Soccer’s ancient origins. The Chinese were the first to get their kicks by kicking balls into nets for sport in the third century B.C., and the game known globally as football was formalized in ...

Ball games have a long history in Mesoamerica, stretching back millennia, and played a key role in the political, social and ritual life of the civilizations that populated this region.

Above: Chinese football players compete. A skillful cuju player could be highly valued by emperors in ancient China. ... The 10th century stick-and-ball sport chuiwan ...

At the Al Bidda Park in Doha, Qatar, some Chinese people wearing traditional Chinese clothing demonstrate the tricks and skills of the ancient sport known as cuju, the prototype of modern football ...

ARCHAEOLOGISTS exploring an ancient cemetery in China have uncovered 3,000-year-old leather balls, suggesting ball games were played on the Eurasian continent hundreds of years earlier than thought.

Of these ancient games, the most relevant to football in its modern incarnation is a Chinese game called Tsu-Chu which means "kicking the ball", with records dating back to the Han Dynasty, 206 B ...