 Elephant football in Chiangmai, Thailand | |
| Characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Equipment | elephants |
| Presence | |
| Country or region | Thailand, Nepal and India |
Elephant football or elephant soccer is an animal show from Thailand, Nepal and India, taking the form of an association football variant played on elephants. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Elephant football is played with similar rules to association football, but all players must be riding elephants. The elephants will attempt to kick the ball into the opposition's net to score a goal. Elephant football is played on a smaller pitch to association football, and is played with a large inflatable ball, rather than a standard football.
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players each, who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposing team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed goal defended by the opposing team. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45-minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries and territories, it is the world's most popular sport.
Futsal is a football-based sport played on a hardcourt like a basketball court, smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football.
A penalty kick is a method of restarting play in association football, in which a player is allowed to take a single shot at the goal while it is defended only by the opposing team's goalkeeper. It is awarded when an offence punishable by a direct free kick is committed by a player in their own penalty area. The shot is taken from the penalty spot, which is 11 metres from the goal line and centered between the touch lines.
In association football, a penalty shoot-out is a tie-breaking method to determine which team is awarded victory in a match that cannot end in a draw, when the score is tied after the normal time as well as extra time has expired. In a penalty shoot-out, each team takes turns shooting at goal from the penalty mark, with the goal defended only by the opposing team's goalkeeper. Each team has five shots which must be taken by different players; the team that makes more successful kicks is declared the victor. Shoot-outs finish as soon as one team has an insurmountable lead. If scores are level after five pairs of shots, the shootout progresses into additional "sudden-death" rounds. Balls successfully kicked into the goal during a shoot-out do not count as goals for the individual kickers or the team, and are tallied separately from the goals scored during normal play. Although the procedure for each individual kick in the shoot-out resembles that of a penalty kick, there are some differences. Most notably, neither the kicker nor any player other than the goalkeeper may play the ball again once it has been kicked.
Arthur Antunes Coimbra, better known as Zico, is a Brazilian football coach and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. Often called the "White Pelé", he was a creative playmaker, with excellent technical skills, vision and an eye for goal, who is considered one of the most clinical finishers and best passers ever, as well as one of the greatest players of all time. Arguably the world's best player of the late 1970s and early 80s, he is regarded as one of the best playmakers and free kick specialists in history, able to bend the ball in all directions. By one estimate, Zico is the player that scored the most goals from direct free kicks, with 101 goals.
A corner kick, commonly known as a corner, is the method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball goes out of play over the goal line, without a goal being scored and having last been touched by a member of the defending team. The kick is taken from the corner of the field of play nearest to the place where the ball crossed the goal line.
The Bhutan national football team represents Bhutan in men's international football. The team is controlled by the governing body for football in Bhutan, the Bhutan Football Federation, which is a member of the Asian Football Federation and the regional body the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). The national football team of Bhutan plays its home games at the national stadium, Changlimithang.
The Palestine national football team, governed by the Palestinian Football Association, represents Palestine in men's international football. The squad is under the global jurisdiction of FIFA, and is governed continentally by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
In the sport of association football, fouls and misconduct are acts committed by players which are deemed by the referee to be unfair and are subsequently penalised. An offence may be a foul, misconduct or both depending on the nature of the offence and the circumstances in which it occurs. Fouls and misconduct are addressed in Law 12 of the Laws of the Game. A foul is an unfair act by a player, deemed by the referee to contravene the game's laws, that interferes with the active play of the match. Fouls are punished by the award of a free kick to the opposing team. A list of specific offences that can be fouls are detailed in Law 12 of the Laws of the Game ; these mostly concern unnecessarily aggressive physical play and the offence of handling the ball. An offence is classified as a foul when it meets all the following conditions:
Marta Vieira da Silva, known mononymously as Marta, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for National Women's Soccer League club Orlando Pride. Marta is regarded by many as the greatest female footballer of all time. She has been named FIFA World Player of the Year six times, five of them being consecutive and the latest award coming in 2018.
The goalkeeper is a position in association football. It is the most specialised position in the sport. The goalkeeper's main role is to stop the opposing team from scoring. This is accomplished by having the goalkeeper move into the trajectory of the ball to either catch it or direct it further from the vicinity of the goal line. Within the penalty area, goalkeepers are allowed to use their hands, giving them the sole rights on the field to handle the ball. The goalkeeper is indicated by wearing a different coloured kit from their teammates and opposition.
Powerchair football, also known as Power Soccer, is a variant of association football for people with physical disabilities. Players use specially designed powered wheelchairs in order to maneuver and kick/hit an oversized football. The game is played in a gymnasium on a regulation basketball court. Two teams of four players use powerchairs equipped with footguards to attack, defend, and spin-kick a 13-inch (330 mm) football in an attempt to score goals.
Elephant polo is a variant of polo played while riding elephants. It is played in Nepal, and Thailand. England and Scotland regularly field teams. Equipment consists of a standard polo ball and a 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) to 3 metres (9.8 ft) cane sticks with a polo mallet head on the end. The pitch is three-quarters of the length of a standard polo pitch, due to the lower speed of the elephants. Two people ride each elephant; the elephants are steered by mahouts, while the player tells the mahout which way to go and hits the ball.
Bernard Parker is a South African soccer manager and former player who manages the TS Galaxy reserves. He played as a midfielder or forward. Between 2007 and 2015 he made 73 appearances for the South Africa national team scoring 23 goals.
The India women's national football team represents India at women's international football competitions and is governed by the All India Football Federation. Under the global jurisdiction of FIFA and governed in Asia by the AFC. India is also part of the South Asian Football Federation. The team was one of the best in Asia in the mid-1970s to early 1980s, when they became runners-up in the 1979 and the 1983 AFC Women's Asian Cup.
Association football was first codified in 1863 in England, although games that involved the kicking of a ball were evident considerably earlier. A large number of football-related terms have since emerged to describe various aspects of the sport and its culture. The evolution of the sport has been mirrored by changes in this terminology over time. For instance, the role of an inside forward in variants of a 5–3–2 formation has many parallels to that of an attacking midfielder, although the positions are nonetheless distinct. Similarly, a 5–3–2 centre half can in many ways be compared to a holding midfielder in a 4–1–3–2.
Denise Rebecca O'Sullivan is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) club North Carolina Courage, which she captains, and the Republic of Ireland national team.
Jessie Alexandra Fleming is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for National Women's Soccer League club Portland Thorns and captains the Canadian national team.
Rosemary Kathleen Lavelle is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for NJ/NY Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the United States national team.
The video assistant referee (VAR) is a match official in association football who assists the referee by reviewing decisions using video footage and providing advice to the referee based on those reviews.