Professionalism in association football
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Association football is the world's most popular sport and is worth US$600 billion worldwide.[1] By the end of the 20th century it was played by over 250 million players in over 200 countries.[2][3][4][5][6] Around the world, the sport is played at a professional level by professional footballers, and millions of people regularly go to football stadiums to follow their favourite football teams,[1] while billions more watch the sport on television or on the internet.[7] Football has the highest global television audience in sport.[8] The sport had amateur origins and evolved into the modern professional competition.
Not to be confused with Professionalism in women's association football.