American Football Vs. Soccer
Despite sharing a name in some countries, American football and soccer are completely different sports. In North America, football is played with an oval ball that is thrown and passed; goals are scored when a player carries the ball over the opponent's goal line. North American soccer, however, is what most other countries refer to as football--or "fútbol"--a game played with a round ball, passed by the lower body and head, as opposed to arms and hands. While soccer is one of the most popular sports in international countries, American football has almost no foothold out of North America.
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Equipment
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American football and soccer both require some equipment to play, though soccer requires less. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)--the governing body of soccer--stipulates in regulation 4 of its official Equipment Regulation manual that players are required to have a shirt or jersey, shorts, stockings (socks), shin guards and appropriate footwear.
On the other hand, in addition to the uniform, American football requires a helmet, shoulder pads, pants, knee pads and cleats. Some American football players prefer to wear thigh pads and gloves, as well.
Field Size
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American football rules set the field size at 360 feet long and 160 feet wide. The playing field is 300 feet with 30-foot end zones on either side.
Soccer fields must fall within a minimum of 330 feet and a maximum of 360 feet in length, with a width minimum of 210 feet and a maximum of 240 feet The length is always required to be longer than the width, as stipulated in law 1 of FIFA's 2009/2010 Laws of the Game manual.
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Duration of Games
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In soccer, FIFA's rules stipulate two equal 45-minute halves with a 15-minute interval. At the end of the initial 45 minutes, the referee may add extra time due to player injuries, substitutions, time wasting or other causes he feels have taken away from playing time.
American football consists of four periods of 15 minutes each, with a halftime after two periods have been played. The intermission between the periods is two minutes, while it's 12 minutes between the halves.
Scoring
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As with all sports, scoring determines the winning team. Law 10 of FIFA's 2009/2010 Laws of the Game manual stipulates that "a goal is scored when the whole ball passes over the goal line, between the goalposts and under the crossbar." This results in a point.
American football offers a vast array of ways to score points. Touchdowns, field goals, extra points and safeties all yield points for the scoring team. Touchdowns offer six points, with an extra point possibility after the touchdown. A field goal is worth three points, while a safety is worth two points.
Popularity
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As of 2010, FIFA has more than 200 federations registered and ranked globally. The FIFA World Cup is the main event of soccer and is held every four years. The 2006 World Cup averaged 259.9 million viewers per match for the 64 matches played. According to FIFA, the cumulative audience for the 2006 World Cup was 26.29 billion.
American football's annual season-end sporting event is the Super Bowl, which consistently draws the highest audience for American football games. The 2010 Super Bowl--or Super Bowl XLIV--was viewed by 106 million people and, according to the Los Angeles Times, had the largest audience of any other televised event in the United States, as of March 2010.
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References
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- Photo Credit Football official standing next to football image by Pezography from Fotolia.com
