Noun

soccer (uncountable)

1. a game in which two teams of eleven players contend to get a round ball into their goal primarily by kicking the ball with their feet

Synonyms

• (UK) Association football
• football (note that this term is also used for several other codes of football: American football, Australian Rules football, Canadian football, Rugby League, Rugby Union)

Related terms

• rugger

Association football, commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is 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 driving the ball into the opposing goal. In general play, the goalkeepers are the only players allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms, while the field players typically use their feet to kick the ball into position, occasionally using their torso or head to intercept a ball in midair. 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 published in England by the Football Association in 1863 remain the basis for the way the sport is played today. Football is governed internationally by FIFA which organises the World Cup every four years.

Quotes regarding association football, called also Soccer.

Unsourced

• Football's a difficult business and aren't they prima donnas?
  • The Queen Source

• If you're in the penalty area and don't know what to do with the ball, put it in the net and we'll discuss the options later.
  • Bob Paisley

• "If we have the ball they can't score"
  • Johann Cruijff

• "You play football with your heart not your feet"
  • Paul Flood

• "Someone said 'football is more important than life and death to you' and I said 'Listen, it's more important than that'."
  • Bill Shankly

• Of the nine red cards this season we probably deserved half of them.
  • Arsène Wenger

• As long as no-one scored, it was always going to be close.
  • Arsène Wenger

• Football, bloody hell!
  • Alex Ferguson after winning the 1999 European Cup

• Too many players were trying to score or create a goal.
  • Gerard Houllier

• You can't say my team aren't winners. They've proved that by finishing fourth, third and second in the last three years.
  • Gerard Houllier

From Wikiquote under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Sun Jul 4 03:03:06 2010