Association football, also known as just football, is a well-loved team sport usually played by a spherical object (a net) between two competing teams of eleven players. It is the most popular sport in the world, with an estimated total viewership of over 250 million viewers per week. The game is played between different nations and teams every weekend, with the World Cup being the most watched tournament. A match usually involves four to five football players, although depending on the competition, two or three may be involved.
Association football is played for ninety minutes, including stoppages, although replays are allowed if necessary. Each side must consist of eleven players, and each of them receives half of the normal outfield area that is available. The object of the game is to score more goals than the opposition, with the winning team eventually becoming the king of the game, by scoring the most goals.
One of the most popular variations of Association football is ‘roloom soccer’ where there is no fouls or yellow cards and the ball can be kicked from side to side. Another type is ‘free kick soccer’ where there is no infringement of the opponent’s fouls or even any physical contact with the ball, except for a handball by one player. Soccer is played in either a traditional rectangular field with fifteen yard sides, or in a “pitch” shaped field. A pitch is divided by an inner and an outer boundary, with the inner boundary running across the entire length of the pitch. A further variation is “paralympic” where the players walk along an inner track along the boundary, and each team playing in a different direction, and the same applies to “half-pitch” where the ball is played along the boundaries with the center ball of the opposing team, which is considered to be the outer boundary.