National Geographic Photo Flashback: Soccer Around the World
ByJanelle Nanos
June 10, 2010
4 min readThe World Cup kicks off tomorrow, and soccer fans everywhere will be looking to South Africa for the next few weeks for some heated competition and a chance to show off their national pride. And while the rivalries may be fierce, soccer unites people in a way that few sports can: All that’s needed is a ball and two makeshift goals and a game can happen almost anywhere. As evidence of such, we went back into National Geographic’s photo archives to find some classic soccer images from around the globe. And we want to see yours as well. Submit your international soccer photos to National Geographic’s MyShot and we’ll feature them here on the blog throughout the World Cup tournament. To see soccer photo puzzles, click here and here and search “soccer.”
A young girl watches a boy demonstrate his soccer skills in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. By David Allen Harvey, National Geographic, 2007.
Boys play soccer in front of a newly built mosque in Bahrain. By Steve Raymer, National Geographic, 1979.
A woman practices with a soccer ball on the beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. By Theo Westenberger, National Geographic, 1999.
Portrait of a Botswanian boy holding a soccer ball. By Jodi Cobb, National Geographic, 2007.
Boys play soccer beside the arches of an ancient aqueduct in Rome, Italy. B. Anthony Stewart, National Geographic, 1957.
All Photos via the National Geographic archives.
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