Association football, or, in most countries just football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams each consisting of eleven players and is the most popular team sport in the world. It is a ball game played on a rectangular grass field (or occasionally on artificial turf) with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by maneuvering the ball into the opposing team's goal. The predominant feature of the sport is that players other than the goalkeepers may not use their hands or arms to propel the ball in general play. The winner is the team that has scored the most goals at the end of the match.
The sport is known by many names throughout the English-speaking world, although football is perhaps the most common. Other names, such as association football and soccer, are often used to distinguish the game from other codes of football, since the word football may refer to several quite different games.
The game is played at a professional level all over the world and millions of people regularly go to a football stadium to follow their favourite team, whilst millions more avidly watch the game on television. A very large number of people also play football at an amateur level.
The
Premier League is a professional league competition for
football clubs located at the top of the
English football league system, making it England's primary football competition. The Premier League is currently contested by twenty clubs, operating a system of
promotion and relegation with
the Football League.
The competition formed as the "FA Premier League" in 1992, following the decision of clubs in the Football League First Division to break away from the Football League to take advantage of a lucrative television rights deal. Since then it has progressed to become the world's most watched sporting league, and the most lucrative football league, with member club revenues totalling a figure in excess of £1.4 billion.
During the course of a season (which lasts from August to May) each of the 20 clubs play the others twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents for a total of 38 games for each club per season.
The opening ceremony of Euro 2004 saw hosts Portugal portrayed as a ship, symbolizing the voyages of the Portuguese explorers, sailing through a sea of the flags of all competing countries.
Joey Barton (born 2 September 1982 in
Liverpool,
Merseyside) is an
English footballer who plays as a
midfielder.
Barton was raised in a rough area and as a child saw football as a form of escapism, he began his professional career in 2002 with Manchester City after working his way through their youth system. His appearances in the senior side gradually increased in regularity over a period of five years - he made more than 150 appearances for the club in total - which earned him his first cap for the England national team in February 2007, despite his criticism of some of the team's players.
His career has been marred by numerous controversial incidents and disciplinary problems, one of which being a fight with City team-mate Ousmane Dabo which led to him leaving the club. Barton has been described as a "tough tackler", a style reflected in the high number of fouls he has committed during his career: he received 39 bookings and three red cards during his time at Manchester City. He joined Newcastle United for a fee of £5.8 million in July 2007.
Outside of football, Barton is a patron of the Tamsin Gulvin Fund and also works with the 'Get Hooked on Fishing' campaign, designed to keep children out of trouble by getting them interested in fishing.
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