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Association Football, commonly called just football or soccer, is the most most popular sport in the world. In other languages, you may find it referred to as futbol, bollfoer, calcio, fussball, labdarugó, podosfairiki and voetbal. It is a sport that is played on a rectangular shaped field having two net goals one on either end of the field. It is played between two teams consisting of 11 players in each team.

Players in this sport are only allowed to use their body to move the ball towards their opponent’s team goal post to score a goal. Players are allowed to use kicking, heading or any other part of their body except their arms and hands in this sport. A goalkeeper is the only player in both teams who is allowed to touch the ball with his arms or hands, but only in a defined area on the rectangular field. A score can only be scored by the team if its player kicks the ball in the net goal post of the opponent’s team. 

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Football Variations

smaller teams

• Five-a-side football — each team fields five players on a smaller pitch, with smaller goals and a reduced game duration.

on other surfaces

• Beach Soccer — association football matches played on a beach or sand
• Swamp Football — association football matches played in bogs or swamps.
• Ice Soccer — players running around on the ice
• Ice Soccer (on skates) — football played on an ice hockey rink wearing ice skates.
• Table Football — also called Fußball or Foosball, a table top version of the game of soccer which uses figures mounted on rows of rotatable bars to hit a ball.
• Sports Table Football — attempts to replicate the game of Association Football on a table top with action figures, based on the game of Subbuteo.

for those with a disability

• Blind (5-a-side) football — association football variation for athletes with a visual impairment.
• Amputee Football — a version of Association Football for players with lower extremity amputations (goalies are single-arm amputees).
• 7-a-side Football — the adaptation of association football for athletes with cerebral palsy.

indoor versions

• Indoor Soccer — an indoor version of Association Football developed in North America, with walls surrounding the pitch.
• Futsal — a variant of association football played on a smaller field and usually indoors.
• Jorkyball — a type of indoor soccer played between teams of two on a small rectangular field surrounded by glass walls.
• Cageball — a type of indoor football (soccer) played on a small rectangular field surrounded by high walls.
• Crab Soccer or Crab Football — players kick a large inflated ball while supporting themselves on their hands and their feet, face up, which makes them look like crabs.

other modes of locomotion

• Walking Football — a version of association football in which players are only allowed to walk during game play, developed for older people to keep fit.
• Motorcycle Polo — also called Moto-Ball. The competition is similar to association football, though the ball is much bigger and all players (except goalkeepers) are riding motorcycles.
• Horse Soccer — a variation of pushball, a team sport where an inflated ball is driven through a goal while riding a horse.
• Roller Soccer — indoor sport, playing soccer while wearing roller skates.
• Powerchair Football (also called power soccer) — for people with disabilities in power wheelchairs, played on a standard basketball court.
• Cycle Ball — the gameplay is similar to that of association football, but is played with each player riding a bicycle.

unusual versions

• Three-Sided Football — a version of soccer played between three teams at once on a hexagonal pitch (unusual sport)
• Robot Soccer — autonomous robots compete in football matches (not really a sport).

Football Related Sports

• Freestyle Football — athletes compete to perform various tricks using a football.
• Headis — combining table tennis and soccer, players use their heads to hit a soccer ball across a table tennis table and net.
• Vertical Soccer — played on the side of a billboard painted to resemble a miniature football field (unusual sport).
• FIFA eSport — the popular video game version of football.

Related Pages

• Basic Rules of Soccer
• About Football (all codes)
• Football Decoder — variations of what is called football around the world
• Complete list of sports
• The Encyclopedia of Sports