Some people think that history is 'something that can be proven by historical records and archaeology', some people think that history is 'the category of historical research', some people think that history is 'all the people and things in the past in the history of mankind', and some people even think that history is 'everything in the past in the entire universe'. But no matter what kind of thing it is, there is one thing in common, that is, history is a thing of the past, and there is no way to go back, and if you want to go back, you can only rely on human beings to re-interpret it in the way of 'play', so people often say that 'life is like a play, and drama is like life'.

The history of mankind is complex and vast, and there is a sense of 'I don't know where to start', but if I want to say which cultural circle on the earth has the most complex history, I don't think anyone will question this answer - the Eastern cultural circle and the Western cultural circle, even if it excludes the Eastern cultural circle of Japan, South Korea, Korea and Vietnam, and the Western cultural circle of the New World of America, Chinese history and European history are enough for one person to study for ten lifetimes, and Chinese history and European history have many similarities and differences worthy of the thinking of all mankind. The history of China's great unification and the history of Europe's great division are hot topics in the field of comparative historical research.

Although after the end of World War II, human history has entered an era with peace and development as the theme, but as far as the entire human history is concerned, the history of war is still the top priority of the complex human history, and when it comes to the history of war, from ancient times to the present, the region with the largest number of wars and important wars is also East Asia and Europe, and the history of East Asian wars is mainly to look at China. Although the Middle East occupies an important place in the history of ancient and post-war warfare, the wars that had the greatest impact on mankind were fought in East Asia and Europe.

For European history, Europe is the world's most famous 'Great Division', division, it will inevitably be accompanied by war, more than 10 million square kilometers of land in Europe, from antiquity to World War II, has been non-stop, although in antiquity and the Middle Ages, Europe because of low productivity led to a small scale of war, but in the ancient Greek and Roman era, the scale of the war in southern Europe is still very large, some of these wars have a vital impact on the entire history of mankind, such as the Greco-Persian Wars, The Peloponnesian War, the wars waged by Alexander the Great, the three Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage, the many important wars of the Roman Empire, and the Great Migration of European peoples that shaped European peoples and cultures.

In modern times, from the Age of Discovery to the era of World War II, Europe has become the core area of the entire human civilization, the great powers in Europe lead the development of human civilization, the scale of war and war influence in Europe are incomparable with other regions, from 1492 to 1945, there were dozens of large-scale wars of great significance in Europe, including: the Austro-Turkish War, the Eighty Years' War, the Thirty Years' War, the three Anglo-Dutch Wars, the Spanish Succession War, the Great Northern War, War of the Austrian Succession, Seven Years' War, French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, Eleven Russo-Turkish Wars, Crimean War, Franco-Prussian War, World War I and World War II. World War II was the largest war in human history, and World War II was also the beginning of Europe's transformation from the core area of human civilization to the supporting area of human civilization.

After so much rambling, now the topic has turned to football, and the reason why the author is so verbose is because: football is a sport most similar to war, and American football, the most popular in the United States, is also equivalent to a variant of football; Football, in fact, is not just a sport, it is also a culture, a culture that is closely related to the history of human civilization and the history of human warfare.

When we watch European football matches, for example, when we watch the European Cup, World Cup qualifiers, European matches, Champions League, Europa League, Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1, we can find that European football games have a very strong cultural atmosphere, and every game that takes place in Europe is a reflection of the culture of European countries, regions and cities.

Every game that takes place in Europe, we can find cultural traces in it, European football, has been deeply imprinted by culture, European football, more precisely, it is even a kind of drama, players from different teams use superb football skills to interpret European culture, to interpret the history of Europe, especially the history of European wars.

When we watch the European Cup, when we watch the European Cup qualifiers and the World Cup European qualifiers, when we see the match between the two European national teams, in fact, from another angle, we are not looking at the football match between two European countries, but the two countries are fighting a war without gunpowder.

For example, the Anglo-German battle, which is very important in European football and even global football, every time I see the match between England and Germany, I seem to see not only the players of the 'Three Lions' and the 'Germanic Chariot' fighting on the green field, I also seem to have seen the Battle of the Somme, I seem to have seen the Battle of Jutland, I seem to have seen the Dunkirk retreat, I seem to have seen the Anglo-German air battle during World War II, I seem to have seen the Battle of El Alamein, I seem to have seen the Normandy landings and the Market Gardens, and I seem to have seen the famous battles fought by the British and Germans.

In fact, the war between England and Germany is actually not too much, before the 20th century, Britain and Germany were more allies than enemies, until the First World War, Britain and Germany became mortal enemies, but later generations only remember that Britain and Germany were mortal enemies in the two world wars, but forget that in the long history, Britain and Germany were allies or more. The real enemies of the millennium are Germany and France, as well as Britain and France.

The grievances and grievances between Germany and France in history cannot be told in ten days and ten nights, and even the large-scale wars between Germany and France have been as many as fifty times! Whenever I see the Franco-German War, I seem to see the Germans and Gauls love and kill each other, I seem to see the Franks and the Germans attacking each other, I seem to see the French manipulating Germany during the Thirty Years' War, I seem to see all kinds of miracles of Napoleon's footing of Germany, I seem to have seen the "Last Lesson" during the Franco-Prussian War, I seem to have seen the meat grinder of the Marne during the First World War, I seem to have seen the German army sweep through France in 44 days during World War II!

As for the historical grievances between England and France, although they are not as deep as the German-French grievances, they are also inexhaustible for ten days and ten nights, and every time I see the Great War between England and France, I seem to have seen the Celts crossing the Channel from France to invade the British Isles in ancient times, I seem to have seen the conquest of England by the Norman Duchy in 1066, I seem to have seen the Hundred Years' War between England and France, I seem to have seen the Seven Years' War, and I seem to have seen the seven anti-French alliances organized by Britain during the French Revolution.

In addition to the three major historical grievances of Germany and France, Britain and France, and Britain and Germany, there are also a large number of historical grievances in Europe, such as the historical grievances between England and Scotland, the historical grievances between England and Ireland, the historical grievances between England and Spain, the historical grievances between England and Denmark and Norway, the historical grievances between England and Russia, the historical grievances between Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the historical grievances between Poland and Russia, and the historical grievances between Poland and Germany. Historical grievances between Poland and Austria, historical grievances between Poland and Ukraine, historical grievances between Poland and Romania, historical grievances between Hungary and Romania, historical grievances between France and Spain, historical grievances between France and Italy, historical grievances between Germany and Italy, historical grievances between Serbia and Croatia, historical grievances between Serbia and Turkey, historical grievances between Greece and Turkey, historical grievances between Armenia and Turkey, Historical grievances between most of Europe and Turkey, between most of Europe and Russia, between Turkey and Russia......

There was a time when the author was particularly fond of searching the Internet for matches between two rival countries in Europe, such as the match between Serbia and Croatia, the match between Turkey and Greece, the match between Turkey and Bulgaria, the match between Turkey and Russia, and the match between Hungary and Romania...... When seeing these games, the author was deeply shocked: this is not a football match, this is simply war!

Although more than ten years have passed, the author still remembers very clearly the two matches between Greece and Turkey in the 2008 European Championship qualifiers, UEFA seems to be a clever director, UEFA often does things like putting Greece and Turkey in a group, or Serbia and Croatia in a group, and the sworn enemies who have always been in the same group have not failed to live up to the 'director' and ' The expectations of those who watch the show, no matter how many points the score is, as long as it is a match between Greece and Turkey, as long as it is a match between Serbia and Croatia, it is no longer just a football match, but more like a battle to the death.

In the 2008 European Championship qualifiers, Greece and Turkey were in the same group, first at the home of Greece, but Greece lost 1:4 to Turkey at their home stadium. Later, when he returned to Turkey's home stadium, the Greek team went crazy and stormed Turkey's defense, which simply turned Turkey's defense into a funnel, if it weren't for the poor shooting skills of the Greek attackers, coupled with the good performance of the Turkish goalkeeper, it is very possible for the Greek team to beat the Turkish team 5:0.

The historical grievances between European countries have created that when European national teams play, as long as they encounter mortal enemies, they will always risk their lives to fight each other, and even if they do not encounter mortal enemies, European national teams will fight to the death as much as possible, because few European countries are pleasing to each other.

European football culture is mainly reflected in two aspects, one is the national team culture brought about by the grievances and grievances between European countries, and the other is the European urban football culture. As we all know, Europe is the world's most famous 'Great Division', and in the history of European civilization, cities have played a vital role, the birthplace of European civilization - Greece, is characterized by city-state culture, and the city-state culture of the ancient Greek era has also laid the foundation of the later history of European civilization.

After ancient Greece, ancient Rome also developed from a city-state to a large empire, and even after ancient Rome became a great empire, the city-state still occupied a very important weight in the Roman Empire. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Great Migration reshaped Europe, but the city-state culture still flourished in Europe, in the Middle Ages, Italy's city-state republics were famous, German commercial cities formed the famous 'Hanseatic League', and the city-states of the Netherlands and Belgium were also prosperous because of the textile industry.

The football leagues of European countries are also full of symbols of city-state culture, the most typical of which is the Italian football league, in Serie A and Serie B, and even Serie C, all teams highlight the imprint of ancient city-state culture in modern football, such as Milan, Venice, Genoa, Florence, Turin, Rome, Naples, Palermo, Siena, these cities are all Italy' The protagonist of the 'Age of the City-State Republic', the reason why the Florentine team and the Siena team are mortal enemies is because the two cities have loved and killed each other for thousands of years.

In 1260, the Republic of Florence organized 40,000 heavy troops to attack the Republic of Siena, and Siena organized 20,000 horses to counterattack, and in the Battle of Montapetti, Siena defeated Florence and annihilated nearly 30,000 enemy troops. Nowadays, whenever there is a match between Fiorentina and Siena, Siena fans will take out the battle 760 years ago and play it up, intending to humiliate Fiorentina.

For example, the well-known rivalry between Manchester United and Liverpool, as well as the bitter rivalry between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, the north London derby rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, and the rivalry between Newcastle United and Sunderland in the north-east of England, and even the small teams in the Championship, League One and League Two also have their own rivals; In the Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 are world-famous rivals, and in La Liga, there are also Sevilla and Real Betis, a pair of well-known rivals; This is also a major feature of European city-state culture, and when it comes to which country in Europe has the most obvious league rival phenomenon, the author believes that it must be Italy, the author once checked the Internet how many rivals the Fiorentina team has in Serie A and Serie B, this check scared a big jump, Florence has more than 20 rivals!

From ancient times until the end of World War II, many European countries, many nationalities, and many cities fought for thousands of years, fought for thousands of years, fought for thousands of years, killed for thousands of years, and loved and killed each other for thousands of years.

After the end of World War II, the advent of nuclear weapons and the establishment of a balance of terror made the people of Europe, like the people of most parts of the world, look forward to peace and stability that had been waiting for thousands of years. After the realization of the long-cherished wish of peace and stability, the European people suddenly had a huge psychological gap, and when the dream that they had been looking forward to for so long was finally realized, human beings often still recalled the times that they had very much wanted to get rid of.

So, how can we reminisce about thousands of years of bullets, wars and wars, and at the same time not hinder the peace and stability that have been achieved through thousands of years of hard work? At this time, the people of Europe found that football can play this role. Football is the most similar game to war, football strategy, and the complex tactics on the football field, like the war years in European countries in terms of strategy and tactics competition, more importantly, playing football is not dead, so football, replacing war, has become the biggest core of European culture.

Which figures in Europe have been the most recognizable in recent decades? There is no doubt that it is the football stars of European countries, we often joke that the world can know who the national leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain are, but almost no one does not know who the football superstars of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain are, after Hollande and Sarkozy stepped down, almost no one cared, but after the retirement of those former superstars in France, they can still be known to mankind, which shows how high the status of football is in the lives of European people.

Football, and European culture, European history, as well as the cultural history of European countries, nationalities and cities, can be perfectly combined, coupled with European economic prosperity, developed science and technology, football development policies in various countries, therefore, European football has become the core of world football, and South American football, to a certain extent, can also be regarded as an extension of European football, if Chinese football can not rise, then, we can think that the whole world of football, in fact, is an extension of European football.

Football is like a play, it is not all about acting, in fact, it is a reinterpretation of the culture and history of the past that cannot be repeated: football players, they are also a kind of actors, they are on the green field, with their superb football skills, the reinterpretation of history and life; football is a kind of culture, is a kind of culture for all the people involved in football, the rise and fall of the country, the ups and downs of human life and failure.