Association football, also called simply football, is a competitive team game played between two sides of eleven players. It’s played by about 250 million people in more than 200 nations and dependencies, which make it the world’s third most popular sport. The names of some of the countries that play regularly include France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Netherlands, Russia, Canada, South Africa, United States, Australia and England.
The object of football is to score more points (“picks”) than the other team, and a win is achieved when the team who scores the most goals wins. The game was created by and is largely organized by a governing body called FIFA, the Federation of International Football Associations. The sport has been modified through the years, but its basic rules have not changed significantly over the years, although there have been some changes to the scoring system.
In association football, each team plays for only fifteen minutes and the game is completed when one team wins by losing or ties the score. Like basketball, baseball, and boxing, football requires that a referee whistle to be blown before the match can continue. The referee’s whistle blows to indicate that a foul has been committed by one team or another, usually based on a penalty kick or an indirect free kick. If a goal is scored, the winning team is usually awarded one point, and the losing team must get points equal to or greater than their remaining points from the preceding match.