Football's Chinese roots run deeper than most fans know. Cuju (蹴鞠) — an ancient Chinese game played with a leather ball — is recognized by FIFA as an early form of football, and it flourished alongside the I-Ching's philosophical golden age.
Cuju was played in China for over 2,000 years, reaching its peak in the Han and Tang dynasties. Matches were played in imperial courts, with professional players, organized teams and written rules. The game was not just sport — it was woven into the cosmological worldview that produced the I-Ching.
The same intellectual tradition that systematized the hexagrams produced China's understanding of games, seasons and strategy. Cuju matches were played in harmony with the calendar, and the martial-arts and strategic texts of the era share vocabulary with the I-Ching's language of change and balance.
Today's I-Ching football analysis continues that lineage: a Chinese philosophical system meeting the modern game. Whether or not the connection is causal, it is cultural — and it is the story we tell with every daily report.