History of Soccer reading comprehension worksheet for Grade 7 students, including a brief text and an illustration of a player kicking a ball.

1. The oldest soccer-like sport was played over 2,000 years ago in ancient Chinese, Greek, and Roman cultures.
2. A rock sometimes served as the ball, and in some instances, a "ball" was made from an animal hide stuffed with hair.
3. Soccer evolved from 19th century England and was brought to the United States by immigrants.
4. England's first football association was created in 1863, establishing rules that led to the separation between soccer and rugby.
5. One rule established in 1863 was that the ball could not be carried by hand.
6. Increasing industrialization made soccer more popular in England, transitioning it from public school teams to workplace-based teams.
7. Talented players were paid, and soccer became a revenue-generating spectator sport.
8. The first professional soccer league was the English Football League.
9. Semi-professional leagues were introduced in Germany in 1949, and the first professional German division began in 1963/64.
10. American soccer leagues switched from "football" to "soccer" in the late 1910s and early 1920s to avoid confusion with American football.
11. The first U.S. professional soccer leagues formed in 1967: the United Soccer Association and the National Professional Soccer League.
12. These leagues merged to create the North American Soccer League in 1968.
13. Soccer's popularity continued to increase in the United States, leading to the U.S. hosting the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
14. Major League Soccer in the U.S. was established in 1996.