Football, also known as soccer in some regions, is universally recognized as one of the most beloved and widely played sports across the globe. It boasts a long and profound history that can be traced back thousands of years, with its earliest prototype originating from ancient China’s Cuju. As early as the Warring States Period over 2,300 years ago, Cuju had already emerged as a popular activity among the public. During the Han Dynasty, this sport was further developed and integrated into daily life: it was not only a recreational pastime for ordinary people but also an official military training program used to enhance soldiers’ physical strength, agility, and teamwork spirit, playing an important role in ancient military and social life.

Although ancient Cuju laid an early foundation for ball-kicking sports, modern football officially originated in England in the 19th century. Before the mid-1800s, football games were extremely disorganized because different regions and schools in Britain formulated their own rules, leading to frequent disputes and confusions during competitions. To standardize the sport, representatives from major football clubs and schools gathered in London on October 26, 1863, and formally founded the Football Association (FA), the world’s first official football governing body. At the same time, they unified the core rules of football, such as restrictions on hand-touching and standardization of the field and goals. This historic day is universally regarded as the birthday of modern football.

After the establishment of the FA, modern football developed rapidly and gradually spread from the UK to continental Europe and then to every corner of the world. To promote the global development and standardized management of football, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in Paris, France, on May 21, 1904, with several European countries as founding members. FIFA has since become the supreme governing body of world football, committed to organizing international competitions, unifying global competition rules, and promoting the popularization of football in developing countries and regions.

A milestone in the history of world football came in 1930, when the first FIFA World Cup was successfully held in Uruguay. This quadrennial international men’s football championship soon grew into the most prestigious, influential, and widely watched single-sport event in the world, captivating hundreds of millions of audiences worldwide. Since then, the World Cup has been held regularly, witnessing the rise of countless football powers and legendary stars.

Nowadays, football has formed a complete and mature competition system worldwide, featuring a series of top-level events that attract global attention, including the FIFA World Cup, UEFA European Championship, UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1. With its unique charm of passion, teamwork, and uncertainty, football has gathered billions of loyal fans across all ages, ethnicities, and countries. It transcends the barriers of language, culture, and region, and has firmly become the undisputed No.1 sport in the world.