Football - Encyclopedia

Football is the name given to a number of different team sports, all of which involve (to varying degrees) kicking a ball with the foot in an attempt to score a goal. The most popular of these sports world-wide is association football, also known as soccer and most commonly just football. The English language word "football" is also applied to gridiron football (which includes American football and Canadian football), Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby football (rugby league and rugby union), and related games. Each of these codes (specific sets of rules, or the games defined by them) is referred to as "football".

These games involve:

  • two teams of between 11 and 18 players
  • kicking a spherical or prolate spheroid ball (which is itself called a football) with the foot;
  • a clearly defined area in which to keep the ball;
  • scoring goals and/or points, by moving the ball to an opposing team's end of the field and either into a goal area, or over a line;
  • the goal and/or line being defended by the opposing team;
  • players being required to move the ball—depending on the code—by kicking, carrying and/or hand passing the ball;
  • goals and/or points resulting from players putting the ball between two goalposts and;

In most codes, there are rules restricting the movement of players offside, and players scoring a goal must put the ball either under or over a crossbar between the goalposts. Other features common to several football codes include: points being mostly scored by players carrying the ball across the goal line and; players receiving a free kick after they take a mark/make a fair catch.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Footbaal Schedule

Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's qualification
Competition Date Venue Berths Qualified
Host Nation
1 Flag of the People's Republic of China China PR
AFC Preliminary Competition Feb 2006 - Nov 2007 - 3 Flag of Australia Australia
Flag of South Korea Korea Republic
Flag of Japan Japan
CAF Preliminary Competition Sep 2006 - Mar 2008 - 3 Flag of Cameroon Cameroon
Flag of Côte d'Ivoire Côte d'Ivoire
Flag of Nigeria Nigeria
CONCACAF Preliminary Competition Aug 2007 - Mar 2008 Flag of the United States United States 2 Flag of Honduras Honduras
Flag of the United States USA
2007 South American Youth Championship January 7-28, 2007 Flag of Paraguay Paraguay 2 Flag of Brazil Brazil
Flag of Argentina Argentina
OFC Preliminary Competition March 1-9, 2008 Flag of Fiji Fiji 1 Flag of New Zealand New Zealand
2007 UEFA U-21 Championship June 10-23, 2007 Flag of the Netherlands Netherlands 4 Flag of the Netherlands Netherlands
Flag of Serbia Serbia
Flag of Belgium Belgium
Flag of Italy Italy
TOTAL
16 Field is Finalized

[edit] Women

Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Women's qualification
Competition Date Venue Berths Qualified
Host Nation - - 1 Flag of the People's Republic of China China PR
AFC Preliminary Competition Feb 2007 - Aug 2007 - 2 Flag of Japan Japan
Flag of North Korea Korea DPR
CAF Preliminary Competition Oct 2006 - Mar 2008 - 1 Flag of Nigeria Nigeria
CONCACAF Preliminary Competition Oct 2007 - Apr 2008 Flag of Mexico Ciudad Juarez 2 Flag of the United States USA
Flag of Canada Canada
2006 Sudamericano Femenino November 10-26, 2006 Flag of Argentina Mar del Plata 1 Flag of Argentina Argentina
OFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Aug 25 - Sep 7, 2007
March 8, 2008
Flag of Samoa Apia
Flag of Papua New Guinea Port Moresby
1 Flag of New Zealand New Zealand
UEFA (2007 FIFA Women's World Cup)* September 10-30, 2007 Flag of the People's Republic of China China 2* Flag of Germany Germany
Flag of Norway Norway
UEFA Playoff (Denmark vs Sweden) November 8, 2007
November 28, 2007
Flag of Denmark Viborg
Flag of Sweden Solna
1* Flag of Sweden Sweden
CAF-CONMEBOL Playoff (Ghana vs Brazil) April 19, 2008 Flag of the People's Republic of China Beijing 1 Flag of Brazil Brazil
TOTAL
12 Field is Finalized