Known everywhere outside of the United States as football, soccer is the most popular sport in the world and is played on virtually every corner of the planet.
The sport was introduced in America as early as 1620, when the Pilgrims were known to play a form of soccer on the coast of Massachusetts.
In 1884, The American Football Association was formed to organize the different enclaves in the eastern part of the country to maintain the uniformity of the game and to try to popularize the sport in the United States.
Soon after, the United States and Canada played a game a year against each other in the late 1800s, representing the first international competition in soccer outside of Great Britain.
Soccer made its Olympic debut at the 1900 Games. Originally, club teams were allowed to compete under the national team banner. The sport was eliminated from the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles due to a controversy between the Federal Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the International Olympic Committee over the definition of an amateur. Also, most of the strong soccer countries were reluctant to travel to California because of the expenses involved.
However, soccer has been included in every Olympics since. In 1996, women's soccer was introduced as an Olympic sport for the first time, with the U.S. winning the gold medal.