Perhaps no other team game in the world can even rival the popularity of football, or "soccer" as it is known in the United States. Almost every culture has different recognizable versions of this game, and the game itself has been played throughout history. This prevalence makes it difficult for historians to pinpoint a geographic origin for the game, but researchers are also struck by the similarity of the game across different cultures.
             This paper is an overview of soccer. The first part of this paper looks at the history and development of soccer. The next part is a description of the rules and mechanics of soccer. In the final section, this paper discusses the reasons behind the worldwide popularity of soccer, as well as the sport's growing appeal here in the United States.
             Various incarnations of football or soccer can be traced back for almost 3000 years, in cultures around the world. In 1004 BC, for example, Japanese players passed a ball around a small field through kicks. In 50 BC, Chinese texts describe a game wherein teams from China and Japan compete by kicking a leather ball stuffed with hair. Historical records also show that a game very similar to modern soccer was played in Kyoto, Japan in 611 AD (Guilanotti 1999).
             The game also enjoyed grew popular in Europe, especially in England. However, this was not always the case. In the 14th century, England's King Edward passed laws forbidding soccer, under pain of imprisonment. This law was in response to concern regarding the hustle and crowd excitement engendered by the sport. Other English monarchs, such as King Henry IV, Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth sought to quash the sport.
             These laws, however, did little to dampen the sport's popularity, which reached new heights by the nineteenth century. By 1815, Eton College at Cambridge University codified formal rules for soccer games (Guilanotti 1999). These rules served to standardize...