Cuju

Cuju or Ts'u-chü (Chinese: 蹴鞠; pinyin: cù jū) is an ancient Chinese football game, that resembles a mix of basketball, association football and volleyball. FIFA cites cuju as the earliest form of a kicking game for which there is documentary evidence, a military manual from the Han dynasty.

It is a competitive game that involves both teams trying to kick a ball through an opening into a central hoop without the use of hands whilst ensuring the ball does not touch the ground. This is similar to how hacky sack is played today. Descriptions of the game date back to the Han dynasty, with a Chinese military work from the 3rd–2nd century BC describing it as an exercise. It was also played in other Asian countries like Korea, Japan and Vietnam.