Lijiang, China
Since at least the time of the Qin Dynasty (the rulers who unified China in the third century BC), people have been propelling a ball forward with their feet. This predecessor of soccer, called cuju, was first mentioned in a Chinese military manual. Around the same period, it was also played in Japan and Korea.
In 1863, while the U.S. was neck-deep in its bloody civil war, the foundation of today's soccer was laid in England, where the Football Association codified a set of rules for the game. Currently, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), based in Zurich, governs the game.
According to the FIFA website, more than 240 million people are estimated to play soccer around the world, but I believe I may have seen that many people playing the game in Asia alone, particularly in school yards and village fields. Below are a handful of pictures taken of this, the world's most popular sport.
Halong Bay, Vietnam
Lake Toba, Sumatra, Indonesia
Trabzon, Turkey
Midyat, Turkey
Zababdeh, West Bank (Palestine)
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