When did soccer become a sport?
Long before American Football. Soccer is actually called “football” outside of the United States. Games revolving around the kicking of a ball have been played in many countries throughout history. According to FIFA, the “very earliest form of the game for which there is scientific evidence was an exercise of precisely this skilful technique dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC in China (the game of cuju).”[13] In addition, the Roman game harpastum may be a distant ancestor of football. Various forms of football were played in medieval Europe, though rules varied greatly by both period and location. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played at the public schools of England. The Cambridge Rules, first drawn up at Cambridge University in 1848, were particularly influential in the development of subsequent codes, including Association football. The Cambridge Rules were written at Trinity College
