The Chinese were the first to get their kicks by kicking balls into nets for sport in the third century B.C., and the game known globally as football was formalized in England in the 19th century. But the predecessor of most modern ball games can be found in the Americas. (See vintage pictures of soccer players around the world.)

While there isn’t a single individual who we can pinpoint throughout the history of football as the person who invented football, there is Ebenezer Cobb Morley, who is considered the ‘father’ of football or at least the first set of rules created. In 1862, Morley created the Barnes Football Club in London, England.

Who invented football? Association Football, or ‘Soccer’ for short, first began in Britain in the nineteenth century. The Football Association (FA) laid down the rules for the game in 1863, creating the first standardised version of the sport.