Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer (especially in countries where another sport is commonly referred to as "football"), is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. At the turn of the 21st century, the game was played by over 250 million players in over 200 countries, making it the world's most popular sport. The game is played on a rectangular field of grass or green artificial turf, with a goal in the middle of each of the short ends. The object of the game is to score by kicking the ball into the opposing goal.
The game is played at all levels, from unrefereed teams of a few (not necessarily as many as eleven) children without spectators in a field of any size, with pairs of coats as goalposts and not strictly conforming to the rules, to strictly-regulated games between teams of highly-competent professional players before enthusiastic crowds of 100,000 or more in a purpose-built stadium.
In general play, the goalkeepers are the only players allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms (unless the ball is carried out of play, where the field players are required to restart by a throw-in of the game ball), while the field players typically use their feet to kick the ball, occasionally using other parts of their legs, their torso, or their head. 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 Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863 and have evolved since then. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA; French: Fédération Internationale de Football Association), which organises the FIFA World Cup every four years.

Etymology and names

Main article: Names for association football

The rules of association football were codified in England by the Football Association in 1863 and the name association football was coined to distinguish the game from the other forms of football played at the time, specifically rugby football. The term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford "-er" abbreviation of the word "association".
Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football (colloquially footy or footer and occasionally soccer as used in older generations) in the United Kingdom, and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. Other countries, such as Australia and New Zealand may use either or both terms, and may also have local names for the sport.