The Origin of Football

The origin of football can be traced back to ancient China, especially a ball game called "Cuju". According to historical records, Cuju was very popular in the Qi region (now Zibo City, Shandong Province) during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. However, the formation of modern football was mainly in the UK. In 1848, the first written rule in the history of football, the Cambridge Rules, was born, marking the initial formation of modern football. Subsequently, the English Football Association, founded on October 26, 1863 in London, England, was the first football association established in the history of world football. It unified the rules of football competition and made football an official sport at the second Summer Olympics in 1900, thus establishing the status of football worldwide. Although ancient Chinese cuju had a long history, due to the limitations of feudal society, it did not develop into a modern football sport. Therefore, although ancient Chinese cuju had a certain influence on football, the exact origin of modern football is in England.