Football is the most popular sport in the world. It is estimated that around 250 million people regularly play whilst many millions more watch the game on television.

In the UK teams such as Manchester United（曼彻斯特联队） and Chelsea（切尔西） compete in the Premier League（超级联赛） . The Premier League, also called the Premiership, is the division where the twenty best English teams play.

Premiership players can earn millions of pounds every year, not only from their wages but also from sponsorship by companies like Nike and Adidas.

Football has a vocabulary of its own. A game of football is known as a football match. The match kicks off（开赛） when the referee（裁判员） blows his whistle and the ball is kicked for the first time. The aim of the game is to score more goals than the other team.

The referee makes sure that both teams play by the rules. If the ball goes out of the sides of the pitch, he gives a throw in（边界发球） . If the ball, leaves the ends of the pitch, a corner is given. When a player commits a foul（犯规的，邪恶的） , the referee may give the other team a free kick（任意球） or even a penalty. In extreme cases the referee may send off a player by giving him a red card.