外國人最想和你聊的時事話題：足球

　What is football　什么是足球
     The game of football is any of several similar team sports, of similar origins which involve advancing a ball into a goal area in an attempt to score. Many of these involve kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal, though not all codes of football using kicking as a primary means of advancing the ball or scoring. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer". Unqualified, the word football applies to whichever form of football is the most popular in the regional context in which the word appears, including American football, Australian rules football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, rugby league, rugby union and other related games. These variations are known as "codes".
     The various codes of football share the following common elements:
     ·Two teams of usually between 11 and 18 players； some variations that have fewer players (five or more per team) are also popular.
     ·A clearly defined area in which to play the game.
     ·Scoring goals or points, by moving the ball to an opposing team's end of the field and either into a goal area, or over a line.
     ·Goals or points resulting from players putting the ball between two goalposts.
     ·The goal or line being defended by the opposing team.
     ·Players being required to move the ball-depending on the code-by kicking, carrying, or hand-passing the ball.
     ·Players using only their body to move the ball.
     In most codes, there are rules restricting the movement of players offside, and players scoring a goal must put the ball either under or over a crossbar between the goalposts. Other features common to several football codes include: points being mostly scored by players carrying the ball across the goal line； and players receiving a free kick after they take a mark or make a fair catch.
     Peoples from around the world have played games which involved kicking or carrying a ball, since ancient times. However, most of the modern codes of football have their origins in England.
     Association football has generally been known as "soccer" in the U.S, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, Australia and New Zealand where other codes of football are dominant, while in francophone Quebec, where Canadian football is more popular, the sport of association football is known as le soccer and the Canadian code as football. Of the 45 national FIFA affiliates in which English is an official or primary language, almost all now use "football" in their organizations' official names, although Canada and the United States the national football organizations continue to use the name "Soccer" in their titles, and several others have only recently "normalized" to using "Football", including:
     ·Australia's association football governing body changed its name in 2007 from using "soccer" to "football".
     ·New Zealand also changed in 2007, saying "the international game is called football".
     ·Samoa changed from "Samoa Football (Soccer) Federation" to"Football Federation Samoa" in 2009.
     "American football" is always called "football" in America (USA).
     足球（football）是足球運動或足球比賽的簡稱，當然它也指足球比賽中的用球。足球運動是一項古老的體育活動，源遠流長。最早起源于中國古代的一種球類游戲"蹴鞠"（kemari），后來經(jīng)過阿拉伯人傳到歐洲，發(fā)展成現(xiàn)代足球。不少國家將足球定為"國球"（national ball）。
     國際足球聯(lián)合會世界杯比賽(FIFA World Cup Competition)，簡稱世界杯足球賽（舊譯世界足球錦標賽world championship soccer），是由國際足球聯(lián)合會(international football federation，簡稱FIFA)統(tǒng)一領導和組織的世界性的足球比賽。每屆比賽從預賽（preliminary contest）到?jīng)Q賽（finals）前后歷時3個年頭，參加預選賽的國家已近100個。它是世界上規(guī)模最大、影響最大、水平最高的足球比賽，也是世界上觀眾最多的體育比賽項目。