of England and Scotland. It finally got its first set of rules in the early 19th century by English school students. They called it the F.A. which stands for football association. Soccer was and is called football in most countries except The United States. The president of F.A. was Lord Kinnaird from 1890-1920. He played in 9 out of the first 12 F.A. cup finals.
The first International game was in November 1872. It was between Scotland and England. The game was held on a Cricket field. The match ended in a 0-0 tie.
The countries of France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland saw the potential in the sport. They created F.I.F.A. which is for international teams. F.I.F.A. stands for Federation of International Football Association. F.I.F.A. grew very rapidly by 1939 there had already fifty more teams join.
One of the first people to get famous from soccer was C.B. Pry. He played for the Corinthians in the 1890's. He was an all around athlete. He was on the Cricket team and had the long jump record.
The game of soccer is not only just for men. Women also started playing at the end of the 19th century. One of the great women's teams were the British Football Club. This club attracted very large crowds. The woman's team played against men's teams during World War 1 for charities. The first women's World Cup was held in 1991 in China. The United States Women's team won it.
