12th man (football) 12th man (football) The 12th man or 12th player is a term for fans of teams in eleven-a-side sports games, particularly association football (soccer) or American football. As most football leagues allow a maximum of eleven players per team on the playing field at a time, referring to a team's fans as the 12th man implies that they have a potentially helpful role in the game. Infrequently, the term has referred to individuals having a notable connection to their football team. In Canadian football, 12 players are usually on the field at one time and the term 13th man is
United States national American football team national team was selected to encompass a cross-section of amateur football in the United States, and as such USA Football used strict criteria to select team members. This does not permit the top American football players in the United States to compete as the restrictions include: These criteria are applied to make international tournaments more competitive. The United States competed for the first time in the 2007 IFAF World Cup. The team's first ever game was a 77–0 smashing of South Korea in the first round of the tournament. The Team USA defense set an IFAF all-time tournament record in