The last members of a junior association football team and their coach were rescued from Tham Luang Nang Non, a flooded cave in northern Thailand.
Association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposing team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed goal defended by the opposing team. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45-minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries and territories, it is the world's most popular sport.
Tham Luang cave rescue
In June/July 2018, a junior association football team became trapped for fifteen days in Tham Luang Nang Non, a cave system in Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand, but were ultimately rescued. Twelve members of the team, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old assistant coach entered the cave on 23 June after a practice session. Shortly after they entered, heavy rainfall began and partially flooded the cave system, blocking their way out and trapping them deep within.
Tham Luang Nang Non
Tham Luang Nang Non, also known as Tham Luang or Tham Yai, is a karstic cave system in the Tham Luang–Khun Nam Nang Non Forest Park, near the village of Ban Chong in Pong Pha subdistrict, in northern Thailand. It lies beneath Doi Nang Non, a mountain range on the border with Myanmar.