Introduction
Football is a sport that attracts a lot of people and drives many passions. This is the reason people call football “the king of sports”. Football matches are played almost everywhere in the world, by all kinds of people, from rich and developed countries in Europe to poor countries in Africa. Almost every country in the world has a domestic league that organizes football matches, on stadiums, in front of thousands of people. Below you will find seven things to know about this sport.
History
Football is being played by two teams with 11 players each. The coach of the team has the right to replace 3 players during the course of the game.
Football matches last 90 minutes, plus the extra time that is usually two or three minutes. There are some cases when a game lasts longer. If the game is being played in the knock out stage of a competition (final, semi final, quarter final), and the score is a draw, extra time will follow. Usually there are two 15 minutes stages that can be stopped depending on the competition. If the score still is a draw, a penalty shootout follows.
Features
Each team has one goalkeeper. The role of the goalkeeper is to stop the ball from getting into the net. He is the only member of the team that is allowed to use his hands on the ball, but only in his own 16m area.
Tactics in football matches are very complex, but usually are formed around 4 types of players: goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and strikers. The role of the defenders is to stop the other team from attacking the goal. Midfielders have a very important and complex role in football matches. The main task is to pass the ball to the strikers and make a good transition between defense and offense. In today’s football, there are defensive midfielders and offensive midfielders. Defensive midfielders have to stop the other team’s passing and rebound the ball. Offensive midfielders are usually the most creative people in the team. They have the responsibility of offering good passes and put the attackers in good positions to score. Strikers are the most loved by fans, because their role is to score goals, even though a goal is usually the work of the whole team.
Tips and Comments
There can be 3 types of football matches: friendly games, club games and national team games. Friendly matches are usually played between seasons and have no competition value. Teams organize this type games to test new players or prepare the players that they have for the season to come. Other games are played within a competition, by club teams or national teams.
A referee is mandatory to every game, even if it is a friendly game.
Club teams are different from national teams, because they have the right to make player transfers, from other teams and other countries. National teams are formed by players with the respective nationality, regardless of the country he plays in.
