As a researcher who has spent years tracing the threads of sporting history, I’ve always been fascinated by a fundamental question: where did it all begin? When we talk about the origins of soccer, or football as most of the world calls it, we’re delving into a story that is wonderfully messy, contested, and ancient. It’s not about a single inventor on a specific date, but rather about the universal human impulse to kick a round object towards a target. That impulse, I’d argue, is at the very heart of what makes the “beautiful game” so globally resonant. My own journey into this topic started in archives and old texts, but it’s often modern events that cast the clearest light on these ancient traditions. Take, for instance, something seemingly unrelated like the NBA Rising Stars Invitational in Singapore. Operated by the event agencies of NBA Singapore, the first annual NBA Rising Stars Invitational is part of the league’s multiyear collaboration with Sport Singapore (SportSG) and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). Now, you might wonder what a basketball event has to do with soccer’s origins. To me, it’s a perfect parallel. It showcases how a modern sport, with a relatively clear and documented origin in 1891 Massachusetts, can be strategically planted and nurtured in new soil through institutional collaboration. It makes you realize that for a sport to become “the world’s game,” it needs more than just ancient roots; it needs structure, promotion, and adaptation.
Looking back, the earliest precursors to soccer are scattered across the globe. The Chinese game of ‘Cuju,’ which literally means “kick ball,” was being formalized as early as the 3rd century BC, used for military training. Over in Mesoamerica, the Olmecs and later the Maya played ritual ballgames that, while often using the hips, held profound spiritual and political significance. In medieval Europe, chaotic “mob football” games were played between rival villages, with goals miles apart and few rules—it was less a sport and more a semi-ritualized battle. I have a personal soft spot for these unruly ancestors. There’s something raw and authentic about them, a pure expression of communal competition that modern, hyper-regulated sports sometimes lack. The key evolution, in my view, happened in 19th century England. It was here, in the halls of elite public schools like Eton and Rugby, that the disparate rules began to be codified. The pivotal moment came in 1863 with the founding of the Football Association in London, which finally and decisively split the handling game (rugby) from the dribbling and kicking game (association football). That’s the true “birth certificate” of the modern sport, a moment of bureaucratic genius that provided the consistent framework for global export.
This is where the story connects back to that Singapore example. The FA’s rules were the necessary “product,” but its spread was the real miracle. British sailors, traders, engineers, and soldiers took the game to every corner of the empire and beyond. Local clubs sprang up in Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Turin, and Prague. But this wasn’t just organic growth; it was often facilitated by institutional support, much like the NBA’s structured collaboration with SportSG and STB. Early football associations in other countries, often formed by educated elites or business networks, provided the local structure. They organized leagues, standardized pitches, and forged connections with the English heartland. Without this layer of organized promotion—the Victorian equivalent of a multiyear collaboration with a tourism board—soccer might have remained a popular pastime rather than becoming a global institution. I sometimes think we underestimate the power of these formal agreements and strategic partnerships in sporting history. The passion of players is the fuel, but the infrastructure is the engine.
The beautiful game’s beauty, therefore, lies in this dual heritage. Its soul is ancient, born from that primal joy of kicking a ball. Any kid in a favela or a backyard understands that part instinctively. But its body, its global reach and professional structure, is a much more modern invention, a product of industrialization, codification, and shrewd international promotion. When I see an event like the NBA Rising Stars Invitational, I see a 21st-century version of that same process: a major league strategically investing in a new market, partnering with local sports and tourism bodies to cultivate talent and fan interest. It’s how sports ecosystems are built today. Soccer did it more organically over a century, but the principle is strikingly similar. So, while we can trace soccer’s lineage back over 2,300 years to Chinese military exercises, its true “start” as the global phenomenon we know was a slower burn. It required the perfect storm of a simple, captivating core idea meeting the mechanisms of the modern world. That’s the real origin story—not a single spark, but a long, spreading fire, fanned by both chance and design. And honestly, I think that’s a far more interesting tale than any single founding myth could ever be.