Befitting its status as a popular sport, football is played in leagues of different size, age, and quality, in all regions of the country. Organized football is played almost exclusively by men and boys, although a few amateur and semi-professional women's leagues have begun play in recent years.
Professional and semi-professional play
The 32-team National Football League (NFL) is currently the only major professional American football league in North America. At least two new professional American Football Leagues are slated to begin playing in 2008, the All-American Football League and the United Football League. There are professional American football leagues located in over 50 countries in the world (see List of leagues of American and Canadian football). A few of the more popular international leagues are the German Football League (GFL) and the Japanese X-League. The NFL does not operate any developmental leagues currently since the closing of NFL Europa. Players unable to make an NFL team sometimes play in other leagues such as the Arena Football League or Canadian Football League, both of which have rules differing somewhat from those of the NFL.
University and collegiate play
College football is also popular throughout North America. A majority of colleges and universities have football teams; often with dedicated football stadiums. These teams mostly play other similarly sized schools. The largest, most popular collegiate teams routinely fill stadiums larger than 60,000. Four college football stadiums, The University of Michigan's Michigan Stadium, Penn State's Beaver Stadium, The University of Tennessee's Neyland Stadium and Ohio State's Ohio Stadium, seat more than 100,000 fans and usually sell out. The weekly autumn ritual of college football includes marching bands, cheerleaders, homecoming, parties, the tailgate party; it forms an important part of the culture in much of smalltown America. Football is generally the major source of revenue to the athletic programs of schools, public and private, in the United States.
High school play
Most American high schools field football teams. Schools that are too small to field the minimum number of players play variants of football that specify six, seven, eight or nine players instead of the normal eleven. High school football is popular, especially in Texas, Florida, Ohio, California, Colorado, Pennsylvania (particularly the western half of the state), and the Southern United States, where many schools regularly fill stadiums holding over 10,000 fans, and can afford artificial playing surfaces[citation needed].
Since high schools in the United States are tied to the town they are situated in, the football team is often a chief source of civic pride, and football heroes are very well-regarded in their communities[citation needed].
High school teams generally play only against other teams from their state (notable exceptions include matchups between nearby schools located on opposite sides of a state line and occasional matchups between two nationally-ranked teams for television purposes). Still, some private Christian high schools play for 'national championships' through organizations like the Federated Christian Athletic Association .
Youth leagues
Football is played recreationally by amateur and youth teams (e.g., the American Youth Football and Pop Warner little-league programs). There are also many "semi-pro" teams in leagues where the players are paid to play but at a small enough salary that they generally must also hold a full-time job.
Due to the speed and violence of the sport, many non-organized football games involve variations of the rules to minimize contact. These include touch football and flag football
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