People have been playing football for over 3,000 years. Nobody can tell where it was played for the first time. There is evidence that it was played in Japan, China, Rome and Greece. But the birthplace of modern soccer is Britain (both England and Scotland).
Although it was a war game (The first football game took place in the east of England - where the locals played 'football' with the severed head of a Danish Prince they had defeated in a battle.) In medieval times kicking, punching, biting and gouging were allowed. So King Edward III tried to ban football. But the game was too popular. Even Queen Elisabeth I couldn't stop it, although soccer players were jailed for a week.
In 1815, the famous English School, Eton College, established a set of rules.
The Football Association was founded in 1863. In 1869 any handling of the ball was forbidden. In the 1880s students at Oxford University created a slang word for the word association. They shortened it to "SOC" and added "ER". So the word soccer war created. The same happened to Rugby (RUGGER).
In 1888 the English Football League was created.
The 12 founding clubs were:
Accrington (Old Reds)
Aston Villa
Blackburn Rovers
Bolton Wanderers
Burnley
Derby County
Everton
Notts County
Preston North End
Stoke City
West Bromwich Albion
Wolverhampton Wanderers
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