El fútbol americano es un deporte de contacto en el que dos equipos de jugadores intentan llevar el balón a la zona de anotación o patearla entre los postes. El equipo atacante tiene cuatro intentos (downs) para avanzar 10 yardas (9 metros); una vez que lo logra tiene cuatro intentos más para avanzar otras diez yardas. Cada intento permite un pase hacia adelante, y finaliza cuando el equipo rival derriba al portador de la pelota o una pelota cae al suelo. El fútbol americano nació hace más de 100 años en Estados Unidos de América como una modificación del rugby inglés. Es uno de los deportes de contacto más competitivos de Estados Unidos y que se practica actualmente en más de 60 países. Este deporte requiere de una gran disciplina, entrenamiento físico y preparación mental. En los últimos años hay una gran controversia por las lesiones cerebrales que sufren algunos jugadores y más de 1.300 jugadores retirados han interpuesto demandas contra la NFL argumentado haber ignorado y no haber advertido a los jugadores de los peligros de conmoción, traumas y otras lesiones cerebrales. La mayor manifestación competitiva y mediática de este deporte se da en la National Football League (NFL), la liga de fútbol americano profesional de Estados Unidos. El fútbol americano universitario, que se practica a nivel amateur en todo el país, también goza de grandes ganancias y popularidad.

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American football, referred to as football in the United States and Canada, and also known as gridiron, is a sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with control of the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with or passing the ball, while the team without control of the ball, the defense, aims to stop their advance and take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs, or plays, or else they turn over the football to the opposing team; if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs. Points are primarily scored by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins. American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of association football and rugby football. The first game of American football was played on November 6, 1869, between two college teams, Rutgers and Princeton, under rules based on the association football rules of the time. During the latter half of the 1870s, colleges playing association football switched to the Rugby Union code, which allowed carrying the ball. A set of rule changes drawn up from 1880 onward by Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", established the snap, eleven-player teams, and the concept of downs; later rule changes legalized the forward pass, created the neutral zone, and specified the size and shape of the football. American football as a whole is the most popular sport in the United States, which hosts the only professional football leagues on the planet. Professional football and college football are the most popular forms of the game, with the other major levels being high school and youth football. As of 2012, nearly 1.1 million high school athletes and 70,000 college athletes play the sport in the United States annually. The National Football League, the most popular American football league, has the highest average attendance of any sports league in the world; its championship game, the Super Bowl, ranks among the most-watched club sporting events in the world, and the league has an annual revenue of around US$10 billion. While American football is the most popular sport in the United States, it failed to catch on internationally, with multiple attempts to establish professional leagues in other regions ending in failure.

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