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The Origins of Soccer: How the Sport Was Born and Conquered the World

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Imagine a group of young Englishmen kicking a leather ball on a grassy field in the mid-19th century, with newly handwritten rules in a notebook. This simple, almost mundane scene was the starting point of a phenomenon that today moves trillions of dollars, unites entire nations, and halts the work of billions of people in front of a screen. Soccer is, without exaggeration, the most popular sport in human history.

But where exactly did this collective passion come from? The answer is more complex—and more fascinating—than it seems. The ball has been rolling for much longer than most people imagine, and the path from the earliest primitive versions of the game to the World Cup we know today spans centuries of history, cultural disputes, and an impressive capacity for human adaptation.

In this article, we will trace this journey from the most remote origins to the consolidation of soccer as the global sport par excellence—understanding why, after all, a ball and two goals are capable of uniting the entire world.

Ancient Roots: Soccer Before Soccer

Long before England codified the game’s rules, various ancient civilizations practiced sports that involved kicking or carrying a ball with their feet. These primitive games were not exactly the soccer we know, but they planted important cultural seeds.

In China, around the 2nd century BC, there is a record of a game called cuju (蹴鞠), which involved kicking a leather ball stuffed with feathers or hair through an opening in a suspended net. It was practiced by soldiers as military training and also as entertainment in imperial courts. FIFA, the world’s governing body for soccer, recognizes cuju as the oldest historical precursor of modern soccer.

In Japan, there was kemari, a more ritualistic practice where participants tried to keep a ball in the air without letting it fall—less competitive, more contemplative. In Ancient Greece, a game called episkyros involved two teams trying to pass a ball over the opponent’s line. The Romans had harpastum, also played on a field, though with the use of hands as well.

In pre-Columbian Americas, peoples like the Mayans and Aztecs played games with solid rubber balls—a material Europeans would only discover much later. These games often had religious and ritual connotations, sometimes ending in human sacrifices according to some historical interpretations.

All these games have in common the use of a ball and parts of the human body, but none of them is modern soccer. To get there, we would have to wait for 19th century England.

England and the Birth of Modern Rules

During the Middle Ages, Europe witnessed chaotic and violent versions of ball games, played in the streets and fields of cities. In England, the so-called “folk football” was a turbulent spectacle: entire villages faced off in matches that could last hours, with dozens or hundreds of participants, no referees, no time limits, and very few restrictions on what was allowed.

So brutal was this sport that it was banned by royal decree on several occasions in medieval England—King Edward II even banned it in 1314, fearing that the gathered crowds would cause disturbances.

The decisive turning point came with the English public schools of the 19th century—elite private schools like Eton, Harrow, and Rugby. Each developed its own version of the game, with particular rules. The problem was that when teams from different schools met, no one knew for sure which rules to play by.

The solution arrived on October 26, 1863, in London, when representatives of clubs and schools met at the Freemasons’ Tavern and founded the Football Association (FA)—the world’s first football federation. On this occasion, the first unified rules of the game were established, explicitly prohibiting the use of hands and the act of kicking opponents in the shins.

Interestingly, there was a split at this meeting: supporters of the game with hands separated and, in 1871, founded the Rugby Football Union, giving rise to rugby as a distinct sport. Soccer and rugby, therefore, are “siblings” born from the same root.

The Spread Across the World: Sailors, Railways, and the British Empire

With the rules defined, soccer began to spread from England surprisingly quickly. The main vector of this expansion was the British Empire itself and the economic and cultural influence that England exerted over the world in the 19th century.

British sailors played soccer in the ports where they docked. English workers building railways in South America, Africa, and Asia brought the ball with them. Students who went to study in England returned to their countries with the sport in their luggage.

In Brazil, for example, the game officially arrived at the end of the 19th century. Charles Miller, the son of a British father and a Brazilian mother, is considered the introducer of soccer in the country: in 1894, he returned from his studies in England bringing balls and the game’s regulations. The first documented game on Brazilian soil took place in São Paulo in 1895.

In Latin America in general, soccer took root deeply and quickly, becoming an inseparable part of the cultural identity of countries like Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and Brazil. Uruguay was a pioneer by winning the first two editions of the World Cup in 1930—the first held on its own territory.

In continental Europe, the sport also flourished rapidly. Italy, Spain, Germany, France, and other countries developed leagues and national teams in the early decades of the 20th century.

The Creation of FIFA and International Competitions

With the sport already present in dozens of countries, it became necessary to create an international organization to coordinate the rules and competitions. On May 21, 1904, FIFA—Fédération Internationale de Football Association—was founded in Paris. The entity initially brought together seven European countries: France, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland.

England, interestingly, was not among the founders—and even distanced itself from FIFA at times in the early 20th century due to disagreements over the participation of amateur and professional teams.

Soccer debuted at the Olympic Games in 1900, in Paris, although unofficially. Official inclusion occurred in 1908, in London.

The big leap, however, came with the creation of the FIFA World Cup in 1930. The tournament, held in Uruguay, brought together 13 national teams and was won by the hosts in front of their fans. Since then, the World Cup has become the largest sporting event on the planet, held every four years—with the exception of the war years, 1942 and 1946.

Professional Soccer and Major Leagues

As the sport grew in popularity, the pressure for professionalism increased. The English Football Association legalized professional soccer in 1885, and the first English national championship—the Football League—was created in 1888, with twelve clubs.

Throughout the 20th century, major national leagues were consolidated around the world:

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