The narrative rests on three kinds of material: general histories (which supply the frame), primary documents (rule texts, newspapers, reliefs and photographs, used to calibrate detail), and public records (tournament and technical documentation, used to check dates and numbers). Where sources disagree, the text says so rather than smoothing it over.
| Ref. | Work | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| S1 | Jonathan Wilson, Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics, 2008 (rev. 2013) | Tactical spine; the lineage of WM, catenaccio and Total Football |
| S2 | David Goldblatt, The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football, 2006 | Institutional and social frame; FIFA and World Cup governance |
| S3 | James Walvin, The People's Game: The History of Football Revisited, 1994 | Folk football, public-school reform and professionalisation |
| S4 | Norbert Elias & Eric Dunning, Quest for Excitement, 1986 | The theory of "sportisation" — how violent games were civilised |
| S5 | Ban Gu, Book of Han (Hanshu), "Treatise on Literature" | Direct evidence that the cuju manuals were classed as military texts |
| S6 | Liu Bingguo, Cuju: The World's Oldest Football, 2004 | The Tang inflated ball and the Song professional clubs |
| S7 | Giovanni de' Bardi, Discorso sopra il giuoco del calcio fiorentino, 1580 | The written rules of calcio storico, including the 27-a-side format |
| S8 | IFAB, Laws of the Game, various editions | Clause texts and the year of each change |
| S9 | FIFA archive and World Cup technical reports, 1930–2022 | Entry numbers, scores, format changes |
| S10 | Court of Justice of the European Union, Case C-415/93 (Bosman), 1995 | The legal basis of free player movement |
This is a teaching archive, not a critical edition: quotations are not given line by line, but every figure (player numbers, years, scores, attendances) can be checked against the works above or against tournament records. Where early games are described differently in different sources, the text marks the mainstream reading.
| File | Original | Author | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|
| cuju-song.jpg | Emperor Taizu Playing Cuju | attrib. Qian Xuan | Public domain |
| episkyros-relief.jpg | Greek ballplayers relief, 500 BCE | MatthiasKabel (photo) | CC BY 2.5 |
| calcio-1688.jpg | Calcio fiorentino, 1688 | Anonymous engraving | Public domain |
| england-scotland-1872.jpg | Scotland v England, 1872 | William Ralston | Public domain |
| dick-kerr-1920.png | Dick, Kerr's Ladies, 1920 | Anonymous cutting | Public domain |
| worldcup-1930.jpg | Stábile's goal v Uruguay, 1930 | Anonymous photograph | Public domain |
| maracanazo-1950.jpg | Ghiggia's goal, 1950 | Anonymous photograph | Public domain |
| hungary-1954.jpg | Hungary 7–1 England, 1954 | FORTEPAN | CC BY 3.0 |
| herrera-inter.jpg | Herrera & Inter, c.1961 | Gino Begotti | Public domain |
| cruyff-1974.jpg | Johan Cruijff, 1974 | Rob Mieremet / Anefo | CC0 |
| barcelona-2011.jpg | FC Barcelona, 2011 | Christopher Johnson | CC BY-SA 2.0 |
| crowd-2022.jpg | Wisła Kraków stadium, 2022 | Krzysztof Popławski | CC BY 4.0 |
The Barcelona 2011 photograph is licensed "attribution — share alike". It is used here cropped and scaled, with attribution and a link to the original. Republishing it requires the same terms: credit Christopher Johnson, link the original file, and release under CC BY-SA 2.0.