1. How the events of 1863 lead to the development of soccer.
A Turning Point
How the events of 1863 lead to the development of soccer.

2. Soccer hasn’t always been the way it is today.
Recordings have been found of a soccer-like sport that dates back to about BC.
-Many records are from ancient China.
-Greece and a few other cultures at the time
also played forms of the sport.

3. Old pictures and writings describe a round leather ball stuffed with foam that was usually used in games with goals at either end.
Soccer did not used to be a sport with rules or morality.
Soccer used to carry much violence, and was not ethically regulated at all.

4. Games were not civilized, the audience was less controlled, injury was uncommon and death was not unexpected
Soccer was played mostly by peasants, or private matches were held among the rich.

5. In the 700s, a large group of English citizens, had killed the prince of England and started to play a full game kicking around the Prince’s head.
The sport didn’t gain the best attention, and later in the 1500s it was banned from English rule.
During this time soccer was actually gaining interest.

6. Soccer was legalized, and many countries started forming separate rules for their own game.
This made it incredibly difficult, for the few teams in Europe, to play efficiently with each other, without arguing whose rules to use.
What the game needed, was a singular set of rules abided by all countries.

7. Finally, in 1863, a former soccer club in England got together and created the first Football Association, which resulted in the association forming the first set of universal laws for the game that we still use most of today.

8. The formation of those laws lead, to a drastic increase in the growth and popularity of the sport.
After the first set of rules was formed, many teams started forming, now that people realized they could cooperate with the rules.

9. Most teams formed are are still around today, such as Liverpool, Everton, Aston Villa, Stoke City and many more that played apart in the growth of soccer, and are all apart of the origin of this game.

10. Soccer was now gaining a larger audience.
Cities of different countries were now holding matches between each other. Leagues were established where teams were now holding a rank, with a fan base behind them. Tournaments begun being held, bringing in a lot of attention.

11. Women’s soccer formed a couple decades after the first organization.
One of the most chaotic days in the history of soccer was in 1920, in Liverpool, England.
The match attracted about 53,000 people, threatening the men’s football association, and banned women’s soccer for a period of 50 years.

12. As the game grew, the audience grew, and as the audience grew revenue for teams rose.
Player salaries started to increase a substantial amount as more games were held and more fans supported their teams.

13. As fame increased, income of the sport grew rapidly with it, it didn’t take more then a couple decades for money to have a big infliction on the sport.
Players of older teams tended to play for their city, now money plays a major role in which team one plays for.

14. With more money, wealthier teams began to buy, sell and trade players, which did help spread money to other teams.
The paychecks became so enormous it was hard not to except large sums of riches to play with great players.

15. Today players are being bought for millions, and the best, most expensive players, such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Pogba, are bought at more than 100 million dollars.
Rich teams were becoming powerful teams. With money they could buy the best players to play on one team.

16. With large sums of money, wealthy teams are currently made up of ethnicities from three or more different countries.
For the most part you’ll see the best players around the world centered around Europe, where the biggest and wealthiest clubs are.

17. The establishment of soccer academies to recruit and train kids to become professional players, are where quite a few players who play on big teams come from, and is a lucrative strategy.

18. Investors started to see opportunity within teams, and would sponsor winning teams, or teams with potential to go recruit and buy more players to make a stronger team.
Soon, their were those few teams in each country that were becoming powerhouses.
Powerhouses of

19. The rules set in 1863, brought cooperation between many countries, and in time the largest tournament in the world was formed, the FIFA World Cup, containing hundreds of teams throughout the world. Held every 4 years, this tournament is where players battle for their countries pride.
The last World Cup in 2014 had about 3.2 billion viewers, nearly half the human population.

20. Since the English set of rules in 1863, soccer has grown exponentially in the size of its teams, its tournaments, fans, and overall has improved the organization of its structure.
Most of all, we’ve seen today that money has played a major role in the evolution of this game.