American football is one of the most popular competitive sports in the United States. America’s most popular sport is soccer, and it took more than a century to become America’s most popular sport.
Professional football is a popular spectator sport during the fall and early winter. There is a long-standing (though not universally followed) tradition in the United States that high school football is played on Friday, college games are played on Saturday, and pro games are played on Sunday (the other pro game is played on Monday night). Like other high school sports, public high school football in most states is regulated by the National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS). Many colleges and universities have football teams, often with dedicated football fields.
In keeping with American football’s status as a popular sport, football is played in leagues of varying sizes, ages and qualities across the United States, American football (not to be confused with “soccer” in the rest of the world, as Americans call it) is a strenuous and demanding sport that requires players to wear special protective gear. Some 250 million players play in more than 200 countries, making it the most popular sport globally. Outside the US, Catch and Run is called “American Football” (or its translation) to distinguish it from other football codes such as Association Football, Rugby Union, Rugby Union, Australian Football and Gaelic Football.
Outside the United States and Canada, American football is commonly referred to as American football (or gridiron football or gridiron football) to distinguish it from other football games. American football, known as United States football in the United States, is a sport played by two teams of eleven for scoring points by advancing the ball into the end zone of the opposing teams, running with it, or throwing it at a teammate (squad).
The United States is home to the “Five Major Sports”, including American football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer. Basketball is one of the most popular sports in America after football and baseball. Football is famous as an amateur activity in Mexico and American Samoa, and to a lesser extent in Japan, Europe, Korea, New Zealand and Australia. In North America, the National Hockey League (NHL) is the top tier of men’s hockey and the most popular.
The American Professional Football Association was founded in 1920 and changed its name to the National Football League (better known as the NFL) a few years later. In 1920, the American Professional Soccer Association consisted of teams from state regional associations such as the Ohio League and the New York Professional Football League. There have been numerous attempts to create a second major or significant professional league in recent decades, but most of them have failed within a few years. The pressure from the major companies led to the merger of football and the birth of the Super Bowl, which has become America’s most-watched annual television event.
