“Somebody said that football's a matter of life and death to you. I said, 'Listen, it's more important than that.'" An unforgettable quote by Liverpool’s legendary manager Bill Shankly sums up better than anything the grip soccer has on so many of our lives. Whether you call it soccer, football, calcio, or whatever, there are over 3.5 billion of us obsessed with the beautiful game around the globe. So where did it come from, and who can we hold responsible?
When you drill down into the story of the game, these are three main eras where we can search for the culprit responsible for inventing soccer:
Ancient Times
There is evidence that people have been kicking balls for a laugh for years. FIFA cites cuju as the earliest form of soccer. Played in the 3rd-2nd century BC in China with a feather stuffed ball, the aim of the game was to keep it off the ground and kick it through a hoop.
To get a better idea of what this looked like, check out this Manchester City video showing Bernardo Silva testing out his cuju tekkers to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
Other early versions of soccer include Episkyros, which was played by the ancient Greeks. Using their hands and feets, two teams would attempt to get the ball past each other’s white line. It was enjoyed by Spartan warriors, so you can imagine it was pretty violent, too, much like a precursor of rugby and the NFL.
The Romans ran with the concept and invented Harpastum, which was even more brutal.
Medieval Europe
The ancients weren’t the only ones who enjoyed soccer with a slice of brutality. In the Middle Ages, two teams of unlimited sizes would battle to drag an inflated pig’s bladder across markers on either side of the town. Records suggest that pretty much anything went in terms of tactics... just as long as nobody died.
Remarkably, the game is still played annually on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday in the English town of Ashbourne, Derbyshire. Legend has it that this Royal Shrovetide football match was first played not with a ball but with a severed head following a public execution. You can watch the highlights of last year’s game here.
The Birth of Modern Soccer
Back in the 19th century, the Brits started making rules about pretty much everything under the sun. Soccer received the regulation treatment from a few brains at Cambridge University in 1848. The Cambridge Rules insisted the game be played almost entirely with the feet, thereby drawing a clear marker between soccer and rugby from then on.
Although no one person can claim to be the sole inventor of soccer, there is one name that is bandied around more than others. Ebenezer Morley was the founding father of the English Football Association and drafted the 13 original laws of the game in a pub in southwest London on 26 October 1863.
The “Laws of the Game” are still used today—albeit with modern updates—which is why England is called the Home of Football, and England fans passionately sing ‘Football’s coming home’ just before they get knocked out of a tournament.
It was during this era that soccer gained its name. To distinguish it from rugby football, this version of the game was called association football. Oxford University students abbreviated it to “assoc football,” then shorted it further to “soc” before affectionately rounding it out to “soccer” just as rugby became “rugger."
Soccer’s Global Domination
Soccer spread around the world as a consequence of British imperialism. The game was taught in British schools as part of Victorian ideals about moral and physical discipline known as ‘muscular Christianity.’ Soldiers, sailors, rail workers and expatriates then shared the game wherever they landed. It was easy to learn and needed little more than a ball and open space to play; soccer soon took off around the world.
In 1904, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) brought international governance to the sport and united all nations under a single set of rules. The first World Cup took place in 1930 in Uruguay and was won by the hosts.
Only 13 countries participated in that inaugural tournament—a far cry from the record number that will compete in the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. FIFA has faced criticisms of diluting the the tournament with this latest expansion from 32 to 48 teams. However, FIFA president Gianni Infantino insists the goal is to make the game more global than ever.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Who Invented Soccer? Tracing the Game's History.
