Soccer - bet on it with William Hill!

English Premiership and Beyond

We English love to consider our league as the best in the world, with teams like Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.

However throughout Europe there are some cracking leagues and we hope to keep you informed of what's happening and where. the purpose behind this is to keep you informed so that you can place your bets in some kind of confidence. Click here to Bet on soccer with William Hill.

Manchester United are staying top of the league despite everyone's efforts to dislodge them, Chelsea and Liverpool will soon be fighting it out for a Champions League final spot, while United will be battling with Barca for the other place. You can bet on games like this and more at Betfred.

Betfred will allow betting on just about every league in the world so you've no excuses get over and put your money where your mouth is.

A Brief History of the Game

Soccer began in England in 1863 just over 140 years ago. The Brazilians took it from it's basic game and crafted something totally beautiful.

China can actually lay claim to the first record use of a ball similiar to a soccer ball.

There is a Han dynasty military manual that mentions the exercise of Tsu Chu which consisted of kicking a leather ball filled with feathers and hair through an opening 30 - 40 cm into a net. This was in the 2nd century BC jump 500 years forward in time to Japan the introduction of a more civilised game Kemari, this game is still played today the players have to pass the ball to each other without it touching the ground.

Not to be left out the ancient Greeks played a game called 'episkyros'. The roman game 'Harpastum' played on a rectangular field marked by boundary lines and a centre line The ball was small and the object was to get the ball over the opponents boundary lines.

Why the British version swept the globe is still somewhat of a mystery although the size of the British Empire may have had something to do with it.

Some early versions of the English game saw hotly contested matches between villages or towns with both fielding as many participants as they could muster and the only rule was you couldn't kill someone. The games went over fields through hedges over and under fences. You could kick, bite, scratch and gouge (very similiar to modern soccer some would say.)

The first game that played for a standardised time was in 1866 between London and Sheffield this lasted for the duration that we have come to know and love of One and a Half hours.