American football, known in the U.S. and canada simply as football, is a competitive team sport. The object of the game is to advance the football towards the opposing team's end zone and score points. The ball can be advanced by carrying the ball, throwing it, or a lateral handoff, from one teammate to the other. Points can be scored in a variety of ways, including carrying the ball over the goal line, throwing the ball to another player past the goal line (known as a forward pass) or even kicking the ball held by another player on the ground through the goalposts (also known as uprights), which is also called a field goal. The team with more points when time has expired wins.
Outside of the United States, the sport is referred to as American football, ameriball, or sometimes 'Grid-iron' football to differentiate it from the very different game called football which dominates around the rest of the world. American football evolved as a separate sport from rugby football in the late 19th century. Arena football is a variant of American football. |
