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To: elmatador who wrote (51613)	7/18/2004 1:01:57 PM
From: BubbaFred	Respond to of 74559

Blatter recognises China as the birthplace of football July 16, 2004 BEIJING (AFP) - FIFA chief Sepp Blatter has acknowledged that football has its roots in China, declaring it the birthplace of the glorious game. At a football expo in Beijing, where he is attending the Asian Cup finals, Blatter said FIFA concurs with the China Football Association (CFA) that the game originated in Zibo, in eastern Shandong province, the China Daily reported Friday. Experts on sports history and archaeology also attended the expo, outlining the origins of the game 2,300 years ago when Zibo was part of the ancient Qi kingdom. Contemporary football began in 1863 in England, when rugby football and association football branched off on their different courses and the world's first football association was founded - The Football Association in England. "It is so great to hear president Blatter make the announcement," said CFA vice president Zhang Jilong. "Football is the world's No.1 sport so I am honoured that China is being recognised for inventing and developing ancient football." Although many countries claim to have invented football, historians have often pointed to the game of "cuju" in China as the true origin, which involved kicking a ball using feet to score points. "Having been recognised by FIFA and the CFA, we have to take on the responsibility and cling to the honour. We should also take greater efforts to make a contribution to football development," Zhang added. Asian Football Confederation secretary general Peter Velappan offered his congratulations to China. "Thank you China as the birthplace of football," he said. "Football started in China and the sport's future belongs to Asia. China has so much potential to develop football. I hope the Asian Cup will help highlight the truth that China has the most football potential in the world." According to the report, Blatter was to have announced that China was the home of football at the Women's World Cup in China last year, but the tournament was moved to the United States because of the SARS disease. The Asian Cup kicks off in Beijing on Saturday with China playing Bahrain in the opening match. footballnetwork.org aafla.org aafla.org sports.yahoo.com sports.yahoo.com maps-of-china.com traveljournals.net traveljournals.net ------------------------------- Pele plays ball with Chinese on football history By John Schauble China Correspondent Badaling March 18 2002 It has been a lifetime's journey for soccer legend Pele. From an impoverished childhood in Brazil kicking balls made from old socks to the Great Wall of China where he kicked a ball that looked as if it had been stuffed with old socks. When he finally arrived at Badaling on the outskirts of Beijing at the weekend, there was a minor municipal official telling him that - along with gunpowder, paper and golf - it was the Chinese who invented the game with which his name, above all, is synonymous. Pele, 61, took it in his stride. Credited with playing "soccer in its purest form", he seemed unfazed by such presumption. In a career spanning 21 years, 1363 matches and 1282 goals, Pele led Brazil to World Cup victories in 1958, 1962 and 1970. Trying to teach him something new about the game was something only the Chinese would presume to do. He even deigned to take part in a quick game of cuju, the game the Chinese claim is the earliest version of football. First recorded during the Han dynasty (206BC to AD220), the game remained popular until late in the Qing dynasty (1644 to 1911) when it was replaced by Western football. "The sport of soccer gets people together and I am here to represent all the players in the world," Pele told the carefully chosen crowd before taking to the pitch. "Today is very important for me. I feel very happy and very proud to be here." In soccer-mad China, Pele may be a legendary figure, but the crowd retained its loudest cheer for the other hero sharing the podium, Bora Milutinovic, the Yugoslav-born national soccer coach who propelled their team into the World Cup finals. Cuju ("kick ball") looks a lot like volleyball using the feet and head, with two teams vying to kick or head a roughly stitched leather ball through a goal in a high, ornate fence dividing them. Later versions used goals at either end of the pitch. A Tang dynasty variation came much closer to modern soccer, with goals being posts with a net strung between. A third form had no goals but centred on keeping the ball airborne. Modern China's pitch to revitalise interest in cuju began last year in the run-up to its successful bid for the 2008 Olympics. Since then it has also won a berth in the World Cup finals to be played this year in Japan and South Korea. This story was found at: theage.com.au