A match of cuju, the predecessor of modern football (soccer), will be held in the city of Zibo in eastChina's Shandong province on Sept. 17.

    The city's Linzi district, the site of the match, has been recognized by the world football community as the origin of football.

    Organizers noted that the match will observe rules dating from China's imperial Song Dynasty (960 AD - 1279 AD). There are 10 members on each of the two opposing teams. The team that fails to keep the ball from falling to the ground will lose the game.

    According to historical records, cuju was an very popular and widespread game in China's Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC - 476 BC) in Linzi, the capital of the Qi State (479 AD-502 AD) and one of the largest cities in the world in its time.

    The game also influenced China's neighbors. According to researches by Japanese experts, cuju was introduced into Japan 1,400 years ago by returning Japanese emissaries and students who had learned it in China.

    In Chinese, "cu" means kick and "ju" means ball.

    On July 15 of this year, FIFA president Sepp Blatter acknowledged that China is the birthplace of football and that theancient game of cuju is the true origin of the sport. And Peter Velappan, General Secretary of the Asia Football Confederation declared at a news conference that football originates from the Linzi district in Zibo.

    Linzi district is slated to hold the first international ancient Qi culture and tourism festival from Sept. 16 to Sept. 22.