In
American footballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
, a
touchback is a ruling which is made and signaled by the
refereeA referee is a person who has authority to make decisions about play in many sports. Officials in various sports are known by a variety of titles, including: referee, umpire, judge, linesman, commissaire, timekeeper or touch judge.- Origin :The term referee originated in association football...
when the ball crosses into or through the end zone not in control of the team which put it into play. A touchback is not a play, but a result of events that may occur during a play. The team awarded the touchback receives possession of the ball at its own 20-yard line.
Touchbacks occur when:
- A kickoff enters the end zone and is fielded, but not returned, or a kickoff that goes through and out of the end zone.
- A punt enters the end zone, or a defensive player enters the end zone while attempting to field a punt.
- A ball carrier fumbles the ball within the field of play, and the ball either goes through the end zone without being recovered, or is recovered by the team that fumbled in their own end zone.
In
American footballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
, a
touchback is a ruling which is made and signaled by the
refereeA referee is a person who has authority to make decisions about play in many sports. Officials in various sports are known by a variety of titles, including: referee, umpire, judge, linesman, commissaire, timekeeper or touch judge.- Origin :The term referee originated in association football...
when the ball crosses into or through the end zone not in control of the team which put it into play. A touchback is not a play, but a result of events that may occur during a play. The team awarded the touchback receives possession of the ball at its own 20-yard line.
Touchbacks occur when:
- A kickoff enters the end zone and is fielded, but not returned, or a kickoff that goes through and out of the end zone.
- A punt enters the end zone, or a defensive player enters the end zone while attempting to field a punt.
- A ball carrier fumbles the ball within the field of play, and the ball either goes through the end zone without being recovered, or is recovered by the team that fumbled in their own end zone. (If the fumble occurs in the end zone, however, the result is a safety
A safety or safety touch is a type of score in American football and Canadian football and is worth two points . In American football, it is the only means by which a team not in possession of the football can score points...
if the team that fumbled recovers, or a touchdownA touchdown is the term for scoring American and Canadian football.-Description:To score a touchdown, one team must take the football into the opposite end zone. This can be done by rushing, in which the ball carrier carries the football forward into the end zone. It can also be done by passing,...
if the team on defense recovers.)
- A defensive player intercepts a forward pass in the defender's end zone, and then makes an effort or no effort to return the pass. (A forward pass
In several forms of football a forward pass is when the ball is thrown in the direction of the opponent's end line.-American and Canadian Football:...
thrown through and out of the end zone, however, is an incomplete pass, and does not result in a touchback.)
- If the kicking team kicks the football into the receiving team's end zone on a kickoff and the receiving team recovers in their end zone and makes an attempt to return the ball but the receiving team is tackled before crossing the goal line it is ruled a touchback.
If the ball is fumbled on a kickoff in the endzone then downs the ball it is a safety.
College football
In
college footballCollege football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies. It was the venue through which American football first gained popularity in the United States...
, if a defensive player gains possession of the ball during a play, between his own five-yard line and goal line, and the player's original momentum carries him into the end zone, there is no touchback. Instead, the ball is dead at the point where possession changed. In the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the largest professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing its name to the National Football League in 1922. The league currently consists of...
, this rule applies only to pass interceptions (regardless of whether they occur inside the five-yard line).
American football
In standard outdoor
American footballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
, the team awarded the touchback receives possession of the ball at its own 20-yard line. In
arena footballArena football is a sport based upon American football. It is a proprietary game played indoors on a smaller field than American football, resulting in a faster and higher-scoring game. The sport was invented in 1986, and patented in 1990, by James F. Foster, a former executive of the United States...
, and other
indoor footballIndoor football is a variation of American football with rules modified to make it suitable for play within indoor arenas.-Early history:The first documented indoor football games were those played at Madison Square Garden in 1902 and 1903 known as the "World Series of Pro Football." They were the...
games, a touchback results in the team awarded the touchback receiving the football at its own five-yard line; this can result from any of the above events except for punting, which is not a part of arena football. (In arena football, a kicked ball usually bounces back into play off of the rebound nets, but the above can still occur when the ball lands in the slack nets behind the goalposts after a kickoff, passes under the rebound nets and out of play, or in the event of fumbles and interceptions.)
Canadian football
In
Canadian footballCanadian football is a form of gridiron football played almost exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide , attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
, the failure to advance a kicked ball out of the goal area results in a
single pointA single , in Canadian football, is awarded when the ball is kicked into the end zone by any legal means, other than a successful field goal, and the receiving team does not return, or kick, the ball out of its end zone...
being scored by the kickers, as well as possession by the receivers at their 35-yard line. A turn-over by fumble or interception in the defense's goal area results in a scrimmage on the 25-yard line with no points awarded. In the Canadian game the term
touchback is not used.
Differences
A special rule applies in college football and the NFL with regard to
field goalA field goal in U.S. football and Canadian football is a goal that may be scored during general play .A field goal may be scored by a placekick or the now very rare drop kick...
attempts. If a missed field goal occurs in these leagues, where the other team receives possession of the ball depends on the spot from which the ball has been kicked. The ball will be placed either on the twenty or the line of scrimmage of the play in which the attempt was made in college football; either the twenty or the place from which the ball was kicked in the NFL. (In either case, the ball goes to the spot which is further from the goal line.) The purpose of this rule is to discourage low-percentage, long-range field goal attempts and to deemphasize the advantage which can accrue when only one team has a kicker who has a reasonable possibility of success from a great distance. In American
high school footballHigh school football, referring to the American code in the United States and the Canadian code in Canada, is one of the most popular interscholastic sports at high schools in both countries...
(except in Massachusetts and Texas, which use college football rules), the missed field goal, regardless of where attempted on the field, results in a touchback as long as the attempt breaks the plane of the goal line, and in arena football, the field goal is treated as if it were a punt.