Mention the word football to an American and you could probably bet that they would imagine Gridiron Football, say football to an Australian and again it’s a good bet that they would imagine Australian Rules Football. This article relates to the most popular form of football, that is Association Football also known as Soccer.
Football has quite a grizzly past with huge games being played as early as the 8th century where whole villages would compete over many acres of farmland and through villages, the basic aim being the same as today to score a goal. Unfortunately these early football games were devoid of rules and kicking/punching your opponents were the order of the day, there’s even accounts of people being stabbed!
The modern game of football dates back to 1863 when the first Football Association published the Laws of the Game. Since then Football has gone from strength to strength the pinnacle of the game is the FIFA World Cup which is contested every 4 years, below this there are many other international tournaments, the European Championship and the Champions league are two of the more well known. Most countries have a well developed system of leagues and knock out cups, in England the Premier League is widely regarded as the richest most competitive league in the world whilst the FA cup is the oldest knockout competition in the world. Some of the most popular English teams that have world wide reputations are Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea.
With footballs massive popularity comes the obvious gambling opportunities, on the terraces supporters may place side bets on various elements of the game but the real money is placed either via online betting or in betting shops. Various forms of bet are available, anything from which team will win a particular match to which team will be the next world champions. Odds on who will score the first goal or you can even bet when that goal will be scored and the obvious wager on the final score of a particular game.
