Example sentences
tā他měi每tiān天tī踢zú足qiú球。
He plays soccer every day.
nǐ你huì会tī踢zú足qiú球ma吗？
Can you play soccer?
About this word
踢 means "to kick" and 足球 is 足 "foot" plus 球 "ball", so 踢足球 is literally "kick the football". The verb comes from the body part, which is why soccer takes 踢 and basketball takes 打. 足球 names both the ball and the sport. The phrase splits around anything you add: 踢了两个小时足球, 他足球踢得很好. The American game is 橄榄球, "olive ball".
The story behind the character
踢
足 (foot) on the left, 易 on the right giving the sound. 踢 is a late character, not in the Shuowen, and it does not pretend otherwise: a foot plus a sound-alike, meaning to kick. 踢足球 is the word you need it for. 足 does all the work. 易 just stands there looking helpful.
足
The oracle form of 足 is a leg from the knee down. The box on top is the calf and knee, and 止 below is the foot. Xu Shen wrote 足, 人之足也, 在下: a person's foot, the part below. 足球 is where you meet it in HSK2, but the character itself is just a leg, drawn from the knee to the ground.
球
球 is 王, here meaning jade, plus 求 giving the sound. Xu Shen wrote 球, 玉也: a kind of fine jade. For a thousand years the character was about polished stone, until it got borrowed for balls and never gave the meaning back. 足球, 篮球, 地球. The word you shout at a game is a jade stone that got a new job.