The International Football Association Board was founded when the four British associations agreed on a single code. The first international match played by teams other than the United Kingdom was between the United States and Canada. It was played in Newark and Canada won 1-0. It was the first time the penalty kick was used. This match is also important because it was the first time that Americans saw soccer played with real balls instead of leather ones.
After this success, the two countries organized more games against each other (8 in all) with the same result: Canada wins every time. In fact, no country has ever beaten America at soccer.
The first international game played by a British team was against France in Paris on February 15, 1866. England lost 2-1. These were the only two nations to play outside of Europe until 1930 when Argentina joined Mexico as the third South American nation to compete against itself. Brazil didn't join them until 1954.
The first African nation to participate in an international match was Egypt vs. England at Alexandria, Egypt on May 26, 1877. England won 3-0.
India's first participation in an international match was against Australia at Calcutta (now Kolkata) on November 11, 1878. Australia won 4-1. India withdrew from further matches after this defeat.
Scotland and England played each other in the inaugural international soccer competition in 1872. In 1886, the International Football Association Board was established, and in 1888, the world's first professional soccer league was established. Scotland has won two of the three international matches.
England won its only match 3-1. The game was held at Kennington Oval in London. The Scottish team was led by the player-manager James Lang (who had previously coached his country against England) while the English squad was managed by Henry Blower.
The most famous player of both teams was Charles Alcock who played as a forward for England and as a defender for Scotland. He is considered one of the best players in the history of the sport.
After these two games, an annual series between the two countries has been held since 1889. It is now known as the "Scottish Cup". England has won 10 times and remains the current champion. However, the title will not be awarded until after the final game of the season when the winners of the Premier League are determined.
It is estimated that more than 100,000 people saw the first international match which took place on 2 February 1872. The game was held at Hamilton Park in Glasgow and ended in a 3-3 draw.
In the third century B.C., the Chinese were the first to get their kicks by kicking balls into nets for recreation, and the game known worldwide as football was established in England in the nineteenth century. Before then, it was called "foot-ball" or "field ball." The English term "soccer" is derived from the Spanish word _jocer_, which means "to play ball." The Spanish word comes from the Latin word _socrus_, which means "a ball of skin or leather used for playing games with," according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Chinese inventions? Hardly! Football is a very old game that has been played for many years throughout the world. It may have originated in China where archaeologists believe people were playing a version of catch using a ball made from cowhide around 400 B.C. An ancient Greek text called "The Iliad" includes a description of a game called "hoplita" played with a ball made from sheep's gut. This may be the same as modern rugby union or American football.
The first evidence of its resemblance today is from 1849, more than 2,000 years after its inception. The original form of soccer was different from what we know today as soccer. Back then, there were no goals or uniforms. Teams just tried to kick the ball into the opposing team's net.
The International Football Association Board (IFAB), a more comprehensive regulating body, was created in 1886 and began establishing some of the contemporary regulations we identify with soccer. Soccer was previously seen as a gentleman's sport, with no officials. All disagreements were resolved civilly by the team captains. If they could not resolve their dispute, then it would be submitted to a panel of three umpires who would make the decision on where the ball went.
There were no set rules for football until 1884 when Henry Blachford O'Reilly, an Irish lawyer, created the first set of guidelines for soccer. These rules included a limit of 15 players per side and a maximum height restriction of 5 feet 8 inches. The original idea behind these rules was to create a game that was easy to play but difficult to master. They also hoped that this would produce a game that people would want to watch because it was interesting to see how much skill was required to play.
O'Reilly's rules were not approved by any of the existing football associations, so they could not be used in competitions. This did not stop people from using them anyway. One account tells of a man named William Morgan who took advantage of the lack of regulation in football and started a new association called "Association Football" (which is now known as soccer). The IFAB was established by the sports leaders of Europe to regulate international soccer.
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