The Beautiful Game: Tracing the Rich History of Football

The game of football (or soccer) has a rich history unrivalled by most other sports. This history, generally great, occasionally tragic, has created the game's tournaments, traditions, and culture that have made the sport.

While the origins of the basic game can be traced back further, it is widely agreed that the codification of the basic laws of the game actually happened within England. The foundation of the Football Association in 1863, which created the foundations for the game.

With the FA founded, it would not be until 1885 that the Football League turned professional. As such, the football league began in 1888. This league comprised the following teams: Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion, and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

In addition, the FA Cup, founded by C. W. Alcock, had been contested by English teams since 1872. This is the oldest Cup competition in the world and the oldest structured football competition, pre-dating the Football League.

It is for that reason that England is regarded as the birthplace of football. But what should not be overlooked is that this only served as a beginning, and the history of football also owes much to the IFAB (International Football Association Board), which was founded in 1886. The first international football body was followed by FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) in 1904. As the name suggests, this was based in Paris, France. The two organizations now go hand in hand and preside over world football.

With two world football organizations established, it was perhaps only a matter of time before an international football tournament of some description emerged. The 1920s Olympic football competition was, in fact, the first. This was followed in 1930 with the first World Cup held in Uruguay. Not a perfect first World Cup, but it showed enough potential to be staged again. The first winners of the Jules Rimet trophy were the hosts, Uruguay.

With international Football, the demand for greater club Football also increased. The European football body UEFA held its first congress in Vienna in March 1955. The two Frenchmen, Honet and Ferran, staged a blueprint for the European Cup in April 1955. 16 European clubs were invited, and Real Madrid was the first winner of this competition.

One of the saddest things to happen in this competition and Football generally was the Munich air crash in 1958. On the way to a European tie, the Manchester Utd plane, British European Airways Flight 609, crashed with the famous Busby Babes on board. In addition to the later stadium disasters of Hillsborough and Heysel in the 1980s, modern Football has been forced to adopt better-equipped all-seater stadiums in place of terraces.

Further developments in the European game led to two other European club tournaments. The UEFA Cup and the Cup Winners Cup were launched in 1971 and 1960. The former was more for highly placed league teams, and the latter for domestic cup winners.

Internationally, European football was also strong, and the first European Championships were held in the 1960s to be contested as an international pan-European tournament at the suggestion of Henri Delaunay. The USSR won the first small tournament, which has now been expanded to 16 teams.

Alas, further continental tournaments have followed, as the game of football became more widely played in Latin America as well as Africa and other continents. The game of football is now perhaps the most widely played sport globally, with the World Cup now having 48 nations in the final competition.

The most notable recent developments in the history of Football are the formation of the Premier League and the Champions League being formed in the early 1990s. Club pressures, with the Premiership forming a new top English division and the Champions League restructuring the European Cup, motivated both.

Much is said of England's part in the history of the game, and rightly so. It should not be forgotten, however, that the French played an instrumental role in the development of the international game both in Europe and abroad. With Frenchmen, Honnet, Rimmet, Ferran, Dealunay, and co all prime movers behind some of the biggest Football competitions and bodies, not to mention the current-day presidents of FIFA and UEFA, who are also Frenchmen. Football has as much to thank them as the English pioneers, such as Alcock. And of course, countless other nations like Brazil and the Netherlands have made unique contributions on the field.