Right, now the debate has existed ever since the Americans started calling the game in which the feet rarely ever touch the ball 'football'. And came up with a completely different word for the game which is called 'football' everywhere else. So in this debate in football vs soccer, which is better?
Soccer vs Football
For the sake of this article and overall avoiding confusion, henceforth the word 'football' will refer to American football the game which predominantly involves handling the ball and 'soccer' will refer to the game where the ball is touched by foot.
Soccer
In our discussion about soccer vs football, let's start with soccer. Soccer is clearly the older of the two. Although no one knows who invented soccer, the formal basic football rules as they are followed today, the current framework of the game was given in the mid-1800s. The Football Association was established in England and the popularity of game has spread ever since. The game has been exported to several countries and almost every country in the world plays the 'beautiful game'. As the rules are set by the Football Association, Americans refer to this game as 'association football', shortened later to become 'soccer'.
Soccer is played predominantly with feet. Only the goalkeeper is allowed to use his hands to touch the ball and that too in a certain part of the pitch. The game goes on for 2 halves of 45 minutes each, plus there is time added on at the end of each half for stoppage in play. The objective of the goal is to defend your goal and attack the goal of the opposition. At the end of playing time, the team which scores more goals wins. Each goal is worth only 1 point and needs to be kicked into the net.
American Football
American football on the other hand is a game which is popularly assumed to have taken birth out of Rugby, which in turn was born out of soccer. As the legend goes, some kid at the Rugby university clearly thought that playing the ball with the feet is too boring and thought it would be a good idea to pick up the ball in his hands and run unchallenged instead. The story may or may not be true, but the Rugby Union football was born out of soccer.
Rugby was another game which England exported to the rest of the world, unlike soccer, there are several variations of rugby played all over the world, one of which is American Football.
American football is played with 11 player in each time. The official duration of the game is 4 quarters of 15 minutes each. Read on for the exact football field size. But teams take a lot of timeouts during the game and hence the game can go on for a considerably longer time. American football is a more physical sort of game and hence more protective gear needs to be worn by the player to protect his vitals. Points can be scored in American football in 3 ways.
Soccer vs Football
For the sake of this article and overall avoiding confusion, henceforth the word 'football' will refer to American football the game which predominantly involves handling the ball and 'soccer' will refer to the game where the ball is touched by foot.
Soccer
In our discussion about soccer vs football, let's start with soccer. Soccer is clearly the older of the two. Although no one knows who invented soccer, the formal basic football rules as they are followed today, the current framework of the game was given in the mid-1800s. The Football Association was established in England and the popularity of game has spread ever since. The game has been exported to several countries and almost every country in the world plays the 'beautiful game'. As the rules are set by the Football Association, Americans refer to this game as 'association football', shortened later to become 'soccer'.
Soccer is played predominantly with feet. Only the goalkeeper is allowed to use his hands to touch the ball and that too in a certain part of the pitch. The game goes on for 2 halves of 45 minutes each, plus there is time added on at the end of each half for stoppage in play. The objective of the goal is to defend your goal and attack the goal of the opposition. At the end of playing time, the team which scores more goals wins. Each goal is worth only 1 point and needs to be kicked into the net.
American Football
American football on the other hand is a game which is popularly assumed to have taken birth out of Rugby, which in turn was born out of soccer. As the legend goes, some kid at the Rugby university clearly thought that playing the ball with the feet is too boring and thought it would be a good idea to pick up the ball in his hands and run unchallenged instead. The story may or may not be true, but the Rugby Union football was born out of soccer.
Rugby was another game which England exported to the rest of the world, unlike soccer, there are several variations of rugby played all over the world, one of which is American Football.
American football is played with 11 player in each time. The official duration of the game is 4 quarters of 15 minutes each. Read on for the exact football field size. But teams take a lot of timeouts during the game and hence the game can go on for a considerably longer time. American football is a more physical sort of game and hence more protective gear needs to be worn by the player to protect his vitals. Points can be scored in American football in 3 ways.
- The touchdown, which occurs when the player completes an offense by running into the goalposts carrying the ball. One touchdown is worth 6 points.
- The second is the field goal, one of the very few instances where the ball touches the feet. When the ball is kicked over the crossbar and through the posts, it is called a field goal and is worth 3 points.
- The third way to score points in American football is called the safety. The safety is actually points scored by the defense during the opposition's offense. If the offensive player of the opposition player is successfully tackled, and goes out-of-bounds, or drops the ball in his end zone, the defending team scored 2 points.
As we can see, at the end of this debate on American football vs soccer, both games are exciting to watch and play. Is soccer better than football? Being an avid soccer fan, I surely think so!
