timeline of football

  • 5000 BCE

    Tsu chu in china

    a game similar to football was played by Chinese soldiers were a leather ball stuffed with fur was kicked into a small hole.
  • 1000 BCE

    Japanese kamari

    The Japanese version of 'soccer' was called Kemari, a game much like modern hacky sack
  • 50

    first international game of football

    China's Tsu Chu players and Japan's Kemari players were the first to have an international game of their versions of football
  • 600

    a form of football was played in north and south america

    In Mexico & Central America the rubber ball was created, and used in a game played on a court 40-50 feet long shaped like a capital "I". In the middle of each wall, was a mounted stone or wooden ring and the object was to project the hard rubber ball through the ring.
  • 700

    start of football in england

    The first Football games played in Britain was between the locals of east of England, starting after a game that involved kicking around the severed head of a Danish prince that they had defeated in a war. These games were violent, where injury and death were not uncommon
  • 1331

    the ban of football in england

    Despite the violence of these celebratory games, they were still popular. This led King Edward III of England to pass laws in 1331 to stop the game
  • 1500

    Early football in italy

    In Italy they played a game called calcio with teams of 27 or more people. The game involved kicking, carrying or passing a ball across a goal line. In 1580, Giovanni Bardi published a set of rules of the game of calcio.
  • first set of rules in england

    Eton College of England established a set of rules for the games.
  • football between american universities

    In the USA, football was played among the Northeastern universities and colleges of Harvard, Princeton, Amherst and Brown.
  • standardised rules

    The rules were further standardised and a new version was adopted by all the schools, college and universities, known as the Cambridge Rules.
  • first club outside of england

    The first soccer club formed anywhere outside of England was the Oneida Football Club, Boston USA.
  • the formation of the football association

    October 26 of 1863, the Football Association was formed when eleven London schools and clubs came together at the Freemason's Tavern to establish a single set of rules to administer any football match that were to be played among them. On December 8 1863, Association Football and Rugby Football finally split onto two different organisation.
  • the first game of football under the FA

    the first ever football match was played on Barnes common at Mortlake, London on 19th December 1863 between Barnes Football Club and Richmond Football Club. The game ended in a 0-0 draw.
  • banning hand balls

    The Football Association rules were further amended to exclude any handling of the ball.
  • the first official international game of football

    The first official international football match was played, between the national teams of Scotland and England, played in Glasgow Scotland. The game was played on 30 November 1872, and finished with a 0-0 draw.
  • introduction of team kits

    The four British associations agreed on a uniform code and formed the International Football Association Board.
  • first international game outside of the united kingdom

    The first international match played by teams outside of Great Britain was between USA and Canada, played in Newark and ended with Canada winning 1-0.
  • the penalty kick was introduced

  • football was introduced to the olympics

    football was played at the Olympic Games for the first time
  • FIFA was founded

    Establishment of FIFA by delegates from France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland at a meeting in Paris on the 21st of May.
  • the first FIFA regulated tournament

    The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) held soccer's first World Cup tournament in Montevideo, Uruguay, with 13 teams.
  • football was taken out of the olympics

    football was taken off the program for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, due to a controversy between FIFA and the IOC over the definition of amateur and the reluctance of many strong soccer countries to travel the US because of the expense involved.