Commonwealth of Nations Football Codes (1848-1909)
| Football Code and year of Formation | Notes |
| 1400s Calcio Fiorentino (1) | Earliest Football Code – Renaissance Florence |
| 1848 Rugby Union (2) | First English Codified Football |
| 1858 Australian Football (3) | First Codified Football outside Europe |
| 1862 Soccer (4) | Football Association |
| 1870s Rugby League (5) | Northern Rugby Clubs broke away from Rugby Union to form Professioonal League |
| 1884 Gaelic Football (6) | Gaelic Athletic Association formed in Ireland |
| 1893 Pro Football (*) | American Pro Football started in Western Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh Area) |
| 1909 Canadian Football (7) | Canadian Rugby Union (now Canadian Football League) played first Grey Cup |
(*) Note: Early version of American Football. Modern versions include NCAA Football (University 1911 – Codified by Theodore Roosevelt) and National Football League (First Professional American Football League to succeed). There were also early versions of Football in Ancient Greece & Rome (e.g. Harpastum) and East Asia and Australia (e.g. Marn Grook (Australia), Kemari (Japan) and Chuo (China) which were children’s games or court games of keepie-uppies. early versions of Football in Medieval Britain with no rules or limits on the number of players e.g. Cumbrian Uppies & Downies, Alnwick Shaking the Hales, Orkney Ba’ Game among others and later English Public School Football Games with assymetrical fields and numbers per team and obscure rules e.g. Eton Fives, however, none of these was ever professional.
American Football Leagues and Soccer Continental Competitions (1911-1974)
| American Football Leagues | AFL Notes | Soccer Continents | Notes |
| 1911 University Football (8) | NCAA founded | 1916 South American Championship (9) | CONMEBOL |
| 1920 National Football (10) | NFL founded | 1927 International Championship (11) | Europe |
| 1930s American Football (13) | AFL Rivals to NFL | 1930 FIFA World Cup (12) | First Edition |
| 1946 All-American Football (15) | AAFC Rival to NFL | 1941 CCCF Championship (14) | Central America |
| 1950s American Association (17) | AFA Rival to NFL NY-NJ Metro Area | 1951 Asian Games (16) | |
| 1960s Continental Football (19) | CoFL Rival to NFL | 1957 African Cup of Nations (18) | Became Proper Competition following Independence in 1960 |
| 1974 World Football (21) | WFL Rival to NFL | 1973 Oceania (20) | Pacific Island Nations and Australia. |
World Indoor X Football and Pro Rugby Leagues
| World American Football | Arena Indoor Football | X (Spring) American Football | Pro Rugby Leagues |
| 1979 Europe (22) | 1986 Arena Football AFL (24) | 1983 United States USFL (23) | 1987 Premiership England (25) |
| 1991 North Atlantic WLAF (26) | 1999 Indoor Foootball IFL (30) | 1993 CFL USA (27) | 1996 Super Rugby SANZAR (28) |
| 1998 Germany NFLEL (29) | 2004 Lingerie Football LFL (33) | 2001 XFL (31) | 2001 Celtic League / Pro 14 (32) |
| 2016 Mexico LFA (36) | 2016 American 7s A7FL (35) | 2014 Spring Football TSL (34) | 2017 Top 14 France (37) |
| 2021 Japan X-League (40) | 2021 Fan-Controlled FCF (39) | 2019 Alliance AAF (38) | ??? |
References
For References on each of the Leagues as well as much more information please see the following pages:
Websites
American Football Codes
[1] NFL / Kevin Patra (2020) Washington retiring nickname, logo; new nickname TBD [Internet] Available from: https://www.nfl.com/news/washington-retires-nickname-logo-new-nickname-tbd [Accessed 14 July 2020]
Canadian Football Leagues: https://eirball.ie/canadian-football-leagues/
National Football League: https://eirball.ie/national-football-league-2/
American Football League Era 1920-1950: https://eirball.ie/american-football-leagues-era-1920-1950/
Mexican American Football Leagues: https://eirball.ie/mexican-american-football-leagues/
Japan American Football: https://eirball.ie/japanese-american-football/
United States Football Leagues Era 1960-1985: /https://eirball.ie/united-states-football-leagues-era-1960-1985/
Arena and Indoor Football Leagues: https://eirball.ie/arena-indoor-football-leagues/
European american Football: https://eirball.ie/european-american-football/
Women’s American Football (including Legends Leagues): https://eirball.ie/womens-american-football/
XFL Era Football Leagues: https://eirball.ie/xfl-football-leagues-era-1990-2020/
World American Football Leagues: https://eirball.ie/world-american-football/
World Football Leagues
| League | Link |
| English Premier League | https://www.premierleague.com/ |
| Australian Football League | https://www.afl.com.au/ |
| Gaelic Athletic Association Football | https://www.gaa.ie/football/ |
| International Rules Football | https://www.gaa.ie/search/?q=International%20Rules |
| Super Rugby (Rugby Union) | https://super.rugby/superrugby/ |
| National Rugby League | https://www.nrl.com/ |
| Major Arena Soccer League | https://www.maslsoccer.com/ |
| Copa Libertadores Futsal | https://www.conmebol.com/es/libertadores-futsal-argentina2019 |
| Calcio Fiorentino | https://www.calciostoricofiorentino.it/ |
| Lelo Burti (Georgia) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scQcgvuEMh4 |
Bibliography
Guy Oliver (1992) “The Guinness Record of World Soccer” Guinness Publishing, London 1992
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Prof. Gill and Prof. Corvin.
About this document
Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the
Eirball | Irish, North American & World Sports Archive
Last Updated: 9 July 2021
(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2021
You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Reserved.