The Chinese are credited with the earliest form of football. The game was called Tsu’Chu and most records show mention of this game in military manuals dating back to the Tsin Dynasty (255 - 206 BC), other records show its origins as even earlier. Tsu’Chu was part of the physical education programme used to train soldiers at the time. The game was played extensively during the subsequent Han Dynasty period (206 BC - 220 AD).
Tsu’Chu literally means football as ‘tsu’ may be translated to 'kicking the ball with feet' and ‘chu’ meaning 'a ball made of leather and stuffed'. Quite specific for a term that is over 2000 years old.
Chinese legend tells of Liu Bang (the founder of the Han Dynasty) being a big fan of the game. When his father moved with him from the countryside to the Imperial Palace he missed playing the game terribly. So his son, the Emperor, built a special field near the Palace and invited a number of skilful players from his hometown to play there. It is really during the Han Dynasty that the game of Tsu’Chu came into prominence.
The Han Dynasty Emperor Wudi (156-87 BC) was also a great fan of the game. After conquering Central Asia, he ordered that all good ball players move to the capital so that he could watch them play. Emperor Wudi would spend many a day watching a game of Tsu’Chu and quite often he couldn't help but play a few games himself.
During the Tang Dynasty (618-907) a hollow ball filled with air replaced the solid one. At this time kicking the ball became popular with women as well.
Tsu’Chu became incredibly popular with both aristocrats and ordinary people alike and remained popular until the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911) when it was eventually replaced by the game of football as it is known in the western world. Recently in China there has been a surge of interest in playing the game of Tsu’Chu.