There is no consensus on the origin of the first games where the ball was kicked. According to Chinese legends, football was invented by the Yellow Emperor Huangi about 5,000 years ago. It is also believed that the Chinese game "kudzu" could be invented during the Qin Shi Huang or Wu Di of the Han Dynasty. It is known for certain that already during the Song Dynasty, there were almost closed kudzu clubs, which were very difficult to reach. The Chinese novel "River Floods", dating from the 15th century, depicts the play of kuku in the Ming Dynasty (1366-1644).
Chinese researchers were able to substantiate and prove China's championship in ball games, so FIFA officially recognized the country as the birthplace of football. In ancient times, such games were in different countries: in Egypt; in Japan, Kemari is probably the kind of kuju that was brought from China in 600 AD. In ancient Greece, they played "episkiros" and in ancient Rome there was a game of "harpastum", but it was possible to take the ball in their hands and use forceful methods of struggle, so the fun was like rugby.
In the Middle Ages in France, playing la la sul (la shul) with the ball, with air or rags inside, in the Italian cities of Florence and Padua was popular as "calcho" - a tough game where it could be used to repel balls and hands and legs, which often ended in trauma. In Italian, modern football has kept its old name and is called Italian. «Calcio». It is known that as early as 1580 Earl Vernio (Giovanni de Bardi) issued the rules of calcho. Shota Rustaveli mentioned Georgian fun "lelo", but most medieval games were very different from modern football.
In 1313 and 1314, the decrees of the English King Edward II came out, which forbade an uncontrolled dangerous game in London, which gathered huge numbers of people and ended with numerous injuries. In total, by 1667, England had over 30 royal decrees banning football in one form or another. Football has become increasingly popular in Britain, with footballers including King Henry VIII of England. Writers of the XV-XVIII centuries Julianne Barnes and Philip Sidney, playwrights John Day and world-renowned William Shakespeare (in plays King Lear and Comedy of Errors) have mentioned the play in their works.
The first official tournament In 1867, the world's first official football tournament, the Judan Cup, the oldest football trophy still played, named after local football enthusiast and theater owner Thomas Yudan, was held. The competitions were held in two rounds. In the first round, there were face-to-face matches when the losing team dropped out of the competition. There were three teams in the finals, who played two games in a row. In the final stages of the tournament, Hullam defeated the Norfolk and Mackenzie clubs and won the main trophy. The Norfolk club took second place, defeating Mackenzie.
On July 20, 1871, Charles Alcock made a proposal to hold the first FA Cup draw between FA members. The Football Association Cup, or as it is called, the FA Cup, quickly gained popularity and after a few years all clubs in England sought to participate in these competitions. To do this, they had to adopt FA rules, which promoted the rapid spread of universal football rules. These basic rules have become universally accepted football rules today.
The first FA Cup tournament was held in 1871-1872. The Queens Park team played a dry draw with the Wanderers in the semi-finals of the first FA Cup draw. At that time, the rules did not provide for extra time or the execution of 11-meter beats to determine the winners. The Queens Park Football Club was unable to find the money to re-travel to London and was forced to withdraw from the competition. This situation led to the formation of the Football Association of Scotland, although in the future Queens Park continued to compete in the FA Cup and twice reached the final, until in 1887 the Scottish FA forbade its clubs to participate in them.
The Wanderers and Royal Engineers, in the presence of 2000 fans, met in the final of the first FA Cup. The Royal Engineers team was considered the favorites of the match, but one of the players of this team was injured with a collarbone and had to leave the field at the beginning of the game. As no substitutions were made at the time, the team played in the minority and ultimately lost to Wanderers with a score of 1-0. Over the next few years the FA Cup was won by the teams of Old Estonians, Wanderers, Royal Engineers and Oxford University.
