Football (0) IS considered by many 1 be the world's favourite game and 1863 is often identified as an important date, as that was when the Football Association in England, the sport's first governing body, 2 formed.
A search down the centuries reveals at least six different games to 3 the historical development of football can be attributed. An exercise from a Chinese military manual dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC gives us evidence 4 the very earliest form of the game, which consisted of kicking a leather ball filled with hair and feathers 5 an opening of about 35cm in width.
Another 6 of the game, also originating from the Far East, is Japan's Kemari, which began some 500-600 years later and is still being played today.
Modern-day football has become the 7 watched sport in the world. Billions of dollars are generated annually 8 the practitioners of the art, some of whom are the most famous people on the planet with accordingly large salaries.