Noun

Singular soccer

Plural uncountable

soccer (uncountable)

1. (soccer) a game in which two teams of eleven players contend to get a round ball into the other team’s goal primarily by kicking the ball with their feet

Synonyms

• (UK) Association football
• football (note that this term is also used for several other codes of football: American football, Australian Rules football, Canadian football, Rugby League, Rugby Union)
• wogball (Racist Australian slang)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players using a spherical ball. Association football is the most popular football variant worldwide, and is widely considered to be the most popular sport in the world.

The game is played on a rectangular grass or artificial turf field, with a goal in the centre 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 use their hands or arms to propel the ball; the rest of the team usually 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.

The modern game was codified in England following the formation of The Football Association, whose 1863 Laws of the Game created the foundations for the way the sport is played today. Football is governed internationally by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football), commonly known by the acronym FIFA. The most prestigious international football competition is the FIFA World Cup, held every four years. This event, the most widely viewed in the world, boasts an audience twice that of the Summer Olympic Games.

Quotes regarding association football, called also Soccer.

Unsourced

• Football's a difficult business and aren't they prima donnas?
  • The Queen Source

• If you're in the penalty area and don't know what to do with the ball, put it in the net and we'll discuss the options later.
  • Bob Paisley

• "Someone said 'football is more important than life and death to you' and I said 'Listen, it's more important than that'."
  • Bill Shankly

• Of the nine red cards this season we probably deserved half of them.
  • Arsène Wenger

• As long as no-one scored, it was always going to be close.
  • Arsène Wenger

• Football, bloody hell!
  • Alex Ferguson after winning the 1999 European Cup

• Too many players were trying to score or create a goal.
  • Gerard Houllier

• You can't say my team aren't winners. They've proved that by finishing fourth, third and second in the last three years.
  • Gerard Houllier

• That's great, tell him he's Pele and get him back on.
  • John Lambie, Partick Thistle manager, when told a concussed striker did not know who he was.

From Wikiquote under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Mon Sep 14 20:34:02 2009