Football: Play It, Read It, Work In It

by bam

A complete, cited football course for high school students, the game most of the world calls football and the United States calls soccer. How to actually play it (first touch, passing, dribbling, finishing, defending, goalkeeping); how to think about it (formations, possession, pressing, transitions, set pieces); the 17 Laws and who really writes them (The IFAB, not FIFA); the history, told honestly, from ball games that long predate England, to the 1863 codification, to the Football Association's 50-year ban on women's football; how the leagues and governing bodies actually fit together worldwide; the money, the labor, and the contested human cost; and the honest, concrete opportunities for amateurs and entrepreneurs, refereeing, coaching badges, running a club, and the jobs that actually exist around a game almost nobody makes a living playing.