Soccer is the most played outdoor club sport in Australia, and ranked in the top ten for television audience as of 2015. The national governing body of the sport is Football Australia (FA), which until 2019, organised the A-League Men, A-League Women, and still organises the Australia Cup, as well as the men's and women's national teams. The FA comprises nine state and territory member federations, which oversee the sport within their respective region.
The Australian national team playing at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, May 2006.
St Kilda Soccer Club at Middle Park, 1909
The first Australia national team playing in game 2 against New Zealand during Australia's first ever tour to New Zealand in 1922
Image: 2015 Asian Cup Final
Association football, commonly known as football, or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players each, who primarily use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposing team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed goal defended by the opposing team. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45-minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries and territories, it is the world's most popular sport.
The attacking player (No. 10) attempts to kick the ball into the net behind the opposing team's goalkeeper (here wearing red and yellow) to score a goal.
An early draft of the original hand-written 'Laws of the Game' drawn up on behalf of The Football Association by Ebenezer Cobb Morley in 1863 on display at the National Football Museum, Manchester, England
The Aston Villa team in 1897, after winning both the FA Cup and the English Football League
The Zamalek team in 1921, after winning the Sultan Hussein Cup, the first title in Egyptian football history, 1921
