The story of football in England

1863

Creation of the english football Association

1871

Creation of the FA Cup

1848

The Cambridge's rules

1866

First match which lasted 90 minutes

1885

When football became professional sport

The story of football in England

Timeline

XII century

The soule

The soule is the ancestor of football. This sport was played in the 12th century by a lot of people. It was wild, violent and unruly. The teams could be composed with a hundred of people and the goals could be sometimes three miles away from each other. The size of the football ground was the equivalent of 50 football grounds like they are today. This sport stayed popular until the beginning of the XIXth century because after the football was born.

Cambridge's rules were created in 1848 by a group of students from Cambridge University. They created 11 rules that everyone agreed on. Those rules were adopted by the English football association in 1863. Within those rules, we find for example that the goal is when the ball is kicked through the flag-posts and under the string. They changed football history because they were the first official rules to be created. They permitted to redefine football. You can now click on the link to know the eleven rules which were created that day.

The FACup was created in 1871. This is the oldest national football competition in the world. It was organized by the Football Association and named after it. The most successful club on this day is Arsenal. This competition is eliminatory. The clubs who participated are professional and not professional football clubs. In 1883, the Blackburn Olympic, a worker football club, won the final. This left a mark on the history of football because it was the first time that a team from a working football club won this competition.