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The history of American football can be traced to early versions of rugby football and association football.Both games have their origin in multiple varieties of football played in the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century, in which a football is kicked at a goal or kicked over a line, which in turn were based on the varieties of English public school football games descending from medieval ...
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, [nb 1] 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 ...
Other codes of football share a common history with American football. Canadian football is a form of the game that evolved parallel to American football, through its adoption of the Burnside rules in 1903. While both games share a common history and basic structure, there are some important differences between the two. [237]
The following is a list of common and historically significant formations in American football. In football, the formation describes how the players in a team are positioned on the field. Many variations are possible on both sides of the ball, depending on the strategy being employed. On offense, the formation must include at least seven ...
The official playing field in Canadian football is larger than the American, and similar to American fields before 1912. The Canadian field of play is 110 by 65 yards (100.6 by 59.4 m), compared to 100 by 531⁄3 yards (91.4 by 48.8 m) in American football. Since 1986, Canadian end zones are 20 yards (18.3 m) deep while the American end zones ...
The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence.
American football is undoubtedly the most popular sport in the US, with millions of Americans converging to watch the NFL Super Bowl annually. Besides the massive fan base in its country of origin ...
The various codes of football share certain common elements and can be grouped into two main classes of football: carrying codes like American football, Canadian football, Australian football, rugby union and rugby league, where the ball is moved about the field while being held in the hands or thrown, and kicking codes such as association football and Gaelic football, where the ball is moved ...