Football

The game of football is any of several similar team sports, of similar origins which involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with the foot in an attempt to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer". Unqualified, the word football applies to whichever form of football is the most popular in each particular part of the world, including American football, Australian rules football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, Rugby league, Rugby union and other related games. These variations are known as "codes."

This game is played on a rectangular field of grass or green artificial turf, with a goal in the middle of each of the short ends. The object of the game is to score by driving the ball into the opposing goal. In general play, the goalkeepers are the only players allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms, while the field players typically use their feet to kick the ball into position, occasionally using their torso or head to intercept a ball in midair. The team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is tied at the end of the game, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extra time and/or a penalty shootout, depending on the format of the competition.

Football is a game that is played with a ball. Sometimes it is called soccer because the Americans have a game called American football that is a bit like rugby gone wrong and therefore this is to avoid the confusion between the two games, but football is the true game of the world with the most people playing it the most fans and the most money in it compared to any other sport.

The word "football", when used in reference to a specific game can mean any one of those described above. Because of this, much friendly controversy has occurred over the term football, primarily because it is used in different ways in different parts of the English-speaking world. Most often, the word "football" is used to refer to the code of football that is considered dominant within a particular region. So, effectively, what the word "football" means usually depends on where one says it.

The term used for association football is going through a period of transition in recent times. In 2005, Australia's association football governing body changed its name from "soccer" to "football" to align with the general international usage of the term. In 2007, New Zealand followed suit citing "the international game is called football". Generally[clarification needed] around the world today the word "football" and direct translations is in widespread[citation needed] use as the name for association football. In Francophone Quebec, where Canadian football is more popular, the sport of association football is known as le soccer and the Canadian code as football.