china, cuju, soccer, soccer history

Meet the 2,000-Year-Old Chinese Version of Soccer

Soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world. Though the modern version of soccer that is played today has its origins in the West, an ancient form of soccer already existed in China about 2,000 years ago. Known as cuju, the earliest known evidence of the game appears in a military manual ...

December 16, 2020

Raven Montmorency

Painting of Chinese Emperor Taizu playing cuju with court officials.

The Origin of Soccer in China

The earliest soccer game originated from the Linzi region of the Qi state during the Zhou Dynasty in China over 2,300 years ago. Its ancient name was cuju. Cuju was first mentioned in the historical texts Annals of the Warring States and Records of the Grand Historian in which the sport was clearly recorded as ...

March 25, 2019

Armin Auctor