More than 240 million people around the world play soccer regularly according to the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). The game has evolved from the sport of kicking an animal-hide ball around into a World Cup sport it is today. Soccer, or "football" as most other countries call it, traces as far back as 2,000 years ago in ancient China. Greece, Rome, and some countries in Central America claim to have started the sport, but Britain is the country that transitioned the sport to what it is today.The English are even credited for implenting most of the rules. For example, the penalty kick was introduced in 1891. Then, FIFA became a member of the International Football Association Board of Great Britain in 1913 and they implemented red and yellow cards during the 1970 World Cup finals.
