English B2 FCE

Football (0) IS considered by many (1) ............ be the world's favourite game and 1863 is often identified as an important date, as that was when the Football Association in England, the sport's first governing body, (2) ............ formed. A search down the centuries reveals at least six different games to (3) ............ the historical development of football can be attributed. An exercise from a Chinese military manual dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC gives us evidence (4) ............ the very earliest form of the game, which consisted of kicking a leather ball filled with hair and feathers (5) ............ an opening of about 35cm in width. Another (6) ............ of the game, also originating from the Far East, is Japan's Kemari, which began some 500-600 years later and is still being played today. Modern-day football has become the (7) ............ watched sport in the world. Billions of dollars are generated annually (8) ............ the practitioners of the art, some of whom are the most famous people on the planet with accordingly large salaries.