Posted by: fun blog

People often confuse American football and European football for one another. The title of the games might mislead you into thinking they’re one of the same; albeit, they share dissimilarities to a very great extent. A football game, by definition, is a game in which 2 teams of 11 players each, kick or carry a ball into a goal or over a line to score points. The confusion can be clarified, simply, by realizing how the Americans play the game and how the Europeans play it.

In an American football game, either hand is used to carry the ball across the opponents’ goal line or feet is used to kick the ball through the opponents’ open-topped goal posts. A European football or what they all call ‘Soccer’, is where a player, dominantly, uses his feet to control the ball and score it through opponents’ net goal; the ball can be controlled using other parts of the body like the chest, head, and knee as well. Hands are not allowed, unlike in an American football game, to be used to control the ball in a Soccer game; else, it’s a foul where the control of the ball is passed to the opponents’ team. The only player who is allowed to use hands in possession of ball is the goalkeeper.       

The very fundamental difference between these two games lies in the shape of the ball. An oval-shaped ball is used in an American football game; whilst a rounded-shaped ball is used in a Soccer (European football) game.

Soccer games usually do not take as much time as an American football game; because it has fewer rules and complications compared to American football where flags are raised and penalties called for almost everything. In a Soccer game, penalties are called mostly for being offside and out-of-bound.

Despite the distinctions, both of the games are, still, much alike in many aspects. Both sports are very competitive and, as a result, frustrating to players. Hard strikes amongst players occur a lot in both sports, although it is not allowed in a Soccer game. These two sports are alike in the sense, they are both very competitive and aggressive; hence, very enjoyable for an audience to watch or for a player to play.