Association football, soccer, or simply football, is a team sport played between two teams each consisting of eleven players. It is a ball game played on a rectangular grass (sometimes artificial turf) field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by maneouvering the ball into the opposing goal. The predominant defining feature of the sport is that players other than the goalkeepers may not use their hands or arms to propel the ball in general play. The winner of the match is the team that has scored most goals at the end of the match.

The sport is known by many names throughout the English-speaking world, although football is the most common. Other names, such as association football and soccer, are often used to distinguish the game from other codes of football, since the word football may be used to refer to several quite different games.

The modern game developed in England following the formation of the Football Association, whose 1863 set of rules created the foundations for the way the sport is played today. Football is governed internationally by Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). The most prestigious international football competition is the World Cup, which is the most widely-viewed sporting event in the world.