🏈NFL
The National Football League, commonly known as the NFL, is a professional American Football League made up of 32 teams, 16 each from both the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference. These teams compete at the highest level of American football in the world. The NFL preseason takes place for 3 weeks and begins each year in August, this is then followed by the 18-week regular season from September to January which sees each team playing 17 games with one bye week. Once the regular season has concluded, seven teams from each conference, including four division winners and three wild card teams, advance to the playoffs. The playoffs is a single elimination tournament culminating in the Super Bowl, played between the AFC and NFC conference champions, in February.
In 2022, five of the regular-season NFL games will be hosted internationally, and incredibly, three of these will take place in London during October. The first two games will be hosted at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the first between the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints on October 2nd. On October 9th the Green Bay Giants will then play their first international game at the stadium against the New York Giants. The London NFL games will then culminate with what will no doubt be a thrilling event with the Jacksonville Jaguars returning to Wembley Stadium to face the Denver Broncos on October 30th. These games represent a rare opportunity to witness the spectacle that is NFL outside of the USA and are expected to be in high demand, so ensure you secure your tickets with Zenseats to avoid missing out!
History
The history of the NFL began in 1920 with the formation of the American Professional Football Conference which was shortly after renamed the American Professional Football Association. The eleven founding teams came to an agreement regarding player poaching and an end of season champion, marking the beginning of the competitive league as we know it today and 1922 it became known as the National Football League.
The number of teams that compete in the NFL have changed numerous times over the years, and only two of the original members, the Arizona Cardinals and the Decatur Staleys, are still in existence.
In 1960 a new league, the fourth American Football League, formed and began to challenge the popularity of the NFL and so in 1966 a merger between the two leagues was agreed and launched in 1970. Following the merger, the league was reorganised into two conferences, the National Football Conference and the American Football Conference, with the set up remaining so to this day. The NFL is the most popular sports league in North America with attendance to games being consistently above 16 million each season and over 17 million viewers broadcasting each game.
NFL Champions
|
Team
|
No. titles
|
Year(s) of title
|
|
New England Patriots
|
6
|
2002, 2004, 2005, 2015, 2017, 2019
|
|
Pittsburgh Steelers
|
6
|
1975, 1976, 1979, 1980, 2006, 2009
|
|
San Francisco 49ers
|
5
|
1982, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1995
|
|
Dallas Cowboys
|
5
|
1972, 1978, 1993, 1994, 1996
|
|
New York Giants
|
4
|
1987, 1991, 2008, 2012
|
|
Green Bay Packers
|
4
|
1967, 1968, 1997, 2011
|
|
Washington Redskins
|
3
|
1983, 1988, 1992
|
|
Denver Broncos
|
3
|
1998, 1999, 2016
|
|
Kansas City Chiefs
|
2
|
1970, 2020
|
|
Miami Dolphins
|
2
|
1973, 1974
|
|
Baltimore Ravens
|
2
|
2001, 2013
|
|
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
|
2
|
2003, 2021
|
|
New York Jets
|
1
|
1969
|
|
Oakland Raiders
|
1
|
1981
|
|
Los Angeles
|
1
|
1984
|
|
Raiders
|
|
|
|
Baltimore Colts
|
1
|
1971
|
|
Chicago Bears
|
1
|
1986
|
|
St. Louis Rams
|
1
|
2000
|
|
Indianapolis Colts
|
1
|
2007
|
|
New Orleans Saints
|
1
|
2010
|
|
Seattle Seahawks
|
1
|
2014
|
|
Philadelphia Eagles
|
1
|
2018
|
|
Los Angeles Rams
|
1
|
2022
|
|
