Although traditional football is probably the most followed and practiced sport in the world, the variants that exist are so many that one can almost say that there is one type of football for each person.
Today we want to talk about what is probably the most transgressive variant of football. This is street football or street football, the most common way to play between amateur teams and groups of friends.
How Street Football Was Born
You can’t really determine the date or the way you started playing soccer in the street. Although it was most likely that they began to practice more often as football’s fame as a mass sport grew larger.
The children imitated their idols taking advantage of any space wide enough to place a pair of stones as a goal and throw the ball rolling on the ground. Some of the best players in history began their career in this way, playing with their friends in the neighborhood where they grew up and with hardly any resources to go beyond.
The schoolyards began to become soccer fields where a game was played every day at recess. Later not only the children but also older fans began to organize more or less official parties, in which the rules are agreed in advance and do not have to follow a specific pattern. Today it is not uncommon to find someone playing a street football game in any city.
The Rules of Street Football
We can differentiate two very different types of street football. The traditional one, the one that is played in the street without the need for goals, limits or a certain time of play, and the one that is organized and regulated by associations that organize official meetings of an almost professional type.
This type of football is used today as training for teams of young talents, usually sponsored by sports brands that are looking for the new star of the future before another brand signs a contract.
The game system is similar to that which is followed invariants of soccer such as beach soccer or futsal, including the number of players per team, the duration of each game or the presence of referees who are responsible for controlling that they are followed the rules.
In September 2016, the first street football world championship took place, in which teams from 8 countries met in a tournament where the show prevailed. Some freestyle footballers who begin to stand out in this discipline participated for the enjoyment of fans of both soccer and urban sports. In addition to having a championship-winning team, an individual prize was given to the player who made the most spectacular moves.
Also Read: Origin and Rules of Beach Soccer
In Video Games
Street football is not only played in the real world. It also has its digital version for more than 10 years, with several video games inspired by this way of doing sports. In these, you can imitate the best street football players, including the spectacular movements that some make in the real fields and that are reserved only for a few.
The truth is that whatever it is, we have all played street football in one way or another. Why see, how many times have we met a few friends (or friends, that this is not a sport that discriminates by sex), we have seen that someone brought a ball and in five minutes we were playing football, putting some jackets on the ground for the goals and forming teams? In addition, the least is who scores more goals in these matches.
What really matters is having fun playing for a while. That is one of the reasons why street football will always exist, whether or not it has the backing of official associations or sports federations. As with things that are done simply for fun, it will stay alive for a long time. It only takes a half-decent soccer ball out there and a few friends wanting to move a little. When did you play the last street football game?
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