Soccer
Sasha Radtke
The beginning of soccer
Soccer first started in China during the 2nd and 3rd century B.C. Revorded facts also support the fact that Romans and Greeks used to play ball for fun. Some facts point to Kyto in Japan where kicking of ball was a popular sport. Early growth of the modern sport began in England. In medieval games could get violent with recordings of people using the heads of some Danish brigand.
Famous soccer players
- Alan James Ball 1945-2007 England
- David Beckham 1975 England
- George Best 1946-2005 Ireland
- Bobby Charlton 1937 England
- Brian Clough 1935-2004 England
- Kenny Dalgish 1951 Scotland
- Jupp Derwall 1937-2007 Germany
- Landon Donovan 1982 America
Top ten teams in the world
- Spain - 1610
- Germany - 1473
- Argentina - 1309
- England - 1174
- Italy - 1173
- Columbia - 1159
- Portugal - 1139
- Netherlands - 1106
- Croatia - 1080
- Russia - 1064
Soccer popularity in America
- Second biggest sport for people ages 12-24 at 13.7%
- Number one sport for Hispanics at 26.8%
- 7-9%of people 12+ considered themselves avid MLS or international soccer followers
- About 750,000 high school students participated in soccer in the 2009-2010 year
- Only football and track had over 750,000 people participate in thier sport
- Popularity in MLS has gone up by over 4% in just 11 years