For those of you who aren’t already aware, football is actually the national sport of the country of England. The game of football has become an important part of the English life. Football is also sometimes called soccer. However, football is its more popular name. The game all started back in the year 1280. It was back then that kicking ball games have been discovered in the country. In fact, it is in England where the word “football” was first used. It was in 1409 that they have first used the word. However, as early as 1314 they have already been referring to the game of football. Come 1581, English schools were already referring to a certain game that they called “foteball”. It was in 1863 however, that the English Football Association came up with the modern global game of football, becoming the oldest football association around the globe.
They first formed the modern football game in 1863 but it was in 1870 that they have tried improving the game to becoming what it is today. They started honing the football game in London in the early 1870s where the oldest association football clubs all started out. As early as 1871, they were already holding competitions such as the FA Cup. It is the oldest competition to be recorded all over the world. The first football league, on the other hand was held in 1888. All these were held in England, making it the home of the sport itself.
It was William McGregor, a director of Aston Villa, who helped in the making of the first football league of the world. It was the first professional football league founded. To this date, England has about 40,000 clubs who are registered in the Football Association. This is by far the largest number which is actually 11,000 more than any of the other countries. Imagine that number compared to their population. Indeed, England has the most football clubs in any other country around the globe or perhaps the universe.
Aside from the Football League, there is also another league founded in England in the year 1992. The Premier League was formed after several football clubs have left the Football League in order to earn more. On the bright side, the Football League and Premier League have remained in contact and they even swap clubs from time to time. The Premier League’s bottom three clubs were swapped with another three in the Championship division of the Football League. Currently, the Football League is divided into three divisions with the other two named as League One and League Two.