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My all time favorite sport is soccer. Well, it is not uncommon for a person to love soccer because soccer is the world’s sport.
I watch most of the soccer matches from Sea-game for
Southeast Asia countries and Seri A to Europe Cup and World Cup. For every soccer league, I have a favorite team. For Barclay Premier (English League), my favorite teams are Manchester United and Chelsea F.C. For Seri A (Italian League), AC Milan is my team and, lastly, for La Liga (Spanish League), Real Madrid is my first choice. The reason I choose those teams to be my favorite is because each of those teams have some of my favorite soccer players. Cristian Ronaldo, and Rooney play for Manchester United; Pirlo, Gattuso, and Kaka’ play for AC Milan; Shevchenko, Lampard, and Joe Cole play for Chelsea and, finally, Real Madrid has the river of stars with Beckham, R. Carlos, Sergio Ramos, etc.
Let me explain a little bit about soccer history for those of you whom don’t understand soccer. Up until today, people cannot figure out when soccer was started. There were many similar games played throughout history and all over the world. However, all those sports were played with the same principles as modern soccer.
The earliest soccer game ever recorded would probably be
China during the period between 300 to 400 BC. The sport was called Tsu Chu. The game was set up as a small challenge for military training. Each team would have 5 or 7 members. The players were required to use their legs along with their martial art skills to kick a ball stuffed with feathers into a small net without letting the ball touch the ground. Many soccer players today still practice that skill. They try to stay in one place and use their legs, head, and shoulders to kick the ball up high without letting the ball drop to the ground.
There is also a story told that soccer was played in
Europe sometime around the Middle Ages. That sport was called Mob Football. However, this sport had no regulations and usually ended up in violence. As a result, the authorities had to prohibit and oppose Mob Football.
The modern version of soccer comes from
Britain. The sport started around the year 800 A.D. Meanwhile, everyone in
Britain loved soccer except the government. They said that soccer takes too many of their people. People spent more time playing soccer than practicing warfare. This is why as many sources cite that King Edward III banned soccer in the 1300s. Other kings also tried suppressing the game, but too many people loved it and did not care if they were jailed or punished if they played the game.
Soccer became popular and was played all over the globe in the 1800’s. As imperialism grew, the English become superior and spread their influence around the globe, including soccer. In the early 1900s FIFA was formed and by 1930 there were professional leagues in a lot of countries. 1930 is also the year of the first World Cup organized by the FIFA, marking the official start of one of the few events that the whole world awaits.
World Cup, or International Cup, starts every four years and involves every country around the world. When the World Cup first started, there were only 16 countries who participated. However, as the TV age came and made information transfer to the world easier, more and more countries wanted to participate. Today, there are 32 countries completing for the World Cup. Every four years, one country from each continent will be host country and will automatically become the first country participate in World Cup.
The second most popular cup is the Euro Cup. It uses the same concept as the World Cup; however this cup is limited to European countries. Because the skill of each European soccer team is somewhat equal, Euro Cup is always full of surprises which makes it very popular. The most surprising Euro Cup was Euro Cup 2004. That was when the Greek national soccer team won the championship. They beat every team which was considered stronger than them, such as Portugal (Brazil of Europe),
Germany (the Tanks) and especially France (Euro Cup champion in 2000),
Those cups I mentioned above are all for national level teams. What about club level? They also have cups of their own. For every country, there will be a professional soccer league. For example here are some of the most popular leagues: Barclay Premier (England), Serie A (Italy) and La Liga (
Spain). Each city of those countries will form their own national club and they will compete for the highest rank. The top two teams will earn a ticket straight to the Champion League. The third and fourth team in the ranking table will have to play a qualifying round before going on to the Champion League.
What is the Champion League? We can understand Champion League as a World Cup for club teams. Thirty two clubs from all over the world participate for the most honorable trophy. And by the way, on May 24, 2007, AC Milan won the Champion League Cup against
Liverpool in the final game. AC Milan has successfully payed back everything they owed
Liverpool from losing the final game of 2005, with the help of Inzaghi, Kaka’, Pirlo, Maldini, Nesta and the rest of the team.
The great thing about a soccer club is that the club can use their money to buy international players in order to improve their team’s performance. This is also a great chance for any players from less developed countries to show their skill to the world.