Jakarta-Palembang 2011

Football is one of the most widely played and oldest games in existence. The ancient Chinese, Greeks and Romans played something very similar to Football long before the English Kings in the 1300s and 1400s tried to outlaw what they described as a violent sport.

In modern terms, Football began when the Football Association of England was founded in 1863. The game was spread throughout the world by English sailors who used to play it wherever they went.

Men's Association football was an Asian Games sport since the 1951 edition. Women's football competition began on 1990.

Since 2002 Asian Games, age limit for men teams is under-23, same as the age limit in football competitions at the Summer Olympics, while three over aged players are allowed among each squad.

Football was incorporated into the Asian Games in 1951.

Futsal is an indoor version of association football. Its name is derived from the Portuguese, which can be translated as 'indoor football'. Futsal is played between two teams of five players, one of whom is the goalkeeper. In addition each team may have 7 substitutes.

Unlike some other forms of indoor football, the court is delimited by lines, and not walls or boards that players can use to rebound the ball. Futsal is played with a smaller ball with less bounce than a football.

The emphasis is on improvisation, creativity and technique. Other forms of indoor football games, which are played by somewhat different rules, exist and may be referred to as indoor football, five-a-side football or indoor soccer.

Those games predate the formulation of official (FIFA) rules of futsal.