Soccer is world’s most famous sport and is mainly thought to be invented by British. The game in fact has been played in different styles throughout civilized history.

The early Japanese played a game similar to soccer and was also similar to the American style football back in 1000 BC. There is not too much information available about this game except that the ball was round and large being kicked between two teams playing in a small field.

A game was developed in China known as cuju, it had a ball that was filled with feathers and hair and was kicked between two teams required to get the ball through a small ring. Cuju was continuously played for nearly 2000 years and it died in 1600s.

The Chinese version of the game was famous in Korea and Japan. Many historians suggest that soccer during the renaissance period may have been influenced by Asian games. The Romans also played a type of football that was more exactly described as a cross between rugby and soccer but it had a lot of brutality.

In Europe, air filled bags were known probably before since 100 BC as they were a type of ball used in Roman game called follis. This was very much similar to modern rugby than soccer.

During the middle ages in Europe, a type of soccer was banned in England many times for being public annoyance and dangerous. It was closely linked to a Roman game called harpastum known as mob football.

Soccer hooliganism is globally dealt with in modern game, it was also felt in England back in 1300s and 1600s. The game was banned many times because of the unruly behavior of players.

Some local Australian tribes used to play a game of football involving the leading player to kick a ball in to the air for other players to catch. Although this is not closely related with modern soccer but it can be seen that ball sports and games were invented by almost every society and they are not Chinese or Greco-Roman invention.

The history of modern soccer is definitely in England. The name soccer comes from the word association. The Cambridge rules were written in 1848 allowing some most famous schools of England to compete with each other under common rules. The the Football Association partly used these rules in 1863.

As professional soccer developed with the formation of leagues, it provided a competitive playing environment which turned soccer into a sport viewed by spectators.

Major soccer leagues founded in Brazil, UK, Italy, Germany and other nations encouraged the culture of clubs and international teams around the world. It is so popular that the World Cup is watched live on TV by millions of people around the globe. Nowadays, national teams play soccer championships and over the last fifty years, FIFA World Cup has come to dominate as international soccer championship. FIFA World Cup games have achieved great number of crowds and also television viewing numbers were in billions over the duration of the competition.

The first FIFA Club World Cup was held in 2000 and this event is gaining fame and promoting soccer throughout the world. Corinthians of Brazil won the first FIFA Club World Cup.