American Football

Introduction

American football is one of the most popular sports of the sports world. American football, which is immensely popular in the USA, has also captivated many countries where American football is one of the most popular sports. American football, which seems very much identical with rugby, is a team sport played by an eleven-member team.

The main aim of both the teams is to take the oval shape ball into opponent's territory. The players can either carry the ball in their hands and run towards their opponents goal line until checked by the players of opposite side or can pass the ball to their team members to carry it forward till they reach their opponents goal line.

The international governing body of the American football is the International Federation of American Football (IFAF), which was formed in 1998. Presently, there are 45 associations under the IFAF.

The IFAF conducts the World Championships, Global Junior Championships and also conducts a tournament at World Games.

National Football League (NFL)

Talking about American football, one can not ignore the impact of National Football League (NLF) on sports world that enjoys a special place in the hearts of American people. The National Football League is the professional American football league that has 32 teams from different zones of America.

These 32 teams are divided into American Football Conference (AFL) and National Football Conference (NFC)-each Conference has 16 teams.

Both these American Football Conference (AFL) and National Football Conference (NFC) are further divided region-wise and have four divisions each comprising of four teams.

The NFL season is of 17 weeks with many round-robin matches. Finally, six teams from each Conference find places in the NFL playoffs that ends with the Super Bowl.