Brief Overview of the Rules for Football

A football game lasts 4 x 12 minutes. Both teams put 11 players on the field. The game start with a “kick-off.” The team who is in possession of the ball is the OFFENSE and in order to score points, they try to get the ball into the opponent’s endzone.  They can move the ball towards the opponent’s endzone with their Quarterback in the following ways:

• Throw the ball to a Wide Receiver.
• Can be advanced by giving it to a Runningback.
• Can advance it himself by running the ball himself.

The offense has four tries (Downs) to try and advance the ball at least 10 yards (9,14m). If you achieve these 10 yards (or more) you automatically get a fresh set of four tries to get 10 yards. In the event the endzone is reached (TOUCHDOWN), you get 6 points. After a touchdown, the offense has two possibilities to get additional points: One point is awarded by kicking the ball through the Field Goal Posts (Point after Touchdown) or an additional offensive play can be attempted (Two-Point-Conversion), if this is accomplished 2 points are awarded. If the offense is close enough to the opponents endzone, they can attempt a Field Goal on fourth down. For this 3 points are awarded. In the event the offense is too far away to attempt a Field Goal on fourth down, they can make a punt kick, which is done to put the ball in the most difficult position for the opponents offense to start their new drive.
The defending team (DEFENSE) on the other hand, does everything possible to hinder the advancement of the opponent’s offense. Should they succeed in this, they regain possession of the ball and in turn, their offense then comes on the field and attempts to advance the ball.