American football: history of development on the international stage

In 1869, students from Rutgers University and Princeton University combined rugby and soccer and invented a game that was initially called "Boston game."

In 1874, the first game was played according to rules proposed by students at Harvard University, and the game was named "American football."

The game first spread among the oldest eastern universities, such as Yale, Harvard, and Columbia. Soon, American football became popular at other universities and gradually "conquered" the entire country.

It is quite amusing that football has existed since the times of Sparta and Rome. That type of football was played to train soldiers for combat. When the Romans conquered England, they brought the game with them.

It gradually developed, and by the 11th century, this type of kicking game had become so popular in Britain that King Richard II banned the sport because it took up too much of the players' time, to the detriment of their archery skills.

American football is now played in more than 40 countries around the world. The formation and development of American football in Europe began in the 1970s. The first national federations for this sport (outside North America) were established during this period.

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At first, the game took root only in the US and Canada. However, the United States' northern neighbor added its own unique features to the sport, resulting in Canadian football and American football being slightly different from each other, which does not prevent players from both countries from meeting in friendly matches and finding common ground on the football field.

The US then exported the game to its southern neighbor, Mexico. During World War II, American soldiers occupied Japan and brought the seeds of American football with them, which have already taken root.

That's pretty much all the countries where American football found a home by the end of the 1970s. Noticing these first signs of growing public demand for a new sport and deciding to make money from it, renowned sports entrepreneur Cary Davidson proposed the creation of a World Football League back in 1974.

Tokyo, Mexico City, and Montreal were brought on board to implement the project, giving their agreement in principle to participate in such competitions.

However, the idea never came to fruition: it turned out that at that time, teams were not yet able to bear the heavy burden of expenses associated with paying for athletes to travel from one part of the world to another over a distance of more than 10,000 miles.

However, to the credit of American businessmen, it should be noted that they never gave up on their dream of organizing a global American football association. Their intentions were realized 17 years later, in 1991, but this time in collaboration with Europe, where American football had also begun its triumphant march.

The leap to Europe

American football has been played on the European continent for over 30 years. Today, American football is at the peak of its popularity in Europe, with more than 45,000 players representing over 800 clubs.

The formation and development of American football in Europe began in the 1970s.

Germany can be considered the successor to American football in Europe.

I think there is nothing surprising about this invasion, considering that it was in this country, starting in 1945, immediately after the end of World War II, that large parts of the American troops were stationed and remain to this day. Brave soldiers brought the "virus" of American football to the Old World, but for a long time they were unable to infect the Germans with it.