Read complete books and articles on: Soccer

Soccer - outdoor ball and goal game, also called association football or simply football. The first recorded game probably was that on a Shrove Tuesday in Derby, England, part of a festival to celebrate a victory over a contingent of Roman troops (a.d. 217). By 1175 the Shrove Tuesday soccer game was an annual event.

The sport remained popular for centuries in England under the name football. But

The sport remained popular for centuries in England under the name football. But the advent of rugby (1823) as a variant led to confusion. The London Football Association was formed (1863) to further the game that emphasized the kicking of the ball. This became known as association football and then, through abbreviation, as soccer. It was rapidly adopted in continental Europe, where it still generally goes under the name football. Other related sports called football are popular in countries including Ireland and Australia.

Soccer is the most popular international team sport, followed by vast, emotional audiences and associated at times with such events as the 1969 "Soccer War" between El Salvador and Honduras and oubreaks of mass hooliganism, notably by British supporters. It has long been secondary in the United States, though, where American football, a descendant primarily of rugby, dominates. Since the 1970s, American soccer has grown at many levels, from childrens' to collegiate; professional soccer, however, has achieved only sporadic success, with the birth and decline of several leagues as fan interest generally lagged. The most recent U.S. professional league, Major League Soccer, played its first season in 1996 and currently has 10 teams.

International competition is regulated by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA; founded 1904), which sponsors the quadrennial (since 1930) World Cup competition and whose membership is larger than that of the United Nations. Soccer has been an Olympic event since 1900. The first Women's World Cup, in 1991, was won by the United States, where women's soccer has won more attention than men's; the women's competition was added to the Olympics in 1996. Sparked by these successes, a U.S. professional women's soccer league consisting of eight teams recruited from the best players worldwide began play in 2001, but it folded two years later.

The game is played on a grassy field usually 120 yd by 75 yd (110 m by 70 m). Centered on each end line is a goal, 8 yd (7.3 m) wide by 8 ft (2.4 m) high, backed with netting. A team consists of eleven players—traditionally a goalkeeper, two fullbacks, three halfbacks, and five forwards. Recent variants on these positions include the striker, a forward who remains close to the opponents' goal, and the sweeper, a roving defender. Play is continuous through two 45-min periods, and substitutions are severely limited. Overtime is played in case of a tie, and if no further scoring occurs, the match may be resolved with a series of alternating penalty kicks.

The object of the game is to advance an inflated leather ball—about 28 in. (71 cm) in circumference—into the opponents' goal. The ball is kicked (often dribbled with short kicks) or advanced with other parts of the body, but only the goalkeeper may use the hands. Each goal counts one point. Penalties are various types of free kicks, depending on the infraction; a player may be ejected (without replacement) for a flagrant foul. Perhaps the greatest soccer player of all time is Brazil's Pelé; other recent notables have included Franz Beckenbauer (Germany), Roberto Biaggio (Italy), and Diego Maradonna (Argentina).

See B. Glanville, Soccer (1968); T. Smits, The Game of Soccer (1968); A. Clues and D. Jack, Soccer for Players and Coaches (1980); J. Lever, Soccer Madness (1983).

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12 of the Best Books and Articles on: Soccer

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Post-Fandom and the Millennial Blues: The Transformation of Soccer Culture » Read Now
by Steve Redhead. 160 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

Soccer fandom has traditionally been seen as an important part of adolescent, generally male, identity-making. In this timely and important contribution to the field of popular cultural studies, Steve Redhead looks at the way youth culture is being reshaped by media culture in its various aspects at...
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Soccer fandom has traditionally been seen as an important part of adolescent, generally male, identity-making. In this timely and important contribution to the field of popular cultural studies, Steve Redhead looks at the way youth culture is being reshaped by media culture in its various aspects at the end of the millennium. He looks at 'post-fandom', the style conscious shifting allegiences heavily influenced by advertising and popular music at the globalization and mediatization of sports culture through such events as the World Cup staged in America in 1994 and at the complicated relations between football and the law reflected in the public obsession with so-called soccer hooliganism at a time when the phenomena concerned seemed to be dying away. Anyone interested in the increasingly complex interrelations between an acceleration, hyperreal popular culture and a sport which has symbolised more traditional social ties should read this book.
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2.

Fear and Loathing in World Football » Read Now
by Gary Armstrong, Richard Giulianotti. 304 pgs.

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The quickest entry-point into most local cultures anywhere on earth is to be found in talking football. Historically, football is one of the great cultural institutions, and, like education and the mass media, has played a key role in shaping and cementing senses of national identity throughout the...
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The quickest entry-point into most local cultures anywhere on earth is to be found in talking football. Historically, football is one of the great cultural institutions, and, like education and the mass media, has played a key role in shaping and cementing senses of national identity throughout the world. However, the nature of intra-nation hostility, which may be based in football or which may use the game as an arena for antagonisms, has yet to be analyzed. Football today is more global than ever before. Teams, clubs and regions increasingly establish cultural identities through rivalries and opposition. Such rivalries invariably have deep historical antecedents enforced by prejudice, myth or religious conflicts, economic inequalities, or, perhaps most profound, class and ethnic divisions.Issues of disorder and violence are routine by-products of the game the world over, and aggression, or the threat of it, characterizes many matches both minor and major. In short, football at all levels can become a site for symbolizing and expressing a variety of tensions. This timely volume fills a gap in the current literature on sport as the most extensive and incisive collection yet published on issues relating to football around the world. It uncovers and investigates the conflicts apparent in football rivalry by gathering together a series of in-depth case studies that span the football world.
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3.

Moving with the Ball: The Migration of Professional Footballers » Read Now
by Pierre Lanfranchi, Matthew Taylor. 273 pgs.

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As a universal game, association football has been particularly suited to the transfer of labour forces. It does not require the use of a specific national language, a recognized diploma or acquired qualification, and the rules are standardized across the globe. Thus the international football...
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As a universal game, association football has been particularly suited to the transfer of labour forces. It does not require the use of a specific national language, a recognized diploma or acquired qualification, and the rules are standardized across the globe. Thus the international football market could be considered an ideal example of a transnational and multicultural employment sector. Role models throughout the history of professional football have not necessarily come from the town, nation, racial group or religious denomination of the majority of supporters, as is seen in the cases of Maradona in Naples, the German Bert Trautmann after the Second World War, and more recently the Frenchman Eric Cantona in Manchester, the Cameroonese Milla in France, and the Argentinian Di Stefano in Madrid. Football provides a particularly revealing lens through which to examine changes in national styles and stereotypes as they have been (and still are) reflected in the search for identities in sporting heroes.In this book, the authors consider the movement of football labour from the late nineteenth-century to the present day within the framework of international migration as a whole. Emphasis is given to the initial role of the British in the early twentieth century and the impact of the earliest South American and Yugoslav football 'wanderers'. The position of African footballers in the postwar period and the failure of America's national league in the 1970s are also discussed, along with the international market for coaches and managers, the development of national playing styles and the immediate consequences and future implications of the Bosman ruling.
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4.

Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism » Read Now
by Andrei S. Markovits, Steven L. Hellerman. 367 pgs.

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Soccer is the world's favorite pastime, a passion for billions around the globe. In the United States, however, the sport is a distant also-ran behind football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. Why is America an exception? And why, despite America's leading role in popular culture, does most of the...
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Soccer is the world's favorite pastime, a passion for billions around the globe. In the United States, however, the sport is a distant also-ran behind football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. Why is America an exception? And why, despite America's leading role in popular culture, does most of the world ignore American sports in return? Offside is the first book to explain these peculiarities, taking us on a thoughtful and engaging tour of America's sports culture and connecting it with other fundamental American exceptionalisms. In so doing, it offers a comparative analysis of sports cultures in the industrial societies of North America and Europe.The authors argue that when sports culture developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, nativism and nationalism were shaping a distinctly American self-image that clashed with the non-American sport of soccer. Baseball and football crowded out the game. Then poor leadership, among other factors, prevented soccer from competing with basketball and hockey as they grew. By the 1920s, the United States was contentedly isolated from what was fast becoming an international obsession.The book compares soccer's American history to that of the major sports that did catch on. It covers recent developments, including the hoopla surrounding the 1994 soccer World Cup in America, the creation of yet another professional soccer league, and American women's global preeminence in the sport. It concludes by considering the impact of soccer's growing popularity as a recreation, and what the future of sports culture in the country might say about U.S. exceptionalism in general.
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5.

Scarcity and Survival in Central America: Ecological Origins of the Soccer War » Read Now
by William H. Durham. 232 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
6.

Football in France: A Cultural History » Read Now
by Geoff Hare. 226 pgs.

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France's performance in the 2002 World Cup brought back painful memories of a time when France was a weak contender in world and European football - a time when national or club teams rarely won, and the French were renowned for having little interest in the game. Today, football plays a unique role...
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France's performance in the 2002 World Cup brought back painful memories of a time when France was a weak contender in world and European football - a time when national or club teams rarely won, and the French were renowned for having little interest in the game. Today, football plays a unique role in French society. French players and coaches are highly sought after abroad and the national team has chalked up significant recent victories, including a World Cup and European Championship. This book is the first in English to examine the extraordinary cultural, economic, and political history behind French football's development throughout the twentieth century and up to the present day. It focuses on the past twenty years and concludes with a discussion of the fallout from the World Cup 2002.Imported from Britain by the middle classes in the late nineteenth century, football entered French national consciousness between the wars. As with everywhere else in Europe, the game helped to unite communities and forge new social identities. Although the State has generously supported youth coaching, the evolution of the professional sport has been slow due to tight community control, high taxes and lack of income from paying spectators. In a bid to compete successfully in Europe, the owners of France's big city clubs are seeking to commercialize the game, despite the resistance of central and local authorities.Hare traces the gradual evolution of traditional French football values and explores the impact of new and controversial business practices. Have French football's influential club chairmen sold out to business values and television? Why has the national team been so successful when club teams have not? How are top clubs being re-branded to catch a national and international audience of consumers? What role does the modern supporter play, and what are the links between businessmen, politics and the commercialization of the sport? What is peculiarly French about French football, and what does football tell us about France? Hare also pays specific attention to issues relating to race and racism. He looks at racist attitudes among fans, and considers how the multi-cultural and multi-racial population of France is reflected in the national football team.This book not only provides a fascinating cultural history of French football, but also an engrossing account of how national identity and community values are being transformed and reshaped in the global marketplace.
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7.

The Brazilians (Chap. 16 "Soccer Madness") » Read Now
by Joseph A. Page. 560 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
8.

Soccer vs. McWorld, in Foreign Policy » Read Now
by Franklin Foer. 9 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
9.

World Cup Soccer Home Advantage, in Journal of Sport Behavior » Read Now
by Terry D. Brown Jr., Judy L. Van Raalte, Britton W. Brewer, Christa R. Winter, Allen E. Cornelius, Mark B. Andersen. 11 pgs.

Collections: Psychology, Entire Library
10.

Girls Kick: Women's Soccer Earns a Unique Place in Sport, in World and I » Read Now
by John Haydon. 10 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
11.

Sports for Her: A Reference Guide for Teenage Girls (Chap. 4 "Soccer") » Read Now
by Penny Hastings. 255 pgs.

Collections: Education, Entire Library

Today, one in every three high school girls plays sports, and the number of sports offered to these young women has increased dramatically in the past decade. This unique resource explores these sports from a girl's perspective, while examining sports issues as they pertain to young women...
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Today, one in every three high school girls plays sports, and the number of sports offered to these young women has increased dramatically in the past decade. This unique resource explores these sports from a girl's perspective, while examining sports issues as they pertain to young women. Individual chapters cover the most popular sports offered at the high school level, such as basketball, field hockey, and track, and provides practical advice on training and practicing techniques, trying out for the team, and organizing school teams. Other sports possibly less familiar, such as badminton and crew, are also explored, each in a chapter of its own, as are sports like football and baseball which are typically offered only to boys.
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12.

Soccer, Women, Sexual Liberation: Kicking off a New Era » Read Now
by Fan Hong, J. A. Mongan. 286 pgs.

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Women's soccer is one of the world's fastest-growing sports but has been subjected to little academic scrutiny. This collection considers women's football in a global context and analyses its progress, and the challenges and problems it has faced.