American football American football American football, referred to as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, which is the team controlling the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with or passing the ball, while the defense, which is the team without control of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and aims to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance at least ten yards in four
American football at the Summer Olympics "by default." As Francis Field was the main stadium for the 1904 Summer Olympics, only those games would have been considered a demonstrations for Olympic crowds. Only two games at Francis Field were played that did not involve Washington: a match between Purdue and Missouri, and the first match between two Indian school teams (Haskell and Carlisle) who were considered powerhouses in college football at the time. Though American football has not been played in the Olympics since then, various American football players have participated in the Olympics. In 2013, The International Olympic Committee gave provisional recognition to The International