Where did modern football originate? Football - history, rules, interesting facts

Football is the most popular team sport of our time. However, do you know which country is the birthplace of football? Many people find it difficult to answer this question, and historians also cannot finally agree on the opinion - the fact is that there are some aspects that lead to disagreement on this issue. However, most people will still tell you that England is the country where football is born. But why are there those who claim that football originated in China and not in the British Isles? This is exactly what you will learn from this article.

Football millennia ago

So, it's time to answer the question of which country is the birthplace of football. As mentioned above, most fans and experts agree that England has become the birthplace of football, but this is not entirely true. The fact is that this sport appeared much earlier, a couple of millennia ago. Naturally, it was a sport very vaguely reminiscent of modern football, but still the principle was the same - two teams competed with each other using the ball, which they kicked. Such entertainment was available to many ancient peoples, from the Egyptians to the Japanese. But the most ancient chronicles indicate that for the first time such a sport was played in China. About two thousand years ago, the Chinese had fun in a similar way, which was immortalized in their chronicles, and these data have come down to our times, which gives reason to believe that China is that very country. The birthplace of football, however, is still England. Why? Now you will know about it.

The origins of football in England

Even if the original source of such a ball game was Ancient China, then it was definitely not brought to its modern form in China. The history of football reports that from China (or from any other country whose annals about the original football have not been preserved), this type of entertainment spread throughout the world, gradually reaching Europe, namely the UK. It was there that this entertainment began to take on the form that this sport now has. Naturally, all the same, ancient English football was not even close to modern, since there it was not a sport, but a pastime for the poor. A field was any open space, a ball was anything that could be kicked, from down to a pig's head. Well, the gates were designated purely symbolically: the maximum that could distinguish them was a line drawn along the ground. As for the teams, everyone who wished was simply divided into two groups without any restriction on the number of participants. Of course, such a living hell could not be called football in the modern sense of the word, but it was this type of entertainment that gave impetus to the development of the modern sport. Naturally, the history of football did not end there - it was just beginning.

Ban

Now you know the answer to the question of where football was invented. Did you know that he might not have survived to the present day? The fact is that the entertainment described above could not be safe in any way - it entailed a huge number of injuries and even fatal cases. Naturally, the higher officials did not like this, and they began to ban football at the state level. The first official ban followed in 1314 - King Edward the Second became its author, and after him, more than one ruler of England tried to ban people from playing football on the streets. However, as you can already understand, the reason for the constant new bans on football was that the law was not always respected, and people continued to have fun in this way, despite the bans.

The emergence of the first rules

Football in England gradually evolved - of course, it was then loved precisely because it excited the blood, raised the level of adrenaline in the blood and allowed people whose lives were far from ideal to throw out all the emotions. However, over time, certain unwritten rules began to appear. For example, people began to play more attentively to each other, not tripping and not hitting below the belt, in particular to the legs. Naturally, these were only the first attempts to somehow control what was happening on the "playing field". However, already in 1801, Joseph Strutt published a book in which the first rules of football were described for the first time in writing. It was then that he began to turn from ordinary entertainment into a full-fledged sport.

The emergence of football in its modern form

When did football become exactly what you can see on TV now? Naturally, something changes in football every year - from small rules to the form of players, but in general, the essence and principle of the game remain the same. And it all started in 1863, when the Football Association of England was created - the first of its kind. It was she who adopted the first official rules in the history of this sport. We can even safely say that it was then that football became a specific sport.

History of football

INTRODUCTION

Modern football began its journey in the 12th century in medieval England. Back then, football was played in the marketplaces and even in the narrow, crooked streets. They played from morning to evening. The number of players exceeded 100 people, while there were almost no restrictions. It was possible to play with both hands and feet, it was allowed to grab the player in possession of the ball, knock him down. As soon as the player took possession of the ball, a cheerful, violent crowd of players immediately rushed after him. As a result, trade tents collapsed, market stalls were carried to pieces. In the villages, even the rivers did not serve as an obstacle to the players. It happened that some players drowned while crossing, but sometimes they didn’t even notice this. One writer from England wrote that they had “bruised cheeks, broken legs, arms and backs, gouged out eyes, noses full of blood...”. And the traveler Gaston de Foix, watching the game of football, exclaimed: “If the British call it a game, then what do they call a fight ?!”
All these violations did not go unnoticed among the clergy and feudal lords. They soon demanded that football be banned. This game seemed too dangerous to them: often disgruntled people gathered under the pretext of playing football. The clergy were especially furious, calling football "an invention of the devil." Patronizing the feudal lords, King Edward II banned football in the city in 1313. Therefore, the games began to be held on wastelands outside the city.
King Edward III in 1333 ordered the sheriffs to persecute the idle ball game, pointing out that “archery is abandoned because of the useless and lawless games of football”
The British did not miss the opportunity to petition the kings with a request to lift the ban, but each time they were refused.
In 1389, Richard II banned football throughout the kingdom. The most severe punishments were established, up to the death penalty.
But, despite the bans, people continued to play football. And already in 1592 in Scotland the ban on football was lifted, and in 1603 England followed suit. The people managed to defend their favorite game, but for a long time football was considered a “mean”, “plebeian” game.
In Russia, too, there have long been ball games reminiscent of football. One of these games was called "shalyga": the players tried to kick the ball into the opponent's territory with their feet. They played in bast shoes on the ice of rivers or in market squares with a leather ball stuffed with feathers. V. G. Belinsky wrote that “the games and amusements of the Russian people reflected the ingenuous severity of their morals, the heroic strength and the wide range of their feelings”,
Russian people went to the ball game more willingly than to the church, so it was the clergy who first of all called for the eradication of folk games. Most of all, the head of the Old Believers-schismatics, Archpriest Avvakum, who furiously urged ... to burn the participants in the games, raged the most!
However, many years of attempts by kings and kings to stop this "dangerous" game failed. Football turned out to be stronger than prohibitions, lived and developed safely, acquired a modern form and became an Olympic sport. In 1908, football was included in the program of the Olympic Games.
Today, football enjoys national recognition. And now it is difficult to imagine the life of any country without football matches.

HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF FOOTBALL

People have always been interested in the question of who invented this game. But the history does not indicate the year or place of birth of football. Archaeological excavations have proven that a certain "ancestor" of football lived in ancient Egypt: scientists have found here not only images of ball players, but also the balls themselves. Historians also say that playing ball with their feet was a favorite pastime of Chinese warriors - this was two thousand years ago BC. They believe that the origins of football are in ancient Rome and in equally ancient Greece.
In different countries, many, many years ago, people gathered in city squares or wastelands and played ball. These games resembled the actions of warriors seeking to infiltrate the enemy's camp. The winner was the party of players who brought the ball over a certain line more times. Sometimes several hundred people participated in such games.
There were many varieties of modern football, for example, the Roman "garpastum" or the Georgian game called "delo". And the French football historian M. Nefferkorn argued that the direct ancestor of modern football can be safely called "la sul" - a game that had already become popular in the homeland of this historian. This game consisted of two teams chasing a leather ball filled with rags or air.
Many Italian historians believe that modern football originated from "calcio" - a game common in the 16th century in Florence. And as evidence, they cite the fact that the “calcio” was played with a leather ball on fields measuring 100x50 m.
But it was in England that football was first given such a name, and therefore the British have every reason to consider themselves the founders of this game. Oddly enough, this event did not occur with the official recognition of the game, but with ... its prohibition, when King Edward III in a special decree drew the attention of the sheriffs of London to the fact that archery, so useful for young people, had faded into the background from -for hobbies of various kinds of useless and "lawless" games like football.
The world's first football association was formed in England in 1863. The first football clubs also appeared. Here the first official rules of the game were developed, which, after several decades, received universal recognition.
The date of October 26, 1863 became a memorable date for football fans, as this year in a London tavern on Gray Queen Street, representatives of the newly minted clubs developed new rules of the game. The representative of one of the clubs outlined the draft of the first nine-point football code. These points were compromise: they implied the game with both feet and hands.
But supporters of the game only with their feet, agreeing to continue the stormy debate for the sake of appearance, at the next meeting - in Cambridge - they developed their final set of truly football laws. On December 8, 1863, these laws came into force. Three of the thirteen paragraphs explicitly prohibited players from touching the ball with their hands in a variety of situations (even goalkeepers). This is how modern football was born. And the adherents of the game and with their hands and feet stood out in a new association - rugby.
Only in 1871 goalkeepers got the right to play with their hands within the goalkeeper's area, and after another 31 years - in the entire penalty area.
Leafing through the pages of history, you are convinced that football in its modern form owes its birth in many respects to the British. It was they who, in 1878, gave citizenship rights to the referee's whistle (before, referees gave signals either with a school bell, or simply by voice). And the judges themselves first appeared on the English fields. All controversial issues at the dawn of football youth were decided by the team captains. The British, at the suggestion of Mr. Brodie, the owner of the Liverpool factory for the production of fishing tackle, in 1890 “dressed” football goals in nets.
A ball game similar to football has long been known in our country. Here, for example, is what the writer N. G. Pomyalovsky noted in the “Essays of the Bursa” in the middle of the 19th century: “On the left side of the courtyard, about seventy people are playing kila - a leather ball stuffed with hair the size of a human head. Two parties converged wall to wall: one of the students led the kila, slowly moving it with his feet, which was the height of art in the game, because from a strong blow the ball could go in the opposite direction, to the enemy’s camp, where they would take it. It was forbidden to hit from the toe - while it was possible to strike at the opponent's leg. It was forbidden to hit from the back, that is, running into the enemy’s camp and waiting for the ball to go to his side, drive it to the city - the designated line. Those who violated the rules of the game were washed their necks.”
There is no doubt that games of this kind are the ancestors of modern football. Even in what N. G. Pomyalovsky “just” told us about, one can catch this relationship: the game was played with a leather ball, team by team; The goal of the game is to drive the ball to a certain place with your feet.
Modern football in Russia was recognized a hundred years ago in port and industrial cities. It was “delivered” to ports by English sailors, and to industrial centers by foreign specialists, who were employed quite a lot in factories and factories in Russia. The first Russian football teams appeared in Odessa, Nikolaev, St. Petersburg and Riga, and somewhat later in Moscow.
Since 1872, the history of international football matches has begun. It opens with a match between England and Scotland, which marked the beginning of a long-term competition between English and Scottish football. Spectators of that historic match did not see a single goal. In the first international meeting - the first goalless draw. Since 1884, the first official international tournaments with the participation of football players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland began to be held in the British Isles - the so-called international championships of Great Britain. The first laurels of the winners went to the Scots. In the future, the British more often had an advantage.
The founders of football also won three of the first four Olympic tournaments - in 1900, 1908 and 1912. On the eve of the V Olympiad, the future winners of the football tournament visited Russia and defeated the St. Petersburg team three times dry - 14:0, 7:0 and 11:0.
The first official football competitions in our country took place at the beginning of the century. In St. Petersburg, a football league was created in 1901, in Moscow - in 1909. A year or two later, leagues of football players appeared in many other cities of the country. In 1911, the leagues of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kharkov, Kyiv, Odessa, Sevastopol, Nikolaev and Tver formed the All-Russian Football Union.
... The beginning of the 20s. was a time when the British had already lost their former advantage in meetings with the teams of the continent. At the 1920 Olympics, they lost to the Norwegians (1:3).
This tournament was the beginning of a long-term brilliant career of one of the outstanding goalkeepers of all time, Ricardo Zamora, whose name is associated with the brilliant success of the Spanish national team.
Even before the First World War, the Hungarian national team, which was famous primarily for its attackers (Imre Schlosser was the strongest among them), achieved great success.
In the same years, Danish footballers also distinguished themselves, losing at the 1908 and 1912 Olympic Games. only to the British and who had victories over the amateur England team. In the Danish team of that time, midfielder Harald Vohr (an outstanding mathematician, brother of the famous physicist Niels Bohr, who also superbly defended the gates of the Danish football team) played an outstanding role.
The approaches to the gates of the Italian national team were guarded by the then magnificent defender (perhaps the best in European football of that time) Renzode Vecchi.
In addition to these teams, the elite of European football included the national teams of Belgium and Czechoslovakia. The Belgians became Olympic champions in 1920, and the Czechoslovak football players became the second team of this tournament.
The 1924 Olympic Games opened South America to the football world: the Uruguayan football players won the gold medals, defeating the Yugoslavs and the Americans, the French, the Dutch and the Swiss.
Take a look at the football field during the match. Players run and jump, fall and get up quickly, make a wide variety of movements with their legs, arms, and head. How to do here without strength and endurance, speed and dexterity, flexibility and quickness! And how much joy overwhelms everyone who manages to hit the gate!
We think that the special appeal of football is also due to its accessibility. Indeed, if for playing basketball, volleyball, tennis, hockey you need special playgrounds and quite a lot of all kinds of equipment and devices, then for football any piece is enough, albeit not quite flat ground and just one ball, no matter what - leather, rubber or plastic .
Of course, football captures not only the joy of the players themselves, who, with the help of various tricks, still manage to subdue the initially recalcitrant ball. Success in a difficult struggle on the football field comes only to those who manage to show a lot of positive qualities of character. If you are not brave, persistent, patient, do not have the will necessary for waging a stubborn struggle, then there can be no talk of even the slightest victories. If he did not show these qualities in a direct dispute with an opponent, then he lost to him.
It is also very important that this dispute is not conducted alone, but collectively. The need for coordinated actions with teammates, help and mutual assistance brings you closer, develops a desire to give all your strength and skill to a common cause.
Football is also attractive to spectators. When you watch the games of high-class teams, you certainly do not remain indifferent: the players deftly circle each other, make all kinds of feints or fly high, hitting the ball with their feet or heads. And what pleasure the players bring to the spectators by the coordination of actions! Is it possible to remain indifferent when you see how skillfully eleven people interact, each of which has different tasks in the game! Another thing is also interesting: every football game is a mystery.
Why in football do the weak sometimes manage to beat the stronger? Perhaps mainly because the competitors during the whole game prevent each other from showing their skills. Sometimes the resistance of the players of the team, which is considered to be noticeably weaker than the opposing team, reaches such an extent that it nullifies the opportunity of the stronger ones to fully show their qualities. For example, skaters during the course do not get in each other's way, but each run along their own path. Footballers, on the other hand, encounter interference throughout the game. Only the attacker wants to break through on goal, but out of nowhere the opponent's leg, which prevents it from doing so. But you can perform this or that technique only under certain conditions!
You will see this as soon as you start practicing with the ball. For example: in order to hit the ball or stop the ball, you need to conveniently position the supporting leg, touch a certain part of the ball with the kicking leg. And the goal of the opponent is to interfere with this all the time. In such conditions, not only technical skill, but also the ability to overcome resistance becomes very important.
After all, in essence, the whole game of football consists of the fact that the defenders interfere with the attackers with all their might. And the outcome of the fight in duels is far from the same. In one game, success is achieved by those who are better at offensive techniques, in another, by those who can stubbornly resist. Therefore, no one ever knows in advance how the struggle will turn out, and even more so who will win. That's why football fans are so eager to get to an interesting match, that's why we love football so much!
In football, as in any competition, the more skilled win. Half a century ago, the Uruguayan football players who won the Olympic Games in 1924 and 1928 were such skilled craftsmen. and at the first World Cup in 1930.
At that time, in European teams, preference was given to tall, strong people who knew how to run fast and hit the ball powerfully. Defenders (there were only two of them then - front and rear) were famous for the power of blows. In the five forwards on the edges, the fastest ones most often acted, and in the center - a football player with a powerful and accurate shot. Welterweights, or insiders, distributed the balls between the extreme and central. Of the three midfielders, a footballer played in the center, tying the majority of combinations, and each winger followed “his” winger.
The Uruguayans, who learned football from the British, but understood it in their own way, did not differ in such strength as the Europeans. But they were more agile and faster. Everyone knew and knew how to perform a lot of game tricks: heel strikes and cut passes, kicks through themselves in the fall ... The Europeans were especially struck by the ability of the Uruguayans to juggle the ball and pass it to each other from head to head, even in motion.
A few years later, having adopted their high technique from South American football players, the Europeans supplemented it with solid athletic training. The players of Italy and Spain, Hungary, Austria, and Czechoslovakia were especially successful in this. It is no coincidence that the teams of these countries achieved the greatest success in international meetings in the 30s, and the Italians twice, in 1934 and 1938. became world champions.
On the way to the first victory in the world championships, the Italians met stubborn resistance from the Spanish, Austrian and Czechoslovak teams: they defeated the Spaniards as a result of a two-day struggle (1:1 and 1:0), and the fate of the Italy-Austria and Italy-Czechoslovakia matches was also decided by one goal (respectively 1:0 and 2:1).
In the Spanish national team of those years, the gates were still defended by the famous Ricardo Zamora. Together with him, Luis Regueiro, Luis Irarogorri, Isidro Langara, Guillermo Gorostis entered the field, who three years later, as part of the Basque Country team, showed a high class in the stadiums of the USSR, winning most of the meetings.
The security of the Czechoslovak team's goal was then ensured by Frantisek Planicka, no less famous than Zamora, and excellent forwards Oldrich Nejedly and Antonin Puch shone in the offensive line.
Special mention should be made of the Austrian national team - the famous "wunderteam" ("miracle team") of the late 20s and early 30s, which showed exceptionally elegant, artistic football (the so-called Viennese lace) and at the same time was famous for its high performance. In 1928-1934. this team achieved a positive balance in meetings with almost all the strongest teams in Europe (Italy, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Scotland, Germany) and lost only one goal to the British (0:0 in 1930, 3:4 in 1932). Of the stars of Austrian football of those years, the goalkeeper Platzer, the defenders Cizar and Sesta, the attackers Bican and nicknamed the “Mozart of football” Sindelar deserve to be named today.
But at the 1934 World Cup, the Italian team, which included the former Argentines Monti and Orsi, turned out to be a little stronger than the rest.
Early and mid 30s. were the time of the revival of the former glory of English football. A formidable weapon appeared in the arsenal of the founders of this game - the “double-ve” system. The prestige of football in England was defended by such masters as Dean, Bastin, Hapgood, Drake. In 1934, 19-year-old right winger Stanley Matthews made his debut in the national team, who entered the history of world football as a legendary personality ...
In our country, football has also been developing rapidly in these years. Back in 1923, the RSFSR team made a victorious tour of Scandinavia, outplaying the best football players in Sweden and Norway. Then many times our teams met with the strongest athletes in Turkey. And they always won. The middle of the 30s and the beginning of the 40s was the time of the first fights with some of the best teams from Czechoslovakia, France, Spain and Bulgaria. And here our masters have shown that Soviet football is not inferior to advanced European. Goalkeeper Anatoly Akimov, defender Alexander Starostin, midfielders Fedor Selin and Andrey Starostin, forwards Vasily Pavlov, Mikhail Butusov, Mikhail Yakushin, Sergei Ilyin, Grigory Fedotov, Petr Dementiev, were admittedly among the strongest in Europe.
The years following the end of World War II did not bring a single leader to the football world. In Europe, the British and Hungarians, the Swiss and Italians, the Portuguese and Austrians, the football players of Czechoslovakia and the Dutch, the Swedes and Yugoslavs played more successfully than others. These were the heydays of offensive football and outstanding forwards: the English Stanley Matthews and Tommy Lawton, the Italians Valentine Mazzola and Silvio Piola, the Swedes Gunnar Gren and Gunnar Nordal, the Yugoslavs Stepan Bobek and Raiko Mitic, the Hungarians Gyula Siladi and Nandor Hidegkuti.
During these years, attacking football also flourished in the USSR. It was during this period that Vsevolod Bobrov and Grigory Fedotov, Konstantin Beskovi, Vasily Kartsev, Valentin Nikolaev and Sergey Solovyov, Vasily Trofimov and Vladimir Demin, Alexander Ponomarev and Boris Paichadze showed themselves to the full and in all their brilliance. Soviet football players, meeting in those years with many of the best clubs in Europe, often defeated the famous British and future heroes of the 1948 Olympics, the Swedes and Yugoslavs, as well as the Bulgarians, Romanians, Welsh and Hungarians.
Soviet football was highly rated in the European arena, despite the fact that the time had not yet come for the revival of the USSR national team.
In those same years, the Argentines won the South American championships three times (in 1946-1948), and on the eve of the next world championship, which was to be held in Brazil, the future organizers of the world championship became the best. The Brazilian attack line was especially strong, where center forward Ademir stood out (he is still included in the symbolic national team of all time), and insiders Zizinho and Genre, goalkeeper Barbosa and central defender Danilo.
The Brazilians were also favorites for the final match of the 1950 World Cup. Everything spoke for them then: big victories in previous matches, native walls, and new tactics of the game (“with four defenders”), which, as it turned out, the Brazilians for the first time applied not in 1958, but eight years earlier. But the Uruguayan team, led by the outstanding strategist Juan Schiaffino, became the world champion for the second time.
True, the victory of the South Americans did not leave a feeling of complete, unconditional: after all, the two strongest teams in Europe in 1950 did not participate in the World Cup. Apparently, the national teams of Hungary and Austria (which included world-famous Gyula Grosic, Josef Bozhik, Nandor Hidegkuti and Walter Zeman, Ernst Happel, Gerhard Hanappi and Ernst Otsvirk), if they participated in the World Cup, would have defended the honor of European football in the stadiums of Brazil more worthily.
The Hungarian national team soon proved this in practice - it became the Olympic champion in 1952 and won almost all the best teams in the world in 33 matches, only drawing five and losing two (in 1952, the Moscow team - 1: 2 and in the final of the 1954 world championship Germany national team - 2:3). Not a single team in the world has known such an achievement since the hegemony of the British at the beginning of the century! It is no coincidence that the Hungarian national team of the first half of the 50s was called the dream team by football experts, and its players were called miracle football players ...
Late 50s and 60s. entered the history of football as unforgettable, when adherents of different playing schools demonstrated outstanding skills. The defense prevailed over the attack, and the attack triumphed again. Tactics survived several small revolutions. And against the backdrop of all this, the brightest stars shone, perhaps the brightest in the history of national football schools: Lev Yashin and Igor Netto, Alfrede di Stefano and Francisco Gento, Raymond Kopa and Just Fontaine, Didi Polei, Garrincha and Gilmar, Dragoslav Shekularats and Dragan Dzhaich , Josef Masopust and Jan Popluhar, Bobby Moore and Bobby Charleston, Gerd Müller, Uwe Seeler and Franz Beckenbauer, Franz Vene and Florian Albert, Giacinto Facchettii Gianni Rivera, Jairzinho and Carlos Alberte...
In 1956, Soviet football players became Olympic champions for the first time. Four years later, they also opened the list of European Cup winners. The USSR national team of that period included goalkeepers Lev Yashin, Boris Razinsky and Vladimir Maslachenko, defenders Nikolai Tishchenko, Anatoly Bashashkin, Mikhail Ogonkov, Boris Kuznetsov, Vladimir Kesarev, Konstantin Krizhevsky, Anatoly Maslenkin, Givi Chokheli and Anatoly Krutikov, midfielders Igor No, Alexey Paramonov, Joseph Betsa, Viktor Tsarev and Yuri Voinov, forwards Boris Tatushin, Anatoly Isaev, Nikita Simonyan, Sergei Salnikov, Anatoly Ilyin, Valentin Ivanov, Eduard Streltsov, Vladimir Ryzhkin, Slava Metreveli, Viktor Monday, Valentin Bubukin and Mikhail Meskhi. This team confirmed its highest class with two victories over the world champions - football players of Germany, over the national teams of Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, Poland and Austria, England, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Before complete triumph in these four years, to win two most honorable titles (Olympic and European champions), I would like to win the world title, but ...
The best of the best at that time were still the players of the Brazilian national team. Three times - in 1958, 1962 and 1970 - they won the main prize of the World Championship - the Golden Goddess Nike, having won this prize forever. Their victories were a real celebration of football - a bright game, sparkling with wit and artistry.
But failures creep up on the luminaries. At the 1974 World Championships, the Brazilians, speaking without the great Pole, surrendered their champion powers. For the next four years, the throne was seized for the second time - after a 20-year break - by the footballers of the German national team. They were helped not so much by “native walls” (the championship was held in the cities of Germany), but, above all, by the high skill of all the team players. And yet deserve to be personally noted by its captain - the central defender Franz Beckenbauery, the main scorer - the center forward Gerd Müller. The Dutch, who took second place, also performed well. Center forward Johan Cruyff stood out in their ranks. The second great success (after winning the 1972 Olympic tournament) was achieved by the Poles, who this time took 3rd place. Their midfielder Kazimierz Dejna and right winger Grzegorz Lato played excellently.
The following year, our football players made us talk about themselves again: Dynamo Kiev won one of the largest international tournaments - the European Cup Winners' Cup.
Bayern Munich took over the European Champions Cup (Beckenbauer and Müller played better than others in it again).
Since 1974, the winners of the European Champion Clubs' Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup have contested the Super Cup in the decisive match between themselves. The first club honored to take this prize is Ajax from the Dutch city of Amsterdam. And the second - Kiev "Dynamo", which defeated the famous "Bavaria".
1976 brought the first Olympic victory to the players of the GDR. In the semi-finals, they defeated the USSR national team, and in the final - the Poles, who bear the title of Olympic champions in 1972. In the GDR team, goalkeeper Jurgen Kroy and defender Jürgen Derner scored in that tournament, about whom 4 goals were recorded (only the center forward scored more than him Polish team Andrzej Szarmach). The USSR national team, like four years ago, received bronze medals, defeating the Brazilians in the match for 3rd place.
In the same year, 1976, the next European Championship was held. Its heroes were the football players of Czechoslovakia, who defeated both finalists of the X World Cup - the teams of Holland (in the semi-finals) and Germany (in the final). And in the quarterfinal match, the future winners of the championship lost to the players of the USSR.
In 1977, Tunisia hosted the first world championship among juniors (players under 19), in which 16 national teams took part. The list of champions was opened by young football players of the USSR, among whom were the now well-known Vagiz Khidiyatullin and Vladimir Bessonov, Sergei Baltacha and Andrei Bal, Viktor Kaplun, Valery Petrakov and Valery Novikov.
1978 gave the football world a new world champion. For the first time, the Argentines won the best-of-breed competition, defeating the Dutch in the final.
Argentine football players achieved great success in 1979: they won the junior world championship for the first time (the second in a row), beating the first champions - juniors of the USSR in the final.
In 1980 there were two major football tournaments. The first - the European Championship - was held in June in Italy. After an eight-year break, the winners of the championship of the continent were the footballers of the German national team, who once again showed an excellent game. Particularly distinguished in the West German team Bernd Schuster, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Hans Müller.
The second largest football competition of the year was the Olympic tournament in Moscow. The laurels of the Olympic champions were won by Czechoslovak football players for the first time (they took 3rd place at the European Championship). Our team won bronze medals for the third time in a row.
1982 brought the third victory in the World Cup to Italian footballers, in whose attack Paslo Rossi scored. Among the defeated by them were the teams of Brazil and Argentina. In the same year, Rossi also received the Golden Ball - a prize for the best football player in Europe.
However, two years later, at the European Championship, another team, the French national team, was the strongest, and its leader, Michel Platini, became the best player on the continent (he was also recognized as the best player in Europe in 1983 and 1985).
1986... Dynamo Kyiv won the European Cup Winners' Cup for the second time, and one of them, Igor Belanov, received the Golden Ball. At the World Cup in Mexico, the strongest team, as in 1978, was the national team of Argentina. Diego Maradona of Argentina was named the best football player of the year.
So, we can conclude that football is one of the oldest sports games, the origin of which dates back to the distant past.

HISTORY OF OUR TEAM

The official date of “birth” of the national team of the Soviet Union is November 16, 1924: on that memorable day, it first met in an official match with the national team of another country. The first opponent who came to visit us - the Turkish team - was beaten dry - 3:0.
After that, the USSR national team “wrote” its history for more than ten years. She performed at the stadiums in Germany, Austria and Finland, received foreign guests, but in all these competitions only Turkey was opposed by the national team. The last match between the USSR and Turkey took place in 1935. The players of the national team went home and did not gather for many, many years. The national team ceased to exist. Perhaps the country's club championships, which began to be held next year, also played a role here (the season was then much shorter than it is now, and the leading players spent most of it in their clubs). Only after the end of the Great Patriotic War, when the All-Union Football Section joined the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA), did we seriously think about recreating the national team. And its official international debut was to be the XV Olympic Games.
During May - June 1952, the USSR national team as a whole successfully held 13 meetings with the teams of Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Finland, receiving very high praise in the international press. Of particular note is the victory and a draw in two matches of cathedral Hungary, a team that became Olympic champion in the same year and shone with a bright constellation of talents.
The revived national team of our country received the official "combat" baptism on July 15, 1952 in the Finnish city of Kotka - in the Olympic match with the national team of Bulgaria. It was a very difficult match. Two halves failed. In extra time, the Bulgarians opened the scoring, but our players found the strength not only to equalize the chances, but also to take the lead (2:1).
The next Olympic rival of the USSR national team was the Yugoslav national team - the silver medalist of the 1948 Olympics, one of the strongest teams in Europe. The duel was dramatic. Losing): 4, and then 1:5, our players managed to win back (5:5), but in the replay the next day they still lost (1:3) and ... dropped out of the tournament.
The relative failure of that team is largely due to the fact that its birth coincided with a generational change in our football. Some outstanding players (Anatoly Akimov, Leonid Solovyov, Mikhail Semichastny, Vasily Kartsev, Grigory Fedotov, Alexander Ponomarev, Boris Paichadze) finished or were finishing their performances, while others (Vasily Trofimov, Konstantin Beskov, Vsevolod Bobrov, Nikolai Dementiev, Vladimir Demin) remained in the ranks, but have already passed the best time. And the younger generation has just fledged, gaining strength.
The next season was spent studying mistakes. And in 1954, the team began new “fights”. True, it was already an almost completely renewed team: only four of the Olympians-52 remained in it. The backbone of the team was the Moscow "Spartak" - the champion of the country in 1952 and 1953. Gavriil Kachalin replaced Boris Arkadiev as coach.
Already from the first steps, the new composition of the national team declared itself at the top of its voice. On September 8, 1954, at the Moscow Dynamo stadium, the Swedish national team was literally defeated (7: 0), and after 18 days a draw (1: 1) with the Olympic champions - the Hungarians .
The next season turned out to be very successful for the players of the Soviet national team. After a victorious winter tour of India, the players in red shirts on June 26 in Stockholm again inflicted a sensitive defeat on the Swedes (6:0).
Then came a somewhat historic day. On August 21, 1955, the USSR national team hosted the world champions - the national team of Germany. Difficult competition ended in favor of the home team -3:2! This result was accepted by the football world as evidence of the even more increased strength of our football players.
A year later, in Melbourne, Soviet football received the first congratulations as the conqueror of the Olympic peak. In the final, the Yugoslav national team was defeated (1:0).
So, 1954-1956. have become for our team, perhaps, the most “fruitful”. In 22 matches at the level of national teams, Soviet footballers scored 16 victories, drew four and lost only two. We scored 69 goals against our opponents, conceded only 17 from them. It is unlikely that any other team in the world had such an impressive balance during three seasons. But the national teams of Hungary and Germany played against it 3 times, Sweden and France 2 each, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia once.
The backbone of the USSR national team at that time was the goalkeeper Lev Yashin, defenders Anatoly Bashashkin, Anatoly Porhunov, Yuri Sedov, Mikhail Ogonkov, Boris Kuznetsov and Nikolai Tishchenko, midfielders Yuri Voinov, Igor Netto, Alexei Paramonov, Anatoly Maslenkin, Iosif Betsa, forwards Boris Tatushin, Anatoly Isaev, Nikita Simonyan, Sergey Salnikov, Yuri Kuznetsov, Valentin Ivanov, Eduard Streltsov, Anatoly Ilyin and Vladimir Ryzhkin.
From the next season, the history of the participation of the Soviet Union national team in the world championships begins. This fact in itself has become a significant event in the life of not only ours, but the entire world football.
1957 was “busy” with qualifying matches* On June 23 in Moscow, our team won 3:0 against the Polish national team. This is followed by two victories over the Finnish team (2:1 in Moscow and 10:0 in Helsinki) and a defeat in Chorzow, where our team lost to the Polish team (1:2) and caught up with it in terms of the number of points scored. An additional qualifying match for the USSR World Cup - Poland took place on November 24 in Leipzig and brought success to the Soviet team -2: 0. The path to the final was open, tickets to Sweden were received.
A rather sharp change in the composition, the position of debutants in such large and important competitions, and the lack of tournament experience extremely complicated the situation of the Soviet team. The draw was also merciless: in the subgroup with ours were the highly experienced teams of Brazil, England and Austria. Nevertheless, our players played with dignity: a draw (2:2) with the British, a dry win against the Austrians (2:0). Losing (0:2) to the future champion - Brazil, they were forced to play an additional match against England. The victory in it (1:0) opened the way for the Soviet masters to the quarterfinals. But here the USSR national team was in for a failure -0:2 in the match with the Swedes (fatigue also affected - five matches in 12 days - and an easier lot for the opponent in the preliminary games). One of the coaches of the team, Mikhail Iosifovich Yakushin, was the first to evaluate the tactical novelty of the Brazilians - the game according to the 1-4-2-4 system - and, having the same weapon in his tactical arsenal (back in 1945, the Moscow Dynamo, whose mentor was Yakushin, played according to a similar scheme), put four defenders against the attacking line of the Brazilian national team. However, the outcome of the fight was decided by the higher technical skill of the South Americans (in this match, by the way, he made his debut on the international arena Pol).
On the eve of the XVII Olympic Games, FIFA adopted a decision prohibiting the participants of the World Championships from participating in Olympic tournaments. So, by the will and decree of FIFA, the paths of our first and Olympic teams parted.
In 1959, the USSR national team played only two matches, and both turned out to be victorious for it. The result in the game with the national team of Hungary (1:0) was included in the games for the first European Cup for national teams. The following season, the USSR national team took possession of this honorary trophy, again defeating the Yugoslavs in the final (2: 1). I must say that winning the European Cup is one of the biggest and brightest achievements of our team in its entire history. Gavriil Dmitrievich Kachalin led the team at that happy time for our football. Newcomers appeared in the national team of the country: defenders Givi Chokheli and Anatoly Krutikov, forwards Slava Metreveli, Valentin Bubukin, Viktor Ponedelnik, Mikhail Meskhi.
In 1960, the national team, as never before, lived up to its name - it included players from nine clubs: Dynamo Moscow, Tbilisi and Kyiv, as well as Spartak, Torpedo, CSKA, Lokomotiv, SKA Rostov and Kuibyshev "Wings of the Soviets".
Having won two qualifying matches against the national teams of Norway and Turkey, the USSR team received tickets to Chile, to the final part of the VII World Cup. In preparation for the toughest challenge ahead, the team toured South America, defeating the national teams of Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. These victories of hers made a strong impression in the football world.
Good luck accompanied the USSR national team in training matches at the beginning of 1962, when the Uruguay national team was defeated (5: 0) and defeated - the "offenders" of 1958 - the Swedes (2: 0).
Instilled optimism and the first success at the World Cup in Chile (victory in the group stage, where the rivals were the national teams of Yugoslavia, Uruguay and Colombia). However, in the quarter-final match, the Chileans turned out to be more successful, defeating us with a score of 2:1. As in the world championship-58, the way to the podium of the USSR national team was “blocked” by the hosts of the championship.
The period between the "Chilean" and "English" world championships was marked by a decisive rejuvenation of the Soviet team. Nine “recruits” participated in the official games of the second European Cup alone: ​​Ramaz Urushadze, Viktor Shustikov, Albert Shesternev, Valery Korolenkov, Eduard Mudrik, Alexei Korneev, Vladimir Glotov, Eduard Malofeev, Viktor Anichkin. Anzor Kavazashvili, Vladimir Ponomarev, Valery Dikarev, Murtaa Khurtsilava, Vasily Danilov, Valentin Afonin, Iozhef Sabo, Georgy Sichinava, Gennady Logofet, Georgy Ryabov, Vladimir Saraev, Viktor Bannikov, Anatoly Vanishevsky , Vitaly Khmelnitsky, Boris Kazakov, Vladimir Varkaya. 25 “recruits” are evidence that one of the lessons of the past world championships went to the team for the future: the team expanded its borders, created a reliable reserve and an opportunity for wide maneuvering in decisive moments of the struggle. This work, done first by Konstantin Ivanovich Beskov, and then by Nikolai Petrovich Morozov, who replaced him as coach of the national team, undoubtedly turned out to be useful.
At the 1966 World Cup, victories over the national teams of the DPRK (3:0), Italy (1:0), Chile (2:1) and Hungary (2:1) brought our team into the top four teams on Earth and provided it with its first bronze medal world dignity. It was a great and well-deserved success for our team, for all of Soviet football. The USSR national team was ahead of such football giants as the teams of Brazil, Hungary, Italy, Uruguay, Argentina, Spain ...
Before its fourth world championship (it was held in 1970 in Mexico), the USSR national team renewed its ranks again. It has a new goalkeeper (Evgeny Rudakov), and new defenders (Vladimir Kaplichny, Revaz Dzodzuashvili, Evgeny Lovchev), and new midfielders (Vladimir Muntyan, Nikolai Kiselev, Kahi Asatiani), and new forwards (Gennady Bvryuzhikhin, Anatoly Vyshovets, Anatoly Puzach, Mikhail Gershkovich, Givi Nodia).
The next decade did not become happy for the USSR national team. She failed to break into the number of contenders for awards at the world tournaments in 1974 and 1978. True, 1972 turned out to be silver for our team, if we keep in mind its second place in the European Championship. Three times in a row - in 1972, 1976 and 1980 - Soviet football players climbed to the third step of the Olympic tournament podiums, receiving bronze medals *
The main “supplier” of players for the national team during this period was the strongest club in the country - Dynamo Kiev * His new representatives in the most important team were Viktor Kolotov and Oleg Blokhin, Vladimir Onishchenko and Anatoly Konkov, Vladimir Troshkin and Mikhail Fomenko, Leonid Buryak and Vladimir Veremeev, Viktor Matvienko and Stefan Reshko, Viktor Zvyagintsev and Vladimir Bessonov.
The 80s - the time of rivalry in the all-Union tournaments of Kyiv Dynamo and Spartak Moscow. And as a result - a wide representation of these clubs in the USSR national team. So, at the World Championships in 1982 and 1986. Kyivans Anatoly Demyanenko, Sergey Baltacha, Andrey Bal, Vladimir Bessonov, Oleg Blokhin, Viktor Chanov, Oleg Kuznetsov, Vasily Rats, Ivan Yaremchuk, Pavel Yakovenko, Vadim Yevtushenko, Alexander Zavarov and Igor Volanov, Spartacists Rinat Dasaev, Yuri Gavrilov , Sergei Rodionov, Alexander Bubnov and Gennady Morozov. In these tournaments, the players of the Dynamo teams of Tbilisi and Minsk also distinguished themselves - Tengiz Sulakvelidze, Alexander Chivadze, Vitaly Daraselia, Ramaz Shengelia (all in 1982), Sergei Borovsky and Sergei Aleinikov.

Conclusion

I would like to conclude with a list of people who have made football a truly exciting and interesting game:
One of the greatest goalkeepers in the whole world is Lev Yashin. And this, no doubt, every football fan knows. This player brilliantly defended the gates of the USSR national team for more than 10 years and played 78 matches as part of the country's main team. He is also the Dynamo Moscow record holder in the number of games, winner of the first European Cup (1960), champion of the XVI Olympic Games, five-time champion of the USSR (1954, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1963), three-time winner of the country's Cup.
Domestic football knew other no less famous goalkeepers. This is Nikolai Sokolov - the first goalkeeper of the USSR national team, who became famous in the 20s; Vladislav Zhmelkov and Nikolai Trusevich - goalkeepers of the 30s; Anatoly Akimov, Alexei Khomich, Leonid Ivanov, who defended the colors of the USSR national team for many years. Together with Yashin, his countryman and teammate Vladimir Belyaev, Kyiv Dynamo player Oleg Makarov, Boris Razinsky from the capital, Vladimir Maslachenko (he later moved to Spartak) performed in the USSR national team.
A new galaxy of young talented goalkeepers appeared in Soviet football in the 1960s. These are Viktor Bannikov and Evgeny Rudakov in Kyiv, Sergey Kotrikadze, Yuri Pshenichnikov - CSKA player, Anzor Kavazashvili - defender of the Moscow teams "Torpedo" and "Spartak", Vladimir Pilgui - Dynamo player.
Talented goalkeepers were given to our football in the 70s: in the Moscow “Dynamo” this is Nikolai Gontar; in CSKA - no less famous Vladimir Astapovsky. In Moscow "Spartak" team goalkeeper Alexander Prokhorov was replaced by Rinat Dasaev, who had the honor of defending our goal.

Team Canada (1904): Hall, Lynton, Lane, Johnson, Ducker, Fraser, Taylor, McDonald, Henderson.
Team Great Britain (1900): Grosling, Heslam, Burridge, Bekenham, Chalk, Turner, Spackman, Nicholas;
Team Great Britain (1908): Bailey, Corbett, Smith, Hunt, Chapman, Hawkes, Berry, Woodward, Stepley, Parnell, Hardman.
Great Britain team (1912): Brebner, Knight, Barn, McWhirter, Littleworth, Dine, Berry, Woodward, Walden, Gore, Sharpe, Hannie, Stamper, Wright.
Belgium national team (1920): De By, Swartenbrook, Verbeek, Mosh, Anse, Firen, van Hegge, Koppe, Bragar, Larne, Basten, Ballin, Ebden, Niso.
Uruguay national team (1924): Massali, Nasassi, Arispe, Andrade, Vidal, Gierra, S. Urdinaran, Scarone, Petrone, Sea, Romano, Naya, Tomazina, A. Urdinaran, Sibekki.
Uruguay national team (1928): Massali, Nasassi, Arispe, Andrade, Piris, Hestido, Fernandez, Arremon, Scarone, Borjas, Sea, Figueroa, S. Urdinaran, Campolo, Castro, Ca-navesi.
Swedish national team (1948): Lindberg, K. Nordahl, Nilsson, Rusengren, B. Nordahl, Andersson, Rosen, Gren, G. Nordahl, Carleson, Lnedholm, Leander.
Hungarian national team (1952): Lantos, Lorant, Buzansky, Dalnoki, Bozhik, Zakarias, Chordas, Hidegkuti, Kocis, Palotash, Puskas, Cibor, Budai, Kovacs.
Hungarian national team (1968): Novak, Dreshtnak, Nanchich, Menchel, Kochis, Bashti, Syuch, Fazekas, Sharkozy, L. Danai, Nagy, Noshko, Juhas, Keglovic, Salai, Sarka, Danube.
Hungarian national team: (1964): Geley, Novak, Orban, Ihas, Palotan, Sepeshi, Nogradi, Farkay, Cernan, Vene, Komor, Canton, Varga.
USSR national team (1956): Yashin, Razinsky. Ogonkov, Bashashkin, Kuznetsov, Tishchenko, Maslenkin, Net, Paramonov, Betsa, Tatushin, Isaev, Simonyan, Salnikov, Ilyin, Ivanov, Streltsov, Ryzhkin.
USSR national team (1988): Kharin, Prudnikov, Losev, Gorlukovich, Ketashvili, Yarovenko, Sklyarov, Tishchenko, Yanonis, Fokin, Cherednik, Kuznetsov, Mikhailichenko, Dobrovolsky, Tatarchuk, Savichev, Borodyuk, Ponomarev.
French national team (1984): Ayash, Vinsussan, Bibar, Bijota, Brisson, Kubin, Garand, Zhannol, G. Lacombe, Lemu, Ror, Reet, Senac, Touvenel, Touré, Syuereb, Zanon.
Team of the GDR (1976): Croy, Sade, Grapentin, Derner, Grebner, Weise, Courbuwait, Lauck, Hafner, Ridiger, Branches, Hoffman, Quiche, Loewe, Heidler, Weber.
National team of Poland (1972): Gorgon, Anchok, Tsmikevich, Shimanovsky, Ostafinsky, Kraska, Deina, Kmetsik, Sholtysik, Lubansky, Shimchak, Marx, Lato.

MINISTRY OF SPORTS, TOURISM AND YOUTH POLICY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

FEDERAL STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION OF HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

"VOLGOGRAD STATE ACADEMY OF PHYSICAL CULTURE"

Department of Theory and Methods of Football

on the topic: "The history of the emergence and development of football"

Completed by: Gerashchenko Daria

1st year student

Checked by: Neretin A.V.

Volgograd - 2011

Introduction

The history of the emergence and development of football

How football started in England

The history of the emergence of football in Russia

The history of our national team of the Soviet Union

Introduction

Football is the most accessible and, consequently, mass means of physical development and health promotion for the general population. About 4 million people play football in Russia. This truly folk game is popular with adults, boys and children.

Football is a truly athletic game. It contributes to the development of speed, agility, endurance, strength and jumping ability. In the game, a football player performs extremely high-load work, which contributes to an increase in the level of a person’s functional capabilities, brings up moral and volitional qualities. Diverse and large-scale motor activity against the background of growing fatigue requires the manifestation of volitional qualities necessary to maintain high gaming activity.

Since training and football competitions take place almost all year round, in a variety of, often dramatically changing, climatic meteorological conditions, this game also contributes to physical hardening, increasing the body's resistance and expanding adaptive capabilities.

In training for other sports, football (or individual exercises from football) is often used as an additional sport. This is due to the fact that football, due to its special impact on the physical development of an athlete, can contribute to successful preparation in the chosen sports specialization. Playing football can serve as a good means of general physical fitness. A variety of running with a change in direction, various jumps, a wealth of body movements of the most diverse structure, strikes, stops and dribbling, the manifestation of maximum speed of movement, the development of strong-willed qualities, tactical thinking - all this allows us to consider football as such a sports game that improves many valuable qualities, necessary for an athlete of any specialty.

Emotional features allow you to use the game of football or ball possession exercises as a means of active recreation.

The "geography" of Soviet football is vast and varied. There are football teams in polar Murmansk and sultry Ashgabat, green picturesque Uzhgorod and harsh Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka.

Football teams have been created in our voluntary sports associations, at plants and factories, on collective farms and state farms, in higher educational institutions and schools. There are more than 1,000 specialized football departments of the Youth Sports School and 57 Sports Schools, 126 training groups under the teams of masters in the country. Several times more boys participate in mass competitions of the Leather Ball Club. The mass nature of football is the key to the continuous growth of sportsmanship.

Football competitions are an important means of mass involvement of workers in systematic physical education.

football athlete competition physical

1. The history of the emergence and development of football

The most popular game of our time - football - was born in England. The Englishman kicked the ball first. However, the priority of the British is disputed by a number of countries, and primarily Italy, France, China, Japan, Mexico. This "intercontinental" dispute has a long history. The parties support their claims with references to historical documents, archaeological finds, statements of famous people of the past.

To establish who hit the ball first, you first need to know when and where he appeared. Archaeologists say that the leather companion of man has a very respectable age. On the island of Samothrace, its oldest image was discovered, dating back to 2500 BC. e. One of the earliest images of the ball, various moments of the game, was found on the walls of the tombs of Benny Hassan in Egypt.

Descriptions of the games of the ancient Egyptians have not been preserved. But much more is known about the predecessors of football on the Asian continent. Ancient Chinese sources dating back to 2697 BC talk about a game similar to football. They called it "dzu-nu" ("dzu" - push with the foot, "nu" - ball). Holidays are described, during which two selected teams delighted the gaze of the Chinese emperor and his entourage. Later, in 2674 BC, "zu-nu" became part of military training. The matches were played on limited grounds, with bamboo goals without a top crossbar, leather balls stuffed with hair or feathers. Each team had six goals and the same number of goalkeepers. Over time, the number of gates has decreased. Since the game set a goal to educate the will and determination of warriors. The losers were still severely punished.

Later, in the Han era (206 BC - 220 AD), there was a kickball game in China, the rules of which were peculiar. Walls were installed on the front sides of the playing field, six holes were cut into them on each side. The task of the team was to score the ball into any of the holes in the opposing team's wall. Each team had six goalkeepers who defended these "gates".

Around the same time, a game similar to football - "kemari" appeared in the country of Yamato, aka Japan, which at that time was under the strong political and cultural influence of China. The game was of a religious nature, being an element of magnificent palace ceremonies, and was most widely used among the noble families of the country in the 6th century. n. e. Matches between the two teams were held on the square in front of the emperor's palace. The four corners of the playing field were marked with trees, which symbolized the four cardinal points. The game was preceded by a procession of priests who carried a ball kept permanently in one of the Shinto shrines. The players were distinguished by special kimonos and special shoes, since one of the features of "kemari" was that the ball was constantly kicked up with a kick, preventing it from falling to the ground. The goal of the competition was to score the ball into the goal, which resembled the current one. It is not known how long the game lasted, but the fact that its scope was limited by certain regulations was not in doubt: an indispensable attribute of the competition was an hourglass. Interestingly, two Japanese clubs still play kemari. But this happens during big religious holidays on a special field, not far from one of the monasteries.

Meanwhile, the ball continued its journey around the globe. In ancient Greece, "all ages are submissive" to the ball. The balls were different, some were sewn from colored patches and stuffed with hair, others were filled with air, others were filled with feathers, and finally, the heaviest ones were filled with sand.

The game with a big ball - "epikiros" - was also popular. It was in many ways reminiscent of modern football. The players were located on both sides of the center line of the field. On a signal, the opponents tried to kick the ball between two lines drawn on the ground with kicks (they replaced the gate). The winning team was awarded a point. Another game common among the Hellenes was "feninda". The object of the game was to get the ball over the end line of the field in the opponent's half. Aristophanes mentions these competitions. The famous playwright of Ancient Hellas Antiphanes (388 - 311 BC) can be called the first football reporter. The very nature of the "reportage" gives an idea of ​​the high intensity of sports passions. Tribute to the foot ball was paid not only by the writers of Hellas, but also by ancient Greek sculptors. Several bas-reliefs telling about sports games have survived to our time.

Another kind of similar games in Ancient Greece was "harpanon". This game can be considered a distant predecessor of football and rugby. Before the start of the competition, the ball was carried to the center of the field, and the opposing teams simultaneously rushed there in order to capture it. The team that managed to do this went on the offensive to the opponent's line, that is, to the kind of in-goal field that exists in modern rugby. You could carry the ball in your hands and kick it. But it was not easy to get ahead with him. There were continuous fierce fights on the field.

Equally uncompromising was the favorite game of the inhabitants of Ancient Sparta - "espikiros", which was of a military-applied nature. Its essence was that two teams threw the ball with their hands and feet over the field line, to the side defended by the opponents. The restriction of the game by certain rules was indicated by the mandatory presence of a referee on the field. The game was so popular that in the VI - V centuries. BC. even the girls played it.

Greece is not far from Rome, and the Hellenes "passed" the soccer ball to the ancient Romans. For a long time, the Romans were under the influence of the richest Hellenic culture and, of course, adopted many sports games.

The other most common game among the Romans was "harpastum". She was of a very violent nature. Two teams, located opposite each other, tried to move a small heavy ball across the line, which was behind the shoulders of the rivals. At the same time, it was allowed to pass the ball with your feet and hands, knock the player down, taking the ball away in any way. The passion for "harpastum" was strongly encouraged by the Roman nobility, led by Julius Caesar. It was believed that in this way the physical perfection of the soldiers was achieved, strength and mobility appeared - qualities so necessary in military operations that the Roman Empire constantly waged.

Over time, they began to use a large leather ball sewn from ox or boar skins and stuffed with straw for competitions. It was allowed to pass it only with the feet. The place where it was necessary to score the ball has also changed. If at first it was an ordinary line drawn on the site, now a gate without an upper crossbar was installed on it. The ball had to be kicked into the goal, for which the team was awarded a point. Thus, "harpastum" acquired more and more features of today's football.

For the first time the word "football" occurs in an English military chronicle, the author of which compares the passion for this game with an epidemic. In addition to "football", kickball games were called "la sul" and "shul" depending on the region in which they were practiced.

English medieval football was very primitive. It was necessary to attack the opponent, take possession of the leather ball and break through with it towards the "gate" of the opponent. The gates were the border of the village, and in cities, most often the gates of large buildings.

Football matches were usually timed to coincide with religious holidays. It is interesting that women participated in them. Games were also held during holidays dedicated to the god of fertility. A round ball made of leather, which later began to be filled with feathers, was a symbol of the sun. Being the subject of a cult, he was kept in the house in a place of honor and had to guarantee success in all worldly affairs.

Since football was common among the poor, the privileged class treated it with disdain. This, of course, explains why we know so little about the rules of the game and the number of matches of that time.

As already mentioned, for the first time the word "football" is found in written sources dating back to the reign of the English King Henry II (1154 - 1189). A detailed description of medieval football comes down briefly to the following: on Shrove Tuesday, the boys went out of town to play ball. The game was played without any rules. The ball was thrown up in the center of the field. Both teams rushed to him and tried to score in the goal. Sometimes the goal of the game was to drive the ball into the goal of ... own team. The adults liked the game too. They gathered in the market square. The mayor of the city tossed the ball, and the fight began. Not only men, but also women fought for the ball. After honoring the player who managed to score the year, the game resumed with even more excitement. It was not considered reprehensible to knock down the enemy with a bandwagon and give him a cuff. On the contrary, this was seen as a manifestation of dexterity and skill. Players in the heat of the fight often knocked down passers-by. Every now and then there was the sound of breaking glass. Prudent residents closed the windows with shutters, locked the doors with bolts. Therefore, it is not surprising that the game in the 14th century was repeatedly banned by the city authorities, was anathematized by the church and incurred the disfavor of many rulers of England. Feudal lords, clerics, merchants vying with each other demanded that the English king stop the "demonic zeal", "the invention of the devil" - that's what they called football. On April 13, 1314, King Edward II banned "raging with a big ball" on the streets of London, as "dangerous for passers-by and buildings."

However, the magical power was stronger than the formidable royal edict.

Games began to be held on wastelands outside the city. Team members tried to drive the ball into a pre-marked place - a site similar to the current penalty area. The bone of contention was a semblance of a modern ball, made from the skin of a rabbit or a sheep and stuffed with rags.

And yet, the passion for football captured more and more people. The game began to be mentioned more often in historical chronicles. Due to the cruel nature of the competition, Richard II issued another restrictive "football edict" in 1389, which, in particular, stated: "The violent people playing in the streets make a big mess, cripple each other, break windows in the house with their balls and cause great harm to the inhabitants.

The best times for football players came only in the 17th century, when Elizabeth I lifted the ban on football in 1603. Despite this, the highest clergy and city authorities opposed the game of football. This was the situation in many cities. And although the games often ended in fines and even imprisonment of the participants, nevertheless, football was played not only in the capital, but also in any, even the most remote corner of the country.

The further development of football in the British Isles was unstoppable. Hundreds, thousands of teams sprang up in cities, towns, villages, schools, colleges. The time was rapidly approaching when this chaotic movement turned into an organized one - the first rules, the first clubs, the first championships appeared. There was a final demarcation of supporters of the game with hands and feet. In 1863, supporters of the game "only with their feet" separated, creating an autonomous "Football Association".

The Italians are also proud of their football past. They consider themselves, if not the founders of the game, then, in any case, its longtime admirers. Proof of this is the numerous records in historical chronicles about ball games that the ancient ancestors of the Italians amused themselves with. The name of the game comes from the name of the special shoes worn by the players in "harpastum" - "calceus". The root of this word is preserved in the current name of football - "calcio".

A detailed description of the Italian medieval "football" was compiled by the Florentine historian of the 16th century. Silvio Piccolomini. Heralds announced the upcoming competition. They also informed the people of Florence the names of the players a week before the competition. The game was accompanied by the thunder of orchestras. In Piccolomini you can find an exposition of the rules of "ginaccio a calcio", which, of course, are very different from the current football ones. There were no gates, instead of them they stretched huge nets that were placed on both sides of the field. A goal was counted even if it was scored not with a foot, but with a hand. The team, whose players did not hit the net, but beat them by, was punished: they were deprived of their previously scored points. The judges were literally on top. They did not move around the field, but sat on a raised platform. Their actions were monitored by an authoritative commission that could eliminate incompetent referees.

The day of the first match - February 17, is celebrated in Florence, annually since 1530. The holiday is still accompanied by a meeting of football players dressed in medieval costumes. The game "ginaccio a calcio" was popular not only in Florence, but also in Bologna.

Football-like games have been widespread in Mexico since antiquity. The Spaniards, who first entered Central Mexico, inhabited by the powerful Aztec tribe, saw a ball game here, which the Aztecs called "tlachtli".

The Spaniards looked with surprise at the game of rubber ball. European balls were rounded, made of leather, stuffed with straw, rags or hair. In Spanish, ball games are still called "pelota", from the word "pelo" - hair. The Indians' balls were bigger and heavier, but bounced higher.

It is difficult to say when the Indians began to play ball. However, the records on the stone disks of the stadiums indicate that they were passionate fans of the "tlachtli" one and a half thousand years ago.

Among the Mayan tribes, the place of competition was a platform (about 75 feet), laid with stone slabs and framed on two sides by brick benches, and on the other two by an inclined or vertical wall. Carved stone blocks of various shapes served as marks on the field. The game was played by two teams of 3-11 players each. The ball was a massive rubber mass from 2 to 4 kg. The teams ran out onto the field in formation. The knees, elbows and shoulders of the players were wrapped in cotton cloth and specially made cane films. There was a solemn uniform in which the players performed worship and made sacrifices to the gods: on their heads was a helmet richly decorated with feathers; the face, with the exception of the opening for the eyes, is closed.

Indian players were preparing for the match not only the costume. First of all, they prepared themselves. A few days before the competition, they began the ritual of sacrifice, and also fumigated their costume and balls with the smoke of sacred resin.

Not much time passed, and reports of "tlachtli" flew to the capitals of other European powers. Soon there were rubber balls brought from the New World, and gradually everyone got used to them.

In the late 60s, clay figurines depicting ball players were found near the capital of Mexico. They date from around 800-500 BC. BC.

Ball games among the Indians of America were not limited to "tlachtli". No less popular was "pok-ta-pok". The game was played by two teams two against two or three against three. Almost every tribe used ball games not only in religious rituals, but also to temper the body and spirit.

But perhaps the most original was the game of the Iroquois, called the "high ball". The Indians competed by moving across the field on high stilts. The ball could be thrown not only with a racket, but also with the head. The number of goals was usually limited to three or five.

All the mentioned ball games are described in historical chronicles or confirmed by archaeological finds. This gives grounds for temperamental Mexicans to assert that football was popular on the Latin American continent long before the first Englishman hit the ball.

How football started in England

In the official home of modern football, England, the first documented game of football took place in 217 AD. In the area of ​​​​the city of Derby, a derby of the Celts against the Romans took place. The Celts won, history did not save the score. In the Middle Ages, the game of ball was very popular in England, a cross between ancient and modern football. Although most of all it looked like a chaotic dump, turning into a bloody fight. They played right on the streets, sometimes 500 or more people from each side. The team that managed to drive the ball across the city to a certain place won. The 16th-century English writer Stubbes wrote of football this way: “Football brings with it scandals, noise, strife. noses full of blood - that's what football is." Not surprisingly, football was considered politically dangerous. The first attempt to combat this scourge was made by King Edward II - in 1313 he banned football within the city. Then King Edward III banned football altogether. King Richard II in 1389 introduced very severe penalties for the game - up to the death penalty. Thereafter, every king considered it his duty to issue a decree banning football as it continued to be played. Only after 100 years, the monarchs nevertheless decided that it is better to let the people deal with football than uprisings and politics. In 1603 the ban on football in England was lifted. The game became widespread in 1660, when Charles II ascended the English throne. In 1681, a match was even held according to certain rules. The king's team was defeated, but he rewarded one of the best players on the opposing team. Until the beginning of the 19th century, football was played as it should - the number of players was not limited, the methods of taking the ball away were very diverse. There was only one goal - to drive the ball to a certain place. In the twenties of the 19th century, the first attempts were made to turn football into a sport and create uniform rules. It didn't take long for them to succeed. Football was especially popular in colleges, but each college played by its own rules. Therefore, it was the representatives of English educational institutions who finally decided to unify the rules of the game of football. In 1848, the so-called Cambridge Rules appeared - after delegates from colleges gathered in Cambridge in order to streamline the football game.

The main provisions of these rules were a corner kick, a goal kick, an offside position, a punishment for rudeness. But even then, no one really performed them. The main stumbling block was the dilemma - to play football with your feet or both with your feet and with your hands. At Eton College, they played by rules that were most similar to modern football - there were 11 people on the team, handplay was forbidden, there was even a rule similar to today's "offside". College players from the city of Rugby played with their feet and hands. As a result, in 1863, at the next meeting, representatives of Rugby left the congress and organized their own football, which we know as rugby. And the rest developed rules that were published in newspapers and received universal recognition.

Form start

This is how football was born, which is played all over the world today.

The history of the emergence and development of football in Russia

Modern football in Russia was recognized a hundred years ago in port and industrial cities. It was "delivered" to ports by British sailors, and to industrial centers by foreign specialists, who were employed quite a lot in Russian factories and factories. The first Russian football teams appeared in Odessa, Nikolaev, St. Petersburg and Riga, and somewhat later in Moscow. Since 1872, the history of international football matches has begun. It opens with a match between England and Scotland, which marked the beginning of a long-term competition between English and Scottish football. Spectators of that historic match did not see a single goal. In the first international meeting - the first goalless draw. Since 1884, the first official international tournaments with the participation of football players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland began to be held in the British Isles - the so-called international championships of Great Britain. The first laurels of the winners went to the Scots. In the future, the British more often had an advantage. The founders of football also won three of the first four Olympic tournaments - in 1900, 1908 and 1912. On the eve of the V Olympiad, the future winners of the football tournament visited Russia and defeated the St. Petersburg team three times dry - 14:0, 7:0 and 11:0. The first official football competitions in our country took place at the beginning of the century. In St. Petersburg, a football league was created in 1901, in Moscow - in 1909. A year or two later, leagues of football players appeared in many other cities of the country. In 1911, the leagues of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kharkov, Kyiv, Odessa, Sevastopol, Nikolaev and Tver formed the All-Russian Football Union. Early 20s. was a time when the British had already lost their former advantage in meetings with the teams of the continent. At the 1920 Olympics, they lost to the Norwegians (1:3). This tournament was the beginning of a long-term brilliant career of one of the outstanding goalkeepers of all time, Ricardo Zamora, with a name that is associated with the brilliant success of the Spanish national team. Even before the First World War, the Hungarian national team achieved great success, famous primarily for its attackers (the strongest among them was Imre Schlosser). In the same years, Danish footballers also distinguished themselves, losing at the 1908 and 1912 Olympic Games. only to the British and who had victories over the amateur England team. In the Danish team of that time, midfielder Harald Vohr (an outstanding mathematician, brother of the famous physicist Niels Bohr, who also superbly defended the gates of the Danish football team) played an outstanding role. The approaches to the gates of the Italian national team were guarded by the then magnificent defender (perhaps the best in European football of that time) Renzode Vecchi. In addition to these teams, the elite of European football included the national teams of Belgium and Czechoslovakia. The Belgians became Olympic champions in 1920, and the Czechoslovak football players became the second team of this tournament. The 1924 Olympic Games opened South America to the football world: the Uruguayan football players won the gold medals, defeating the Yugoslavs and the Americans, the French, the Dutch and the Swiss. Take a look at the football field during the match. Players run and jump, fall and get up quickly, make a wide variety of movements with their legs, arms, and head. How to do here without strength and endurance, speed and dexterity, flexibility and quickness! And how much joy overwhelms everyone who manages to hit the gate! We think that the special appeal of football is also due to its accessibility. Indeed, if for playing basketball, volleyball, tennis, hockey you need special playgrounds and quite a lot of all kinds of equipment and devices, then for football any piece is enough, albeit not quite flat ground and just one ball, no matter what - leather, rubber or plastic . Of course, football captures not only the joy of the players themselves, who, with the help of various tricks, still manage to subdue the initially recalcitrant ball. Success in a difficult struggle on the football field comes only to those who manage to show a lot of positive qualities of character.

If you are not brave, persistent, patient, do not have the will necessary for waging a stubborn struggle, then there can be no talk of even the slightest victories. If he did not show these qualities in a direct dispute with an opponent, then he lost to him. It is also very important that this dispute is not conducted alone, but collectively. The need for coordinated actions with teammates, help and mutual assistance brings you closer, develops a desire to give all your strength and skill to a common cause. Football is also attractive to spectators. When you watch the games of high-class teams, you certainly do not remain indifferent: the players deftly circle each other, make all kinds of feints or fly high, hitting the ball with their feet or heads. And what pleasure the players give to the spectators by the consistency of actions. Is it possible to remain indifferent when you see how skillfully eleven people interact, each of which has different tasks in the game. Another thing is also interesting: every football game is a mystery. Why in football do the weak sometimes manage to beat the stronger? Perhaps mainly because the competitors during the whole game prevent each other from showing their skills. Sometimes the resistance of the players of the team, which is considered to be noticeably weaker than the opposing team, reaches such an extent that it nullifies the opportunity of the stronger ones to fully show their qualities. For example, skaters during the course do not get in each other's way, but each run along their own path. Footballers, on the other hand, encounter interference throughout the game. Only the attacker wants to break through on goal, but out of nowhere the opponent's leg, which prevents it from doing so.

But to perform this or that technique is possible only under certain conditions. You will see this as soon as you start practicing with the ball. For example: in order to hit the ball or stop the ball, you need to conveniently position the supporting leg, touch a certain part of the ball with the kicking leg. And the goal of the opponent is to interfere with this all the time. In such conditions, not only technical skill, but also the ability to overcome resistance becomes very important. After all, in essence, the whole game of football consists of the fact that the defenders interfere with the attackers with all their might.

And the outcome of the fight in duels is far from the same. In one game, success is achieved by those who are better at offensive techniques, in another, by those who can stubbornly resist. Therefore, no one ever knows in advance how the struggle will turn out, and even more so who will win. That's why football fans are so eager to get to an interesting match, that's why we love football so much. In football, as in any competition, the more skilled win. Half a century ago, the Uruguayan football players who won the Olympic Games in 1924 and 1928 were such skilled craftsmen. and at the first World Cup in 1930. At that time, European teams preferred tall, strong people who could run fast and hit the ball powerfully. Defenders (there were only two of them then - front and rear) were famous for the power of blows. In the five forwards on the edges, the fastest ones most often acted, and in the center - a football player with a powerful and accurate shot. Welterweights, or insiders, distributed the balls between the extreme and central. Of the three midfielders, a footballer played in the center, tying up the majority of combinations, and each extreme followed “his” extreme attackers. The Uruguayans, who learned football from the British, but understood it in their own way, did not differ in such strength as the Europeans. But they were more agile and faster. Everyone knew and was able to perform a lot of game tricks: heel strikes and cut passes, kicks through themselves in the fall. The Europeans were especially struck by the ability of the Uruguayans to juggle the ball and pass it to each other from head to head, even in motion. A few years later, having adopted their high technique from South American football players, the Europeans supplemented it with solid athletic training. The players of Italy and Spain, Hungary, Austria, and Czechoslovakia were especially successful in this. Early and mid 30s. were the time of the revival of the former glory of English football. A formidable weapon appeared in the arsenal of the founders of this game - the "double-ve" system. The prestige of football in England was defended by such masters as Dean, Bastin, Hapgood, Drake. In 1934, 19-year-old right winger Stanley Matthews made his debut in the national team, who went down in the history of world football as a legendary person.

In our country, football has also been developing rapidly in these years. Back in 1923, the RSFSR team made a victorious tour of Scandinavia, outplaying the best football players in Sweden and Norway. Then many times our teams met with the strongest athletes in Turkey. And they always won. Mid 30s and early 40s. - the time of the first fights with some of the best teams from Czechoslovakia, France, Spain and Bulgaria. And here our masters have shown that Soviet football is not inferior to advanced European. Goalkeeper Anatoly Akimov, defender Alexander Starostin, midfielders Fedor Selin and Andrey Starostin, forwards Vasily Pavlov, Mikhail Butusov, Mikhail Yakushin, Sergei Ilyin, Grigory Fedotov, Petr Dementiev, were admittedly among the strongest in Europe. The years following the end of World War II did not bring a single leader to the football world. In Europe, the British and Hungarians, the Swiss and Italians, the Portuguese and Austrians, the football players of Czechoslovakia and the Dutch, the Swedes and Yugoslavs played more successfully than others. These were the heydays of offensive football and outstanding forwards: the English Stanley Matthews and Tommy Lawton, the Italians Valentine Mazzola and Silvio Piola, the Swedes Gunnar Gren and Gunnar Nordal, the Yugoslavs Stepan Bobek and Raiko Mitic, the Hungarians Gyula Siladi and Nandor Hidegkuti. During these years, attacking football also flourished in the USSR. It was during this period that Vsevolod Bobrov and Grigory Fedotov, Konstantin Beskovi, Vasily Kartsev, Valentin Nikolaev and Sergey Solovyov, Vasily Trofimov and Vladimir Demin, Alexander Ponomarev and Boris Paichadze showed themselves to the full and in all their brilliance. Soviet football players, meeting in those years with many of the best clubs in Europe, often defeated the famous British and future heroes of the 1948 Olympics, the Swedes and Yugoslavs, as well as the Bulgarians, Romanians, Welsh and Hungarians. Soviet football was highly rated on the European arena, despite the fact that the time had not yet come for the revival of the USSR national team. In those same years, the Argentines won the South American championships three times (in 1946-1948), and on the eve of the next world championship, which was to be held in Brazil, the future organizers of the world championship became the best. The Brazilian attack line was especially strong, where center forward Ademir stood out (he is still included in the symbolic national team of all time), and insiders Zizinho and Genre, goalkeeper Barbosa and central defender Danilo. The Brazilians were also favorites for the final match of the 1950 World Cup. Everything spoke for them then: big victories in previous matches, and native walls, and a new game tactic (“with four defenders”), which, as it turned out, the Brazilians first used not in 1958, but eight years earlier. But the Uruguayan team, led by the outstanding strategist Juan Schiaffino, became the world champion for the second time. True, the victory of the South Americans did not leave a feeling of complete, unconditional: after all, the two strongest teams in Europe in 1950 did not participate in the World Cup. Apparently, the national teams of Hungary and Austria (which included world-famous Gyula Grosic, Josef Bozhik, Nandor Hidegkuti and Walter Zeman, Ernst Happel, Gerhard Hanappi and Ernst Otzvirk), had they participated in the World Cup, would have defended the honor of European football in the stadiums of Brazil more worthily. The Hungarian national team soon proved this in practice - it became the Olympic champion in 1952 and won almost all the best teams in the world in 33 matches, only drawing five and losing two (in 1952, the Moscow team - 1: 2 and in the final of the 1954 world championship Germany national team - 2:3). Not a single team in the world has known such an achievement since the hegemony of the British at the beginning of the century! It is no coincidence that the Hungarian national team of the first half of the 50s was called the dream team by football experts, and its players were called miracle footballers. Late 50s and 60s. entered the history of football as unforgettable, when adherents of different playing schools demonstrated outstanding skills. The defense prevailed over the attack, and the attack triumphed again. Tactics survived several small revolutions. And against the backdrop of all this, the brightest stars shone, perhaps the brightest in the history of national football schools: Lev Yashin and Igor Netto, Alfrede di Stefano and Francisco Gento, Raymond Kopa and Just Fontaine, Didi Polei, Garrincha and Gilmar, Dragoslav Shekularats and Dragan Dzhaich , Josef Masopust and Jan Popluhar, Bobby Moore and Bobby Charleston, Gerd Müller, Uwe Seeler and Franz Beckenbauer, Franz Vene and Florian Albert, Giacinto Facchetti, Gianni Rivera, Jairzinho and Carlos Alberte. In 1956, Soviet football players became Olympic champions for the first time. Four years later, they also opened the list of European Cup winners. The USSR national team of that period included goalkeepers Lev Yashin, Boris Razinsky and Vladimir Maslachenko, defenders Nikolai Tishchenko, Anatoly Bashashkin, Mikhail Ogonkov, Boris Kuznetsov, Vladimir Kesarev, Konstantin Krizhevsky, Anatoly Maslenkin, Givi Chokheli and Anatoly Krutikov, midfielders Igor Net something , Alexey Paramonov, Iosif Betsa, Viktor Tsarev and Yuri Voinov, forwards Boris Tatushin, Anatoly Isaev, Nikita Simonyan, Sergei Salnikov, Anatoly Ilyin, Valentin Ivanov, Eduard Streltsov, Vladimir Ryzhkin, Slava Metreveli, Viktor Monday, Valentin Bubukin and Mikhail Meskhi. This team confirmed its highest class with two victories over the world champions - football players of Germany, over the national teams of Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, Poland and Austria, England, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Before complete triumph in these four years, to win two most honorable titles (Olympic and European champions), I would like to win the world title, but ... The best of the best at that time were still the players of the Brazilian national team. Three times - in 1958, 1962 and 1970. - they won the main trophy of the World Cup - "Golden Goddess Nika", having won this prize forever. Their victories were a real celebration of football - a game of bright, sparkling wit and artistry. But failures creep up on the luminaries. At the 1974 World Championships, the Brazilians, speaking without the great Pole, surrendered their champion powers. For the next four years, the throne was seized for the second time - after a 20-year break - by the players of the German national team. They were helped not so much by the “native walls” (the championship was held in the cities of Germany), but, above all, by the high skill of all the team players. And yet deserve to be personally noted by its captain - the central defender Franz Beckenbauer and the main scorer - the center forward Gerd Müller. The Dutch, who took second place, also performed well. Center forward Johan Cruyff stood out in their ranks. The second big success (after winning the 1972 Olympic tournament) was achieved by the Poles, who this time took 3rd place. Their midfielder Kazimierz Dejna and right winger Grzegorz Lato played excellently. The following year, our football players made us talk about themselves again: Dynamo Kiev won one of the largest international tournaments - the European Cup Winners' Cup. Bayern Munich took over the European Champions Cup (Beckenbauer and Müller played better than others in it again). Since 1974, the winners of the European Champion Clubs' Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup have contested the Super Cup in the decisive match between themselves. The first club honored to take this prize is Ajax from the Dutch city of Amsterdam. And the second - Kiev "Dynamo", which defeated the famous "Bavaria". 1976 brought the first Olympic victory to the players of the GDR. In the semi-finals, they beat the USSR national team, and in the final - the Poles, who bear the title of Olympic champions in 1972. In the GDR team, goalkeeper Jürgen Kroy and defender Jurgen Derner distinguished themselves in that tournament, about whom 4 goals were recorded (more than he scored only center forward of the Polish national team Andrzej Scharmakh). The USSR national team, like four years ago, received bronze medals, defeating the Brazilians in the match for 3rd place. In the same year, 1976, the next European Championship was held. Its heroes were the football players of Czechoslovakia, who defeated both finalists of the X World Cup - the teams of Holland (in the semi-finals) and Germany (in the final). And in the quarterfinal match, the future winners of the championship lost to the players of the USSR. In 1977, Tunisia hosted the first world championship among juniors (players under 19), in which 16 national teams took part. The list of champions was opened by young football players of the USSR, among whom were the now well-known Vagiz Khidiyatullin and Vladimir Bessonov, Sergei Baltacha and Andrei Bal, Viktor Kaplun, Valery Petrakov and Valery Novikov. 1978 gave the football world a new world champion. For the first time, the Argentines won the best-of-breed competition, defeating the Dutch in the final. Argentine football players achieved great success in 1979: for the first time they won the junior world championship (the second in a row), beating the first champions - juniors of the USSR in the final. In 1980 there were two major football tournaments. The first - the European Championship - was held in June in Italy. After an eight-year break, the winners of the championship of the continent were the players of the German national team, who once again showed an excellent game. Particularly distinguished in the West German team Bernd Schuster, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Hans Müller. The second largest football competition of the year was the Olympic tournament in Moscow. The laurels of the Olympic champions were won by Czechoslovak football players for the first time (they took 3rd place at the European Championship). Our team won bronze medals for the third time in a row. 1982 brought the third victory in the World Cup to Italian footballers, in whose attack Paslo Rossi scored. Among the defeated by them were the teams of Brazil and Argentina. Rossi received in the same year the Golden Ball - a prize for the best football player in Europe. However, two years later, at the European Championship, another team, the French national team, was the strongest, and its leader, Michel Platini, became the best player on the continent (he was also recognized as the best player in Europe in 1983 and 1985). 1986 Dynamo Kyiv won the European Cup Winners' Cup for the second time, and one of them, Igor Belanov, received the Ballon d'Or. At the World Cup in Mexico, the strongest team, as in 1978, was the national team of Argentina. Diego Maradona of Argentina was named the best football player of the year.

4. The history of our national team of the Soviet Union

The official date of "birth" of the national team of the Soviet Union is November 16, 1924: on that memorable day, it first met in an official match with the national team of another country.

The first opponent who came to visit us - the Turkish national team - was beaten dry - 3:0. After that, the USSR national team "wrote" its history for more than ten years. She performed at the stadiums in Germany, Austria and Finland, received foreign guests, but in all these competitions only Turkey was opposed by the national team. The last match between the USSR and Turkey took place in 1935. The players of the national team went home and did not gather for many, many years. The national team ceased to exist. Perhaps the country's club championships, which began to be held next year, also played a role here (the season was then much shorter than it is now, and the leading players spent most of it in their clubs). Only after the end of the Great Patriotic War, when the All-Union Football Section joined the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA), did we seriously think about recreating the national team. And its official international debut was to be the XV Olympic Games. During May-June 1952, the USSR national team as a whole successfully held 13 meetings with the teams of Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Finland, receiving very high praise in the international press. Of particular note is the victory and a draw in two matches of cathedral Hungary, a team that became Olympic champion in the same year and shone with a bright constellation of talents. The revived national team of our country received the official "combat" baptism on July 15, 1952 in the Finnish city of Kotka - in the Olympic match with the national team of Bulgaria. It was a very difficult match. Two halves failed. In extra time, the Bulgarians opened the scoring, but our players found the strength not only to equalize the chances, but also to take the lead (2:1). The next Olympic rival of the USSR national team was the Yugoslav national team - the silver medalist of the 1948 Olympics, one of the strongest teams in Europe. The duel was dramatic. Losing): 4, and then 1:5, our players managed to win back (5:5), but in the replay the next day they still lost (1:3) and ... dropped out of the tournament. The relative failure of that team is largely due to the fact that its birth coincided with a generational change in our football. Some outstanding players (Anatoly Akimov, Leonid Solovyov, Mikhail Semichastny, Vasily Kartsev, Grigory Fedotov, Alexander Ponomarev, Boris Paichadze) finished or were finishing their performances, while others (Vasily Trofimov, Konstantin Beskov, Vsevolod Bobrov, Nikolai Dementiev, Vladimir Demin) remained in the ranks, but have already passed the best time. And the younger generation has just fledged, gaining strength. The next season was spent studying mistakes. And in 1954, the team began new "fights".

True, it was already an almost completely renewed team: only four of the Olympians-52 remained in it. The backbone of the team was the Moscow "Spartak" - the champion of the country in 1952 and 1953. Gavriil Kachalin replaced Boris Arkadiev as coach. Already from the first steps, the new composition of the national team declared itself at the top of its voice. On September 8, 1954, at the Moscow Dynamo stadium, the Swedish national team was literally defeated (7: 0), and after 18 days a draw (1: 1) with the Olympic champions - the Hungarians . The next season turned out to be very successful for the players of the Soviet national team. After a victorious winter tour of India, the players in red shirts on June 26

Literature

1.http://shkolazhizni.ru/archive/0/n-4929/

Football. Textbook for physical institutes. Edited by Kazakov P.N. M., "Physical culture and sport", 1978.

Barsuk O.L., Kudreyko A.I. Pages of the football annals. - Minsk: Polymya, 1987 - 160 p.

The origins of football in England

Football was first played in England and the whole history of football begins in the British peninsula. In England, football was used as a popular pastime, held every year on butter week. There were no rules then, of course, and teams with an unlimited number of participants tried to roll the ball into the opponents' goal. The gate in those days was a certain place in some part of the city. The ball was made from the skin of a dead animal. The football field was any market square or just the streets of the city. They could play from morning to evening. It was possible to play not only with the feet, but also with other parts of the body, including hands. It was possible to grab the player leading the ball or knock him down. As soon as the player received the ball, a huge crowd of other participants immediately ran towards him. As a result, many buildings collapsed and even market tents were scattered. When football was played in the villages, the rivers were not considered an obstacle for them. There were cases when players fell from crossings and drowned in the river, but no one paid attention to this, and the game continued. One English writer wrote: "their cheeks are bruised, their legs, arms and backs are broken, their eyes gouged out, their noses full of blood ...". Also, the traveler Gaston de Foix, watching a football game, said: “If the British call it a game, then what do they call a fight ?!

But soon, church ministers and feudal lords demanded to cancel such a rough game. This game seemed dangerous to them, and the churchmen called football "an invention of the devil." In 1313, King Edward II listened to the opinion of the feudal lords and banned football in the vicinity of cities. Now they started playing football outside the city.

In 1333, King Edward III ordered the sheriffs to prosecute ball games, citing the fact that archery was no longer popular because of it. The English liked this game and asked the king several times to lift the ban, but they were always refused.

In 1389, Richard II completely banned football throughout the kingdom. If someone was seen behind this player, then the most severe punishments followed, up to the death penalty.

Despite these prohibitions, the British continued to play football. Starting in 1592, Scotland lifted the ban on football, and in 1603 England followed suit. The inhabitants of the British peninsula managed to get permission for their favorite game, but still, football was considered a “mean” game for a long time.

Football in Russia

Earlier in Russia there was a ball game reminiscent of football. This game was called "shalyga", and in it, the players tried to deliver the ball to the opponents' territory. They went out to play in bast shoes, and the field was: in summer - market squares, and in winter - ice of frozen rivers. The ball was made of leather stuffed with feathers. V. G. Belinsky wrote that “the games and amusements of the Russian people reflected the ingenuous severity of their morals, the heroic strength and the wide range of their feelings.”

Russian people loved playing football more than going to church, so the clergy did not like this game and called for its extermination. Most of all, she did not like the head of the Old Believers-schismatics, Archpriest Avvakum, who called for the burning of football participants!

The birth of modern football?

According to several Italian sources, modern football originated from calcio, a game that was popular in 16th-century Florence. As evidence, they point to the fact that the "calcio" was played with a leather ball on fields measuring 100 × 50 meters.

But it was the British who were the first to call the game "football", so they have every reason to consider themselves the founders of this game.

In England, in 1863, the world's first football association was created. In addition, the first football clubs appeared, and the first official rules of the game were created, which, after a few decades, were recognized on the world stage.

Supporters of the game only with feet developed football laws that prohibited field players from playing with their hands, and read them at a meeting in Cambridge. These laws were approved on December 8, 1863, and this date has come to be considered the date of the birth of modern football.

Since that moment, football began to actively develop and improve. So that there were no controversial points in the game, the first football rules were invented and published.

1871 - The duration of the match is limited to 90 minutes.

1873 - out and corner were invented.

1874 - shields appeared in the equipment of football players.

1875 - the referee first entered the field and he had a whistle. Also, a crossbar was invented for the gate.

1891 - a net appeared on the gate. Introduced 11-meter kick. The referee has assistants.

1902 - The goalkeeper is allowed to play with his hands in the entire penalty area.

1909 - the goalkeeper's uniform has a different color, unlike field players.

1913 - During the free kick and free kick, the distance to the wall must be 9.12 cm

1966 Player substitutions allowed.

1993 - The goalkeeper is not allowed to touch the ball with his hand after a pass from a teammate.

1999 - the goalkeeper has to hold the ball in his hands for no more than 6 seconds.

Every year football has progressed and reached the international level.

1872 - The first international football match between England and Scotland took place. The match ended in a draw 0:0.

1900 - Football was included in the Olympic Games for the first time. England became the first Olympic champion.

1904 - FIFA (International Football Federation) is formed in Paris.

1930 - The first World Cup was held in Uruguay. Uruguay became the first world champion, beating Argentina 4-2 in the final.

1954 - UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) is created.

1960 - The first European Football Championship was held in France. The first European champion was the USSR national team, which beat Yugoslavia 1:0 in the final.

According to sources: hnb.com.ua, football-info.ru

Many, many years ago, in different countries, people gathered in city squares or wastelands, started ball games that resembled the actions of warriors seeking to penetrate the enemy’s camp. The winner was the party of players who brought the ball over a certain line more times. Sometimes several hundred people participated in such games.

History knows neither the year nor the place where football was born. But this "gap" speaks only in favor of football itself - it testifies both to the antiquity of playing the ball with the feet, and to its popularity among many peoples of the globe.

For a very long time, people have been interested in the question: who invented this game? Archaeological excavations have convincingly proved that a certain "ancestor" of football lived in ancient Egypt: scientists have found here not only images of ball players, but also the balls themselves.

Historians also argue that the game of kicking was loved by Chinese warriors two thousand years before our era, and that the progenitors of football should be found in ancient Rome and in equally ancient Greece.

So, football is one of the oldest sports games, the origin of which dates back to the distant past. But of course, its most ancient varieties, such as, say, the Roman "harpastum" or the Georgian "delo", sung by Shota Rustaveli, differed significantly from the game, which won worldwide recognition in the 20th century.

But perhaps the most reason to consider yourself the founders of football among the British: it was here that football was first called football. And this happened not with the official recognition of the game, but with ... its prohibition. In 1349, King Edward III, in a special decree, drew the attention of the sheriffs of London to the fact that archery, so useful for young people, had faded into the background due to all sorts of useless and "lawless" games like football. So football, first called football, for the first time officially fell out of favor.

The sheriffs must not have tried very hard to carry out the decrees of the kings, if exactly 40 years later Richard II issued a new decree banning football throughout the kingdom. A similar law in 1401 is published by Henry IV. But his efforts to impose a "veto" on the game loved by young people were in vain. Henry VIII goes further: he punishes even the owners of the fields on which the forbidden games took place.

And football continued to live. And it was in England in 1863 that the world's first football association was formed and the first official rules of the game were developed, which after several decades received universal recognition. The first football clubs also appeared here. Before this memorable year, everyone seemed to put up with the fact that a player can take the ball in his hands during the competition. But on October 26, 1863, representatives of the newly minted clubs gathered in a London tavern on Gray Queen Street to develop new rules for the game. A certain Morleyot on behalf of the Sheffield clubs submitted a draft of the first nine-point football code. These points were compromise: they implied the game with both feet and hands.

But supporters of the game only with their feet, agreeing to continue the stormy debate for the sake of appearance, at the next meeting - in Cambridge - they developed their final set of truly football laws. On December 8, 1863, these laws came into force. Three of the thirteen paragraphs explicitly prohibited players from touching the ball with their hands in a variety of situations (even goalkeepers). This is how modern football was born. And the adherents of the game and with their hands and feet stood out in a new association - rugby.

Only in 1871 goalkeepers got the right to play with their hands within the goalkeeper's area, and after another 31 years - in the entire penalty area. Leafing through the pages of history, you are convinced that football in its modern form owes its birth in many respects to the British. It was they who, in 1878, gave citizenship rights to the referee's whistle (before, referees gave signals either with a school bell, or simply by voice). And the judges themselves first appeared on the English fields. All controversial issues at the dawn of football youth were decided by the team captains. The British, at the suggestion of Mr. Brodie, the owner of the Liverpool factory for the production of fishing tackle, in 1890 "dressed" football goals in nets.

A ball game similar to football has long been known in our country. Here, for example, is what the writer N. G. Pomyalovsky noted in the “Essays of the Bursa” in the middle of the 19th century: “On the left side of the courtyard, about seventy people play kila - a leather ball stuffed with hair the size of a human head. on the wall: one of the students led the keel, slowly moving it with his feet, which was the height of art in the game, because from a strong blow the ball could go in the opposite direction, to the enemy’s camp, where they would take possession of it. it was possible to hit the opponent's leg. It was forbidden to hit from the back, that is, running into the enemy's camp and waiting for the ball to go to his side, drive it to the city - the designated line. The neck was washed to the violator of the rules of the game. "

There is no doubt that games of this kind are the ancestors of modern football. Even in what N. G. Pomyalovsky “just” told us about, one can catch this relationship: the game was played with a leather ball, team by team; The goal of the game is to drive the ball to a certain place with your feet.

Modern football in Russia was recognized a hundred years ago in port and industrial cities. It was "delivered" to ports by British sailors, and to industrial centers by foreign specialists, who were employed quite a lot in Russian factories and factories. The first Russian football teams appeared in Odessa, Nikolaev, St. Petersburg and Riga, and somewhat later in Moscow. Since 1872, the history of international football matches has begun. It opens with a match between England and Scotland, which marked the beginning of a long-term competition between English and Scottish football. Spectators of that historic match did not see a single goal. In the first international meeting - the first goalless draw. Since 1884, the first official international tournaments with the participation of football players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland began to be held in the British Isles - the so-called international championships of Great Britain. The first laurels of the winners went to the Scots. In the future, the British more often had an advantage.

The founders of football also won three of the first four Olympic tournaments - in 1900, 1908 and 1912. On the eve of the V Olympiad, the future winners of the football tournament visited Russia and defeated the St. Petersburg team three times dry - 14:0, 7:0 and 11:0. The first official football competitions in our country took place at the beginning of the century. In St. Petersburg, a football league was created in 1901, in Moscow - in 1909. A year or two later, leagues of football players appeared in many other cities of the country. In 1911, the leagues of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kharkov, Kyiv, Odessa, Sevastopol, Nikolaev and Tver formed the All-Russian Football Union.

Early 20s. was a time when the British had already lost their former advantage in meetings with the teams of the continent. At the 1920 Olympics, they lost to the Norwegians (1:3). This tournament was the beginning of a long-term brilliant career of one of the outstanding goalkeepers of all time, Ricardo Zamora, whose name is associated with the brilliant success of the Spanish national team. Even before the First World War, the Hungarian national team, which was famous primarily for its attackers (Imre Schlosser was the strongest among them), achieved great success. In the same years, Danish footballers also distinguished themselves, losing at the 1908 and 1912 Olympic Games. only to the British and who had victories over the amateur England team. In the Danish team of that time, midfielder Harald Vohr (an outstanding mathematician, brother of the famous physicist Niels Bohr, who also superbly defended the gates of the Danish football team) played an outstanding role. The approaches to the gates of the Italian national team were guarded by the then magnificent defender (perhaps the best in European football of that time) Renzode Vecchi.

In addition to these teams, the elite of European football included the national teams of Belgium and Czechoslovakia. The Belgians became Olympic champions in 1920, and the Czechoslovak football players became the second team of this tournament. The 1924 Olympic Games opened South America to the football world: the Uruguayan football players won the gold medals, defeating the Yugoslavs and the Americans, the French, the Dutch and the Swiss.

Take a look at the football field during the match. Players run and jump, fall and get up quickly, make a wide variety of movements with their legs, arms, and head. How to do here without strength and endurance, speed and dexterity, flexibility and quickness! And how much joy overwhelms everyone who manages to hit the gate! We think that the special appeal of football is also due to its accessibility. Indeed, if for playing basketball, volleyball, tennis, hockey you need special playgrounds and quite a lot of all kinds of equipment and devices, then for football any piece is enough, albeit not quite flat ground and just one ball, no matter what - leather, rubber or plastic .

Of course, football captures not only the joy of the players themselves, who, with the help of various tricks, still manage to subdue the initially recalcitrant ball. Success in a difficult struggle on the football field comes only to those who manage to show a lot of positive qualities of character. If you are not brave, persistent, patient, do not have the will necessary for waging a stubborn struggle, then there can be no talk of even the slightest victories. If he did not show these qualities in a direct dispute with an opponent, then he lost to him. It is also very important that this dispute is not conducted alone, but collectively. The need for coordinated actions with teammates, help and mutual assistance brings you closer, develops a desire to give all your strength and skill to a common cause.

Football is also attractive to spectators. When you watch the games of high-class teams, you certainly do not remain indifferent: the players deftly circle each other, make all kinds of feints or fly high, hitting the ball with their feet or heads. And what pleasure the players give to the spectators by the consistency of actions. Is it possible to remain indifferent when you see how skillfully eleven people interact, each of which has different tasks in the game. Another thing is also interesting: every football game is a mystery. Why in football do the weak sometimes manage to beat the stronger? Perhaps mainly because the competitors during the whole game prevent each other from showing their skills. Sometimes the resistance of the players of the team, which is considered to be noticeably weaker than the opposing team, reaches such an extent that it nullifies the opportunity of the stronger ones to fully show their qualities. For example, skaters during the course do not get in each other's way, but each run along their own path. Footballers, on the other hand, encounter interference throughout the game. Only the attacker wants to break through on goal, but out of nowhere the opponent's leg, which prevents it from doing so. But to perform this or that technique is possible only under certain conditions.

You will see this as soon as you start practicing with the ball. For example: in order to hit the ball or stop the ball, you need to conveniently position the supporting leg, touch a certain part of the ball with the kicking leg. And the goal of the opponent is to interfere with this all the time. In such conditions, not only technical skill, but also the ability to overcome resistance becomes very important. After all, in essence, the whole game of football consists of the fact that the defenders interfere with the attackers with all their might. And the outcome of the fight in duels is far from the same. In one game, success is achieved by those who are better at offensive techniques, in another, by those who can stubbornly resist. Therefore, no one ever knows in advance how the struggle will turn out, and even more so who will win. That's why football fans are so eager to get to an interesting match, that's why we love football so much.

In football, as in any competition, the more skilled win. Half a century ago, the Uruguayan football players who won the Olympic Games in 1924 and 1928 were such skilled craftsmen. and at the first World Cup in 1930. At that time, European teams preferred tall, strong people who could run fast and hit the ball powerfully. Defenders (there were only two of them then - front and rear) were famous for the power of blows. In the five forwards on the edges, the fastest ones most often acted, and in the center - a football player with a powerful and accurate shot. Welterweights, or insiders, distributed the balls between the extreme and central. Of the three midfielders, a footballer played in the center, tying up the majority of combinations, and each extreme followed “his” extreme attackers.

The Uruguayans, who learned football from the British, but understood it in their own way, did not differ in such strength as the Europeans. But they were more agile and faster. Everyone knew and was able to perform a lot of game tricks: heel strikes and cut passes, kicks through themselves in the fall. The Europeans were especially struck by the ability of the Uruguayans to juggle the ball and pass it to each other from head to head, even in motion. A few years later, having adopted their high technique from South American football players, the Europeans supplemented it with solid athletic training. The players of Italy and Spain, Hungary, Austria, and Czechoslovakia were especially successful in this. Early and mid 30s. were the time of the revival of the former glory of English football. A formidable weapon appeared in the arsenal of the founders of this game - the "double-ve" system. The prestige of football in England was defended by such masters as Dean, Bastin, Hapgood, Drake. In 1934, 19-year-old right winger Stanley Matthews made his debut in the national team, who went down in the history of world football as a legendary person.

In our country, football has also been developing rapidly in these years. Back in 1923, the RSFSR team made a victorious tour of Scandinavia, outplaying the best football players in Sweden and Norway. Then many times our teams met with the strongest athletes in Turkey. And they always won. Mid 30s and early 40s. - the time of the first fights with some of the best teams from Czechoslovakia, France, Spain and Bulgaria. And here our masters have shown that Soviet football is not inferior to advanced European. Goalkeeper Anatoly Akimov, defender Alexander Starostin, midfielders Fedor Selin and Andrey Starostin, forwards Vasily Pavlov, Mikhail Butusov, Mikhail Yakushin, Sergei Ilyin, Grigory Fedotov, Petr Dementiev, were admittedly among the strongest in Europe. The years following the end of World War II did not bring a single leader to the football world. In Europe, the British and Hungarians, the Swiss and Italians, the Portuguese and Austrians, the football players of Czechoslovakia and the Dutch, the Swedes and Yugoslavs played more successfully than others. These were the heydays of offensive football and outstanding forwards: the English Stanley Matthews and Tommy Lawton, the Italians Valentine Mazzola and Silvio Piola, the Swedes Gunnar Gren and Gunnar Nordal, the Yugoslavs Stepan Bobek and Raiko Mitic, the Hungarians Gyula Siladi and Nandor Hidegkuti. Bobrov and Grigory Fedotov, Konstantin Beskovi Vasily Kartsev, Valentin Nikolaev and Sergey Solovyov, Vasily Trofimov and Vladimir Demin, Alexander Ponomarev and Boris Paichadze. Soviet football players, meeting in those years with many of the best clubs in Europe, often defeated the famous British and future heroes of the 1948 Olympics, the Swedes and Yugoslavs, as well as the Bulgarians, Romanians, Welsh and Hungarians. Soviet football was highly rated in the European arena, despite the fact that the time had not yet come for the revival of the USSR national team.

In those same years, the Argentines won the South American championships three times (in 1946-1948), and on the eve of the next world championship, which was to be held in Brazil, the future organizers of the world championship became the best. The Brazilian attack line was especially strong, where center forward Ademir stood out (he is still included in the symbolic national team of all time), and insiders Zizinho and Genre, goalkeeper Barbosa and central defender Danilo. The Brazilians were also favorites for the final match of the 1950 World Cup. Everything spoke for them then: big victories in previous matches, home walls, and a new game tactic (“with four defenders”), which, as it turned out, the Brazilians were for the first time applied not in 1958, but eight years earlier. But the Uruguayan team, led by the outstanding strategist Juan Schiaffino, became the world champion for the second time. True, the victory of the South Americans did not leave a feeling of complete, unconditional: after all, the two strongest teams in Europe in 1950 did not participate in the World Cup. Apparently, the national teams of Hungary and Austria (which included world-famous Gyula Grosic, Josef Bozhik, Nandor Hidegkuti and Walter Zeman, Ernst Happel, Gerhard Hanappi and Ernst Otsvirk), had they participated in the World Cup, would have defended the honor of European football in the stadiums of Brazil more worthily. The Hungarian national team soon proved this in practice - it became the Olympic champion in 1952 and won almost all the best teams in the world in 33 matches, only drawing five and losing two (in 1952, the Moscow team - 1: 2 and in the final of the 1954 world championship Germany national team - 2:3). Not a single team in the world has known such an achievement since the hegemony of the British at the beginning of the century! It is no coincidence that the Hungarian national team of the first half of the 50s was called the dream team by football experts, and its players were called miracle footballers.

Late 50s and 60s. entered the history of football as unforgettable, when adherents of different playing schools demonstrated outstanding skills. The defense prevailed over the attack, and the attack triumphed again. Tactics survived several small revolutions. And against the backdrop of all this, the brightest stars shone, perhaps the brightest in the history of national football schools: Lev Yashin and Igor Netto, Alfrede di Stefano and Francisco Gento, Raymond Kopa and Just Fontaine, Didi Polei, Garrincha and Gilmar, Dragoslav Shekularats and Dragan Dzhaich , Josef Masopust and Jan Popluhar, Bobby Moore and Bobby Charleston, Gerd Müller, Uwe Seeler and Franz Beckenbauer, Franz Vene and Florian Albert, Giacinto Facchetti, Gianni Rivera, Jairzinho and Carlos Alberte.

In 1956, Soviet football players became Olympic champions for the first time. Four years later, they also opened the list of European Cup winners. The USSR national team of that period included goalkeepers Lev Yashin, Boris Razinsky and Vladimir Maslachenko, defenders Nikolai Tishchenko, Anatoly Bashashkin, Mikhail Ogonkov, Boris Kuznetsov, Vladimir Kesarev, Konstantin Krizhevsky, Anatoly Maslenkin, Givi Chokheli and Anatoly Krutikov, midfielders Igor Net something , Alexey Paramonov, Iosif Betsa, Viktor Tsarev and Yuri Voinov, forwards Boris Tatushin, Anatoly Isaev, Nikita Simonyan, Sergei Salnikov, Anatoly Ilyin, Valentin Ivanov, Eduard Streltsov, Vladimir Ryzhkin, Slava Metreveli, Viktor Monday, Valentin Bubukin and Mikhail Meskhi. This team confirmed its highest class with two victories over the world champions - football players of Germany, over the national teams of Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, Poland and Austria, England, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Before complete triumph in these four years, to win two most honorable titles (Olympic and European champions), I would like to win the world title, but ...

The best of the best at that time were still the players of the Brazilian national team. Three times - in 1958, 1962 and 1970. - they won the main trophy of the World Cup - "Golden Goddess Nika", having won this prize forever. Their victories were a real celebration of football - a game of bright, sparkling wit and artistry. But failures creep up on the luminaries. At the 1974 World Championships, the Brazilians, speaking without the great Pole, surrendered their champion powers. For the next four years, the throne was seized for the second time - after a 20-year break - by the players of the German national team. They were helped not so much by the “native walls” (the championship was held in the cities of Germany), but, above all, by the high skill of all the team players. And yet deserve to be personally noted by its captain - the central defender Franz Beckenbauer and the main scorer - the center forward Gerd Müller. The Dutch, who took second place, also performed well. Center forward Johan Cruyff stood out in their ranks. The second big success (after winning the 1972 Olympic tournament) was achieved by the Poles, who this time took 3rd place. Their midfielder Kazimierz Dejna and right winger Grzegorz Lato played excellently.

The following year, our football players made us talk about themselves again: Dynamo Kiev won one of the largest international tournaments - the European Cup Winners' Cup. Bayern Munich took over the European Champions Cup (Beckenbauer and Müller played better than others in it again). Since 1974, the winners of the European Champion Clubs' Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup have contested the Super Cup in the decisive match between themselves. The first club honored to take this prize is Ajax from the Dutch city of Amsterdam. And the second - Kiev "Dynamo", which defeated the famous "Bavaria".

1976 brought the first Olympic victory to the players of the GDR. In the semi-finals, they beat the USSR national team, and in the final - the Poles, who bear the title of Olympic champions in 1972. In the GDR team, goalkeeper Jürgen Kroy and defender Jurgen Derner distinguished themselves in that tournament, about whom 4 goals were recorded (more than he scored only center forward of the Polish national team Andrzej Scharmakh). The USSR national team, like four years ago, received bronze medals, defeating the Brazilians in the match for 3rd place. In the same year, 1976, the next European Championship was held. Its heroes were the football players of Czechoslovakia, who defeated both finalists of the X World Cup - the teams of Holland (in the semi-finals) and Germany (in the final). And in the quarterfinal match, the future winners of the championship lost to the players of the USSR.

In 1977, Tunisia hosted the first world championship among juniors (players under 19), in which 16 national teams took part. The list of champions was opened by young football players of the USSR, among whom were the now well-known Vagiz Khidiyatullin and Vladimir Bessonov, Sergei Baltacha and Andrei Bal, Viktor Kaplun, Valery Petrakov and Valery Novikov. 1978 gave the football world a new world champion. For the first time, the Argentines won the best-of-breed competition, defeating the Dutch in the final.

Argentine football players achieved great success in 1979: for the first time they won the junior world championship (the second in a row), beating the first champions - juniors of the USSR in the final. In 1980 there were two major football tournaments. The first - the European Championship - was held in June in Italy. After an eight-year break, the winners of the championship of the continent were the footballers of the German national team, who once again showed an excellent game. Particularly distinguished in the West German team Bernd Schuster, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Hans Müller.

The second largest football competition of the year was the Olympic tournament in Moscow. The laurels of the Olympic champions were won by Czechoslovak football players for the first time (they took 3rd place at the European Championship). Our team won bronze medals for the third time in a row. 1982 brought the third victory in the World Cup to Italian footballers, in whose attack Paslo Rossi scored. Among the defeated by them were the teams of Brazil and Argentina. Rossi received in the same year the Golden Ball - a prize for the best football player in Europe.

However, two years later, at the European Championship, another team, the French national team, was the strongest, and its leader, Michel Platini, became the best player on the continent (he was also recognized as the best player in Europe in 1983 and 1985). 1986 Dynamo Kyiv won the European Cup Winners' Cup for the second time, and one of them, Igor Belanov, received the Ballon d'Or. At the World Cup in Mexico, the strongest team, as in 1978, was the national team of Argentina. Diego Maradona of Argentina was named the best football player of the year.

All World Cup Champions:

1930 Uruguay

1934 Italy

1938 Italy

1950 Uruguay

1958 Brazil

1962 Brazil

1966 England

1970 Brazil

1978 Argentina

1982 Italy

1986 Argentina

1990 Germany

1994 Brazil

1998 France

2002 Brazil

2006 Italy

World Championship records

Biggest win:

Hungary - South Korea 9:0 (1954), Yugoslavia - Zaire 9:0 (1974); Hungary--El Salvador 10:1 (1982).

Fastest Goal:

Hakan Shukur (Turkey), 11 seconds, Turkey - South Korea 3:2 (2002).

The largest number of participations in the World Cup:

Antonio Carbachal (Mexico, 1950-1966) and Lothar Matthäus (Germany, 1982-1998) - 5.

Most World Cup appearances:

Lothar Matthäus -- 25.

Most appearances in final matches:

Cafu (Brazil) - 3 (1994, 1998, 2002).

The largest number of teams with coaches:

Bora Milutinovic - Mexico (1986), Costa Rica (1990), USA (1994), Nigeria (1998), China (2002).

Top scorer:

Ronaldo (Brazil, 1998-2006) -- 15.

Most goals in one tournament:

Just Fontaine (France) - 13 (1958).

Most goals in one match:

Oleg Salenko (Russia) - 5, Russia - Cameroon 6:1 (1994).

Oldest Player:

Roger Milla (Cameroon) - 42 years and 39 days (1994).

Youngest player:

Norman Whiteside (Northern Ireland) -- 17 years and 42 days (1982)

Most multiple world champion (player):

Pele (Brazil) - three-time world champion (1958, 1962, 1970).

The largest collection of World Cup gold medals:

Mario Zagallo (Brazil) - 4. As a player - 1958, 1962, head coach - 1970 and second coach - 1994.

Most matches won:

Brazil -- 64.

Most scoring championship:

1998 -- 171 goals

Highest average performance score:

Lowest average performance.