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
American football field American football field American football games are played on a rectangular "Field of Play" that measures long between goal lines, and () wide. In addition, there are end zones extending another past the goal lines to the "end lines", for a total length of . When the "football field" is used as unit of measurement, it is usually understood to mean , although technically the full length of the official field, including the end zones, is . White markings on the field identify the distance from the end zone. Inbound lines, or hash marks, are short parallel lines that mark