Check out a brief history of the origins of football and the World Cup.

Finally, Brazil debuted at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with a draw against Switzerland, a team that has never taken home the trophy throughout the history of the World Cup - and the furthest it has come in competitions is at quarter-finals in 1934, 1938 and 1954. The next opponent is Costa Rica, who lost 1-0 to Serbia in their opening game last Sunday, and the confrontation is scheduled for Friday, 22, at 9 am.

Speaking of our opponents, by the way, this is the fifth time Costa Ricans participate in a World Cup - their previous appearances were in the 1990, 2002, 2006 and 2014 World Cups - and, at least so far, the team has never been a winner. of matches played against the Canarinho team. I hope things stay that way, don't you? But until we secure the next score, how about giving a brief history of the origins of football and the World Cups?

Origins before Christ

Everyone has heard that football, as we know it today, came about in England and stuff, which is still true. Only the reality is that humanity has been kicking balls - we are referring to the object you can see below, huh! - a long, long time ago, and a lot of games over the millennia contributed to the development of the sport.

Cat spinning ball

This is the ball we are talking about! (Giphy 1)

One of the earliest evidence related to a game with football-like features is found in a manual of military exercises practiced between the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC in China during the Han Dynasty, which was called Tsu 'Chu . The competition consisted of throwing a ball made of leather and feathers and hair into a net that was caught between two bamboo poles that were about 30 to 40 centimeters apart.

Chinese origins

Illustration showing the practice of Tsu 'Chu (Wikimedia Commons / Huang Shen)

Players were forbidden to get their hands on the ball, but were free to use their feet, shoulders, chest and back - and had to hit the goal while being attacked by opponents. Besides Tsu 'Chu, another sport that was born in eastern lands was Kemari, which appeared in Japan about 500 or 600 years after the Chinese sport.

People playing Kemari

Group playing Kemari in Japan (Wikimedia Commons / Rad Beattie)

During the Japanese game - which is practiced to this day! - Individuals are in a circle and must pass the ball from foot to foot without letting it fall to the floor, and typically Kemari is attended by six to eight people. Some believe that the Japanese game was Chinese-inspired, although it does not have the same competitive elements as Tsu 'Chu, and the ball, in this case, is made of deerskin and filled with saw dust.

In western lands

Very few details survived the passage of time, but the ball also rolled in Ancient Greece, through a competition called Episkyros - in which teams of 12 to 14 members had to try to throw the ball over their opponents' heads and reach a line called skuros . By the way, it is worth mentioning that, although it was a game, things could get very violent, especially when competitions took place in Sparta.

Sparta

Things were kind of tense then (Giphy 2)

And don't think the ancient cultures of the Americas are left out of this whole story! There are records of a mesoamerican game in which the ball symbolized the sun, and the captain - and sometimes even the entire losing team - was sacrificed to appease the gods. However, it seems that it was the Roman version, known as Harpastum, that eventually came to England and possibly inspired, many centuries later, the birth of football.

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece (Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain)

England

No one can say for sure how much the British were inspired by Roman practice to develop their own game, but there are indications that in the 12th century, the crowd gathered on English roads and fields for the 'naked'. The whole thing involved a large number of players - kicking and punching the ball - and it was kind of violent, so much so that it was not uncommon for deaths to occur.

Because of this, “fun” was banned in the 13th century - but not for that reason people ceased to practice it in secret. Then, with the popularization of Calcio, a 16th-century Italian sport involving the participation of 54 men who faced each other somewhat like gladiators in the arena, the people again played soccer in England, only to be banned again.

Calcium Storico

Guys practicing Calcio Storico these days (Wikimedia Commons / Lorenzo Noccioli)

But since the desire to play football could never be completely suppressed, in 1863 the first rules were finally laid down. The first team competitions began to be organized a few years later, and football was officially included in the 1908 Summer Olympics, held in London.

It is worth mentioning that there are other theories about the origin of football in England, such as that it would have Anglo-Saxon roots - one legend says that the first time the game took place in British lands, the head of a Danish prince would have served. ball! - Celtic and Norman, since there are indications that similar modalities also sprang up in northern France in the Middle Ages.

It's a cup!

The first World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930, as you may know, and talks about hosting the South American soccer world cup began two years earlier, in 1928, during a meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee that took place in Amsterdam in May of that year. The Federation hit the hammer in 1929 in Barcelona, ​​and our neighbors were chosen to celebrate their 100 years of independence.

world Cup

Final between Uruguay and Argentina at the 1930 World Cup (Sportsnet / AP)

But it was not a quiet first World Cup: Europe was in a deep economic crisis, and at that time, besides being expensive to send entire teams across the Atlantic, the trip was very long. Another complication was that many teams were not very willing to give up their stars for so long; so the organizers - including Jules Rimet, the then FIFA president and figure who inspired the name of the trophy - had a tremendous effort to bring the teams together.

Skin

It's the king! (Giphy 3)

In the end, four European teams embarked - France, Belgium, Romania and Yugoslavia - and the first World Cup kicked off on July 18, 1930 at the Centenario Stadium in Montevideo. The home owners took the top spot in the world, but were so taken aback by the fact that only four teams from Europe came to honor the competition that, in the following edition, they refused to defend the title - first and only time. This has happened in the history of the hearts.

Skin

Amazing (Giphy 4)

The following World Cups, those of 1934 and 1938, were held in Italy and France respectively, but with the previous tensions and the outbreak of World War II, the football world only resumed in 1950, here in Brazil. Now, 68 years later, the FIFA World Cup in Russia is in its 21st edition - and all Brazilians are cheering for our team to be crowned world champion!

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