The history of football accounts for the birth and development of football , a team sport that appeared in the middle of the 19th century in Great Britain and in the following century became the most popular in the world.

The roots that this sport shares with other “ football ” games go back to the Middle Ages . It is the heir of the medieval soule , practiced in particular in the North-West of France and in the British Isles , and of the Florentine Calcio , games characterized by their violence and their few rules.

At the start of the 19th century , English schools gradually integrated sport into their curriculum and encouraged its formalization. The Cambridge Rules in October 1848 were the first attempt to unify the rules of football. The first independent clubs appear in the late 1800s; in 1863 , eleven of them founded the Football Association , responsible for organizing the practice of football in England. She published shortly after the first " Laws of the Game " (in English : Laws of the Game), largely inspired by those of Cambridge.

Consequently, football knows a continuous progression in its practice. In 1885, professionalism was authorized in Great Britain, while the first clubs were created across the world, particularly in Europe and South America. The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) was founded in 1904 in Paris by representatives from seven European countries. Encouraged by the popular success of football tournaments at the Olympic Games, FIFA organized the first edition of the World Cup in 1930 , which became one of the main world sporting events. At the continental level, confederations managed football. The first confederation created was that of South America, CONMEBOL , founded on July 9, 1916 . Placed under the hierarchical authority of FIFA , the confederations nevertheless take care to preserve their independence. They have every liberty, for example, to organize the qualifiers for the World Cup as they see fit and to set up specific calendars, despite FIFA's attempts at harmonization without much scope. The African and South American cases are significant. The African Cup of Nations (CAN), for example, is played every two years in the middle of the European season, posing problems for clubs employing African players. FIFA does not have the authority to set these calendars, and only the African Confederation has control over this issue.