It starts from being a player, the sheer emotion and amusement you can get getting things right hits very different. And the best thing about football might be that this amusement is transferred from the personal player level to a greater audience level, sometimes it is enhanced I’d say. So, for the just the joy of the game is interesting. And also the fact that your head matters more than your legs in a game played by legs is fun. When you can SEE the game, man oh man.

The fact that anybody with a ball can play the sport. It’s simplicity, the way it brings people together beyond boundaries, religions, wealth divide, culture and race is what makes this beautiful game interesting to me. The fact that even the Word Champions have to go through the gruesome task of qualifying for the next world cup makes it more democratic

It can be a simple thing (such as enjoing a goal or a decent dribble at the stadium ) while having a complex layer with tactics and a link with actual world politics.

The forward pass

certain sections of the footballing fraternity

certain segments of the media

You don’t have to be a great player to be in a winning team!

The simplicity.

More specifically, the fact that that simplicity allows for worldwide popularity and creativity.

It’s the world’s game.

Could have been any other thing, but it’s not. It’s this particular game with its history and enormous depth.

At this point its different to what it was 10-15 years ago.

Now that the guys I grew up idolizing are retired or collecting their last bag, I no longer have the same sentimental value to these new players. Not saying they are bad, just not as invested. Obviously as you grow priorities change. I have always been into football history, looking up past players, teams, leagues and competition is also fun because it helps you put into perspective how great players of the past were.

I guess nowadays, I still watch but I can view the game objectively without any real bias.

The hard tackles.

I’m just a sports enthusiast and I just think it’s fun like basketball and volleyball

Unpredictability

The variety of tactics there is. Depending on if the team has gifted players or not, and making use of what you have to the maximum. Obviously I like individual geniuses (after all my favorite player is Messi) but there’s nothing more inspiring than a group of underdogs giving it their all (even with tactics considered “dirty”, looking at you Suarez) to win against the favorites. I think this is probably why I support Boca Juniors so much, it’s my favorite aspect of football.

Probably not the usual answer, but one thing I love is the heterogeneity of athletes. You can see some are short and technical; some are bulked and physical; some based a career on high stamina; some can do one thing only but it always works; the fast paced wing can be outplayed by the expert defender or viceversa; the player with poor ball control can be a monster in aerial duels; some strikers excel in the box; some others prefer to partecipate in the build-up; some players just have unique vision; and so on.

If you are 1.7m you can’t play in NBA. If you are 1.7m you can win 8 Ballon d’Ors. It’s up to you to create yourself as a player and there are really no limits to find your own tactical utility.

Dortmund somehow bottling the bundesliga EVERY DAMN YEAR!