Portal:American football

The American Football Portal

American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with possession of the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with the ball or throwing it, while the defense, the team without possession of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs or plays; if they fail, they turn over the football to the defense, but if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs to continue the drive. A game is won by the team with the higher number of points, which are scored primarily by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal.

American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of soccer and rugby. The first American football match was played on November 6, 1869, between two college teams, Rutgers and Princeton, using rules based on the rules of soccer at the time. A set of rule changes drawn up from 1880 onward by Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", established the snap, the line of scrimmage, eleven-player teams, and the concept of downs. Later rule changes legalized the forward pass, created the neutral zone, and specified the size and shape of the football. The sport is closely related to Canadian football, which evolved in parallel with and at the same time as the American game, although its rules were developed independently from those of Camp. Most of the features that distinguish American football from rugby and soccer are also present in Canadian football. The two sports are considered the primary variants of gridiron football.

American football is the most popular sport in the United States in terms of broadcast viewership audience. The most popular forms of the game are professional and college football, with the other major levels being high-school and youth football. , nearly 1.04 million high-school athletes play the sport in the U.S., with another 81,000 college athletes in the NCAA and the NAIA. The National Football League (NFL) has the highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world. Its championship game, the Super Bowl, ranks among the most-watched club sporting events globally. In 2022, the league had an annual revenue of around $18.6 billion, making it the most valuable sports league in the world. Other professional and amateur leagues exist worldwide, but the sport does not have the international popularity of other American sports like baseball or basketball; the sport maintains a growing following in the rest of North America, Europe, Brazil, and Japan. (Full article...)

Recognized content -

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

The Birmingham Americans were a professional American football team located in Birmingham, Alabama. They were members of the four-team Central Division of the World Football League (WFL). The Americans, founded in late December 1973, played in the upstart league's inaugural season in 1974. The team was owned by William "Bill" Putnam, doing business as Alabama Football, Inc.

The club played all of their home games at Legion Field. The most successful of the World Football League franchises, the Americans led the league in attendance and won all 13 of their home games. They developed a reputation for come-from-behind victories and winning by narrow margins. The Americans finished the 1974 regular season at 15–5 and won the 1974 World Bowl by one point over the Florida Blazers. (Full article...)

List of recognized articles

History of American football
CenturyLink Field
Birmingham Americans
Heidi Game
2009 Orange Bowl
History of the New York Jets
So God Made a Farmer
National Football League Players Association
2005 Texas Longhorns football team
NFL playoffs
National Football League
Fair catch kick
Safety (gridiron football score)
Green Bay East–Green Bay West football rivalry
Health issues in American football
17776
1948 Cleveland Browns season
Packers sweep
Carolina Panthers
Thunder (mascot)
1998 NFC Championship Game
Navy–Johns Hopkins football rivalry
Keggy the Keg
Dartmouth Big Green football under William Wurtenburg
ACC Championship Game
1879 Navy Midshipmen football team
2012 Hawaii Bowl
Ralphie the Buffalo
Sparty
Maryland Terrapins football
Green Bay Packers Foundation
2002 Gator Bowl
Apogee Stadium
History of the New York Giants (1994–present)
Super Bowl XLI
Three Rivers Stadium
Super Bowl XLVI halftime show
2015 Chicago Bears season
Minneapolis Miracle
Washington Redskins name controversy
New England Patriots
1987 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season
New York Jets
1920 Dayton Triangles season
2008 Orange Bowl
Lambeau Leap

General images

The following are images from various American football-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1A game between the Hamilton Tigers and the Ottawa Rough Riders, 1910 (from Canadian football)
Image 2An arena football goalpost structure featuring the rebound nets on either side of the uprights. (from Arena football)
Image 3Sewanee's 1899 "Iron Men" (from History of American football)
Image 4An AFL goalpost (from Arena football)
Image 5Original entrance to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 6Montreal Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo looks down field with the ball during the 93rd Grey Cup game at BC Place. (from Canadian football)
Image 7Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium with the Hall of Fame in lower right (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 8One of the two Harvard vs. McGill games played in 1874 (from History of American football)
Image 9The Hall is made up of several sections with display of the inductees at its heart (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 10Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (gold jerseys with black accents) vs. Triangle Torch (black jerseys with red and yellow accents) play an Indoor Football League at Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, March 25, 2016 (from Arena football)
Image 11A moment of the second game between Tufts and Harvard at College Hill, October 1875 (from History of American football)
Image 121902 football game between the University of Minnesota and the University of Michigan (from History of American football)
Image 13Jim Thorpe was the first president of the NFL. (from History of American football)
Image 14A Native American college football team (from History of American football)
Image 15Morgan Athletic Club (pictured c. 1900), predecessor of the Arizona Cardinals (from History of American football)
Image 16Don Hutson in 1940. (from History of American football)
Image 17The Big Game between Stanford and California was played as rugby union from 1906 to 1914 (from History of American football)
Image 18Inside the original structure in 2008 (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 191906 St. Louis Post-Dispatch photograph of Brad Robinson, who threw the first legal forward pass and was the sport's first triple threat (from History of American football)
Image 20A modern down indicator box is mounted on a pole and is used to mark the current line of scrimmage. The number on the marker is changed using a dial. (from Canadian football)
Image 21Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium, originally built for the 1978 Commonwealth Games, pictured in 2005. (from Canadian football)
Image 22Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", pictured here in 1878 as the captain of the Yale University football team (from History of American football)
Image 23A football signed by the 1974 Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement class (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 24A college football game between Colorado State University and the Air Force Academy (from History of American football)
Image 251897 Latrobe Athletic Association football team: The first entirely professional team to play an entire season. (from History of American football)
Image 26Sign at the old entrance to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (from Pro Football Hall of Fame)
Image 27A game between the 4th Canadian Armoured Division Atoms and First Canadian Army Red and Blue Bombers, in Utrecht, Netherlands, October 1945 (from Canadian football)
Image 28Tom Davies of Pittsburgh runs against undefeated and unscored upon Georgia Tech in the 1918 game at Forbes Field (from History of American football)
Image 29Touchdown monument outside the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in Hamilton, Ontario (from Canadian football)
Image 30An early American football team, from the turn of the twentieth century (from History of American football)
Image 31High school football stadium in Manhattan, Kansas (from History of American football)
Image 32Colorado's first football team in 1890 (from History of American football)
Image 33Footballs and a helmet at a Calgary Stampeders (CFL) team practice (from Canadian football)
Image 34Diagram of a Canadian football field (from Canadian football)

Selected image

Cleveland Browns Stadium

Credit: Chris Brown

Cleveland Browns Stadium is a football stadium located in Cleveland, Ohio. Home of the Cleveland Browns National Football League franchise, it sits on 31 acres (13 ha) of land on the shores of Lake Erie and has a capacity of at least 73,200.

Selected biography -

Ben Edwards (born April 10, 1992) is a former American football wide receiver. He played football and basketball at York High School in Yorktown, Virginia. He played college football at Richmond for four years. Edwards earned First-team All-CAA honors in 2012 after leading the CAA in receptions with 80. He was also named First-team All-CAA his senior year in 2013. After going undrafted in the 2014 NFL Draft, Edwards remained unsigned until being signed by the New York Giants in May 2015. He played in two games for the Giants in 2015, catching one pass for nine yards. He spent the entire 2016 season on injured reserve and became a free agent afterwards. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies

Jim Thorpe
Rex Ryan
Scott Zolak
Tyrone Wheatley
Otto Graham
Hobey Baker
Calvin Johnson
George Campbell (American football)
Chris Gragg
Billy Joe Tolliver
Jake Long
Al Pollard
Dan Dworsky
Garry Williams (gridiron football)
Jackie Slater
Mac Speedie
Peyton Manning
Zock Allen
Joe Delaney
Skip Holtz
Tony Akins (Canadian football)
Mike Scarry
Les Horvath
Steve Morrison (American football)
Jack Youngblood
Trevor Williams (American football)
Tai Streets
A. J. Foyt IV
Junior Hemingway
Tony Akins (Canadian football)
Jim Taylor (fullback)
Y. A. Tittle
Tuineau Alipate
Dub Jones (American football)
Sid Luckman
Dick Butkus
Joe Perry (American football)
Clark Shaughnessy
Billy Cannon
T. T. Toliver

Calendar

2023 season: NFL • NCAA FBS (Bowl games)
Jan 8	College Football National Championship: #1 Michigan vs #2 Washington
Jan 13-15	NFL: Wild Cards
Jan 20-21	NFL: Divisional games
Jan 28	NFL: Conference games
Feb 4	NFL: Pro Bowl Games
Feb 11	NFL: Super Bowl LVIII

Selected quote

“

College football: I do not see the relationship of those highly industrialized affairs on Saturday afternoons to higher learning in America.

”

— Robert Maynard Hutchins

University of Chicago president, on the putative extra-academic character and corporate, professional nature of the collegiate game in the United States

Did you know...

...that the Sacramento Sirens are the only professional women's full-tackle team ever to have won four consecutive league championships, having captured the Women's American Football Conference title in 2001 and that of the Independent Women's Football League in 2002, 2003, and 2004?
...that the 2002 and 2003 winners of the Pete Dawkins Trophy as most valuable player of the high school U.S. Army All-American Bowl, quarterbacks Vince Young (pictured) and Chris Leak, were subsequently the offensive most valuable players, respectively, of the 2005 and 2006 BCS National Championship Games?
...that since the 1970 merger between the American and National Football Leagues, the Minnesota Vikings have in the regular season won more games than all save five teams but have never won a Super Bowl?

Subcategories

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American football

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American football by continent

American football by country

College football

American football competitions

American football culture

American football draft picks

American football drafts

American football equipment

History of American football

American football incidents

American football mass media

American football organizations

American football people

American football plays

American football positions

American football records and statistics

Seasons in American football

Semi-professional American football

American football strategy

American football terminology

American football trophies and awards

Variations of American football

American football venues

Women's American football

American football logos

American football-related lists

American football stubs

Things you can do

Add {{Portal|American football}} to the See also section of American football-related articles.
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Join WikiProject American football and list yourself as a Member.
Rate the Unassessed American football articles in the American football WikiProject.
Rate the Unknown-importance American football articles in the American football WikiProject.
Deletion discussions: listed at Wikipedia:WikiProject Deletion sorting/American football
Requested articles: Create a requested article on American football
Stubs: Help expand Category:American football stubs

Lists

List of NFL champions
NCAA Division 1A Champions
List of Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
List of NFL first overall draft_picks
List of National Football League head coaches
List of NFL rushing champions
List of college football coaches with 200 career wins
List of current NFL team rosters
National Football League 1940s All-Decade Team
National Football League 1960s All-Decade Team
National Football League 1970s All-Decade Team
National Football League 1980s All-Decade Team
National Football League 1990s All-Decade Team
List of NFL franchise post-season droughts

WikiProjects

WikiProject Sports
- WikiProject American football
  - WikiProject American Football League
  - WikiProject Arena Football League
  - WikiProject College football
  - WikiProject National Football League
    - WikiProject Pittsburgh Steelers
    - WikiProject Chicago Bears
    - WikiProject Green Bay Packers
    - WikiProject New England Patriots
    - WikiProject San Francisco 49ers
    - WikiProject Los Angeles Rams
- WikiProject Canadian football
- WikiProject European League of Football

Sports portals

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