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The football ball is the symbol of the most popular game in the world, football. But as we know, there are different kinds of football – American and European (Soccer) — and the balls in these sports are different. Fortunately, in the standard Unicode set there are pictures of footballs, suitable for both both of them. Let’s talk about them in more details today.
⚽ The Soccer Emoticon was assigned the code U+26BD, with which it was added to the Activities section of the Unicode 5.2 standard in 2009.
🏈 The American Football Emoticon was assigned the code U+1F3C8, with which it was added to the Unicode 6.0 standard activity in 2010.
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In different periods of time, balls could be round, oval, and in some cases even shaped like a segment of an orange. Nevertheless, it was in the Middle Ages that the process of standardizing the shape and size of the ball slowly but surely began.
The modern standard of the soccer ball was approved in the middle of the 19th century. In 1863, the first official rules of soccer were created, which included the standard size and weight of the ball. Since then, the ball has become a mandatory attribute of the game and has been subject to constant revision.
Modern soccer balls are made of 32 interlocking panels, usually made of polyurethane material. This construction provides optimal ball performance for kicking, flight speed and player control.
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The first American Football teams used an ordinary round shaped ball. It was difficult to hold and difficult to throw correctly. More suitable was the projectile for the game of rugby, but the peculiar rules of American soccer quickly transformed it. The ball decreased in size, lost weight, but gained more elongated ends and characteristic lacing. The material of the sports equipment itself changed: composite rubber and cotton was replaced by leather.
In 1924, the NFL introduced a single, still relevant standard ball for American soccer: the length of the circumference from end to end 72.4 centimeters, the width of the circumference of 34 centimeters and a weight of 397-425 grams. The final transformation ended only two years later: the white, with black stripe coloring of the ball was replaced by a brown skin color and white stripe.
Well, it’s more than simple. Use the black and white Football Emoji in posts and messages related to soccer, and the oblong brown one to mention American Football. It’s up to you to determine the context of your posts.
These emoji can be seen in messages inviting you to attend a match, or to spend time playing soccer, or simply as a symbol of outdoor activities. Any messages related to sports will look logical and organic accompanied by one of these emoji, or maybe two at once.
By and large, there is only one similarity between European and American soccer, all that unites these two sports is the word “soccer” that is present in their names. American soccer can be called a type of rugby, there are many similarities between these two sports, much more than there are between American and European soccer. And of course, for people far from sports, the most obvious difference in these sports is the shape of the ball. It is about Football Emoji that we have told you today.