Don't forget China invented football 2,300 years ago
Wee Kek Koon
The first ball games in China were played about 2,300 years ago, according to historical records, in the state of Qi (which covered most of present-day Shandong province). During the Warring States Period (475-221BC), Qi was a “rich and strong” place, where “people played [musical instruments such as] the yu, se and zhu, engaged in cockfighting and dog racing, played [the board game of] liubo, and took part in a sport that involved the kicking of a ball”.
Due to its promotion by the emperors of the Western Han dynasty (206BC-AD9) as part of military training, the ball game became a spectator sport. Two teams, each with 12 players, would face off inside a walled enclosure surrounded by spectator stands. The winning team was the one that kicked the ball into the goal the most number of times, rather like modern-day soccer.