Football

    The modern game was codified in England following the formation of The Football Association, whose 1863 Laws of the Game created the foundations for the way the sport is played today. Football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, commonly known by the acronym FIFA whose headquarters are located in Zurich.

    Six regional confederations are associated with FIFA:

    Asia: Asian Football Confederation (AFC)
    Africa: Confederation of African Football (CAF)
    Central/North America & Caribbean: Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF)
    Europe: Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)
    Oceania: Oceania Football Confederation (OFC)
    South America: Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (South American Football Confederation; CONMEBOL)
    National associations oversee football within individual countries. These are affiliated both with FIFA and with their respective continental confederations.

    International competitions
 
    The most prestigious international football competition is the FIFA World Cup, held every four years. More than 190 national teams compete in qualifying tournaments within the scope of continental confederations for a place in the finals. The finals tournament, involves 32 national teams competing over a four-week period. The 2006 FIFA World Cup took place in Germany; in 2010 it will be held in South Africa.

    After the World Cup, the most important international football competitions are the continental championships, which are organised by each continental confederation and contested between national teams. These are the European Championship (UEFA), the Copa América (CONMEBOL), African Cup of Nations (CAF), the Asian Cup (AFC), the CONCACAF Gold Cup (CONCACAF) and the OFC Nations Cup (OFC).

    European Championship (The Union of European Football Associations, UEFA)

    UEFA represents the national football associations of Europe, runs Europewide national and club competitions, and controls the prize money, regulations and media rights to those competitions. It is one of the biggest of six continental confederations of FIFA. Several national football associations which are geographically in Asia or mostly in Asia belong to UEFA rather than the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

    UEFA was founded on 15 June 1954 in Basel, Switzerland following discussions between the French, Italian and Belgian FAs. The headquarters was in Paris until 1959 when the organization moved to Bern. The current UEFA President is Michel Platini.

    Currently there are 53 associations:

    The UEFA Champions League (usually referred to as simply the Champions League or less frequently as the European Cup) is an annual football competition organised by UEFA since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It is the most prestigious club trophy in European football. Europe's strongest national leagues now provide up to four teams each for the competition.

    In the present format it begins in mid-July with three knockout qualifying rounds. The 16 surviving teams join 16 seeded teams in the group stage, in which there are eight groups consisting of four teams each. The eight group winners and eight runners-up enter the final knockout phase, which ends with the final match in May.

    The title has been won by 21 different clubs, 12 of which have won the title more than once. The all-time record-holder is Real Madrid, who have won the competition nine times. AC Milan are the last side to have successfully retained the trophy (in 1990) meaning no team has managed to retain it since the competition's expansion in 1997.

    The top three leagues in the UEFA rankings based on performances:  English Premier League, Spain's La Liga, Italy's Serie A, and German's Bundesliga.

    The Premier League is an English professional league for football clubs. The Premier League is a corporation in which the 20 member clubs act as shareholders. Seasons run from August to May, with teams playing 38 games each. A total of 42 clubs have competed in the Premier League, but only four have won the title: Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Arsenal, and Chelsea. The current champions are Manchester United, who won their tenth Premier League title in the 2007–08 season, the most of any Premier League team.

    Sun Jihai, is a Chinese football player who currently plays for Championship side Sheffield United as a defender. He, along with Fan Zhiyi, another Chinese player who now plays for Hong Kong Rangers, signed for Crystal Palace in 1998. They became the first footballers from China to play in the English leagues. In October 2002, Sun became the first Chinese footballer to score in the Premier League when he headed home the first City goal in their 2-0 win over Birmingham City.

    La Liga or Liga BBVA, is the top professional football league in Spain. It is contested by 20 teams, with the three lowest placed teams relegated to the Segunda División and replaced by the top three teams in that division. A total of 58 teams have competed in La Liga, nine of which have been crowned champions. Since the 1950s, Real Madrid and Barcelona have dominated the championship. The former have won the title 31 times while the latter have won it on 18 occasions.

    Serie A (officially known as the Lega Calcio Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top echelon of the Italian football league system. Historically, Serie A has produced the highest number of European Cup finalists. In total Italian clubs have reached the final of the competition on a record of twenty-five different occasions, winning the title eleven times. More players have won the coveted Ballon d'Or award while playing at a Serie A club than any other league in the world.