Another foot-radical action verb: ⻊ supplies the leg, 易 the sound. 易 alone means 'easy' — and 踢 is the easiest thing a foot does when a ball rolls into range.
蹴鞠 cùjū, the Han-dynasty kicking game with a leather ball, is FIFA-recognized as football's oldest ancestor — Linzi in Shandong holds the certificate. Two millennia later 踢足球 remains the after-school default wherever there's an empty lot.
A foot ⻊ finding it easy 易 — just KICK.
踢皮球 'kicking the ball around' is the standard idiom for bureaucrats passing responsibility back and forth — paperwork as football.