War: 1914

Football became the most popular sport in the world. In England the game was becoming an important part of national life. The King even attended an FA Cup Final.

In 1914 the First World War started, and international football stopped for four years. Millions of young men from different F.I.F.A countries fought each other in the fields of France and Belgium. On one single morning alone more than 250,000 soldiers were killed in battle.

At the beginning of the war the different armies were lined up opposite each other in fields - like football teams! One British army officer offered a prize to ‘the first man to score a goal past the Germans’. Kicking a ball in front of him, the officer led the attack. He was shot dead and most of his men were also killed.

Christmas: 1914

At Christmas in 1914 there was a ‘cease-fire’ and fighting stopped for seven days. During this week, soldiers from the two armies played football together. -

Sadly, the Christmas cease-fire was not repeated, and the war continued until 1918.