 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Field goal" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(December 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
.jpg)
Afield goal (FG) is a means of scoring ingridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball mustplace kick, ordrop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, a field goal cannot be scored from apunt, as the ball must touch the ground at one point after thesnap and before it is kicked in order to be a valid field goal.[1] The entire ball must pass through the vertical plane of the goal, which is the area above the crossbar and between the uprights or, if above the uprights, between their outside edges.[a] American football requires that a field goal must only come during aplay from scrimmage (except in the case of afair catch kick) while Canadian football retains open field kicks and thus field goals may be scored at any time from anywhere on the field and by any player. The vast majority of field goals, in both codes, are placekicked. Drop-kicked field goals were common in the early days of gridiron football but are almost never attempted in modern times. A field goal may also be scored through a fair catch kick, but this is also extremely rare. In most leagues, a successful field goal awards three points (a notable exception issix-man football in which, due to the small number of players available to stop the opposing team from blocking the kick, a field goal is worth four points).[2]
Since a field goal is worth only three points, as opposed to atouchdown, which is worth six points (or 7 to 8 if an after touchdownconversion is also scored) , it is usually only attempted in specific situations, such as when the offense has reached its finaldown but has advanced the ball intofield goal range, or when there is not enough time left in the half to score a touchdown.
The goal structure consists of a horizontal crossbar suspended 10 feet (3.0 m) above the ground, with two vertical goalposts 18 feet 6 inches (5.64 m) apart extending vertically from each end of the crossbar.[3] In American football, the goals are centered on each end line; in Canadian football, they are centered on each goal line. In order for a field goal to be scored, or to be "good", the entire ball must pass through the rectangular plane formed by the bottom horizontal crossbar and two vertical uprights formed by the goalpost. If a field goal fails to pass through this plane, it is "no good" and no score is awarded.
If a team scores a field goal, theykickoff to return possession of the ball to the opposing team. If a field goal attempt is unsuccessful, possession of the ball is turned over to the opposing team where theline of scrimmage of the field goal attempt was in theNCAA, or at thespot of the kick, the spot where the placekicker made contact with the ball, in theNFL.
As a field goal is worth only three points, while a touchdown scores at least six (which usually becomes seven with a successfulconversion, and potentially eight with atwo-point conversion), teams will generally attempt a field goal only in the following situations:
Except in desperate situations, a team will generally attempt field goals only when keeping a drive alive is unlikely, and itskicker has a significant chance of success, as a missed field goal results in a turnover at the spot of the kick (in the NFL) or at the line of scrimmage (in the NCAA). In American high school rules and Canadian football, where a missed field goal is treated the same as a punt, most teams still opt not to attempt field goals from very long range since field goal formations are not conducive to covering kick returns. Even under ideal conditions, the best professional kickers historically had difficulty making kicks longer than 50 yards consistently.[4] If a team chooses not to attempt a field goal on their last down, they canpunt to the other team. A punt cannot score any points in American football unless the receiving team touches the ball first and the kicking team recovers it (though it can result in asingle in Canadian football), but it may push the other team back toward its own end.
The longest field goal kick in NFL history is 68 yards, a record set byCam Little on 2 November 2025, which broke the record previously held byJustin Tucker (2021) at 66 yards. The third longest is 64, set byMatt Prater in 2013 with the Denver Broncos. The fourth longest is 63, originally set byTom Dempsey (1970) and then matched byJason Elam (1998),Sebastian Janikowski (2011),David Akers (2012),Graham Gano (2018),Brett Maher (2019), and Joey Slye (2024).[5]Cam Little kicked a 70-yard field goal in a preseason game in 2025.[6] The record in the CFL is 63 yards, set bySergio Castillo on August 9, 2025, tying a 24-year-old record byPaul McCallum, which was believed for years to have been 62 yards, though evidence confirmed McCallum's kick was actually closer to 63 yards. High school, college and most professional football leagues offer only a three-point field goal; however, some professional leagues have encouraged more rare kicks through four-point field goals.NFL Europe encouraged long field goals of 50 yards or more by making those worth four points instead of three (much like Australian rules'Super Goal or basketball'sthree-point line), a rule since adopted by theStars Football League. Similarly, the sport ofarena football sought (unsuccessfully) to repopularize thedrop kick by making that worth four points; it failed since only one kicker (Brian Mitchell) was able to do it with any semblance of proficiency. (Insix-man football, all field goals are worth four points instead of the usual three.) The overall field goal percentage during the2010 NFL season was 82.3%. In comparison,Jan Stenerud, one of only three pure kickers in thePro Football Hall of Fame (along with fellow placekickerMorten Andersen and punterRay Guy), had a career field goal percentage of 66.8% from 1967 to 1985.[4]
When a team decides to attempt a field goal, it will generally line up in a very tight formation, with all but two players lined up along or near the line of scrimmage: theplacekicker and theholder. The holder is usually the team'spunter or backupquarterback.[citation needed] Instead of the regularcenter, a team may have a dedicatedlong snapper trained especially to snap the ball on placekick attempts and punts.
The holder usually lines up seven to eight yards behind the line of scrimmage, with the kicker a few yards behind him. Upon receiving the snap, the holder holds the ball against the ground vertically, with the stitches away from the kicker. The kicker begins his approach during the snap, so the snapper and holder have little margin for error. A split-second mistake can disrupt the entire attempt. Depending on the level of play, the ball, upon reaching the holder, is held up by either the aid of a small rubber "tee" (all ranks up to the high school level, which is not the same as the kickoff tee, but rather a small platform, and comes in either 1- or 2-inch varieties) or is placed on the ground (in college and at the professional level).
.jpg)
The measurement of a field goal's distance is from the goalpost to the point where the ball was positioned for the kick by the holder. In American football, where the goalpost is located at the back of the end zone (above the end line), the ten yards of the end zone are added to the yard line distance at the spot of the hold.
Until the 1960s, placekickers approached the ballstraight on, with the toe making first contact with the ball. The technique of kicking the ball "soccer-style", by approaching the ball at an angle and kicking it with theinstep, was introduced byHungarian-born kickerPete Gogolak in the 1960s.[7] Reflecting his roots in European soccer, Gogolak observed that kicking the ball at an angle could cover more distance than kicking straight-on; he played college football atCornell and made his pro debut in1964 with theBuffalo Bills of theAFL; his younger brotherCharlie was also an NFL kicker. The soccer-style kick gained popularity and was nearly universal by the late 1970s; the last full-time straight-on kicker in the NFL wasMark Moseley, who retired in1986.
If there is any time left in the half, the method of resuming play after a successful field goal varies between leagues.
A missed field goal is said to be "no good" if the kicked ball does not cross between the uprights and over the crossbar of the goal posts. If it misses to the side of the uprights, it may be called "wide left" or "wide right". A field goal attempt may be described as "short" if it does not have sufficient distance to go over the cross bar. Some commentators will only describe a field goal attempt as being short if it appears to have been aimed correctly while others will describe an attempt appearing to lack both accuracy and distance as being both wide and short.
If a field goal attempt is missed, and the ball does not go out of bounds and has not been ruled dead by a referee, then a defensive player may advance the ball, as with a punt or kickoff. This type of play usually occurs either during an extremely long field goal attempt or if the attempt is blocked. If there is a significant likelihood of a miss and the strategic game situation warrants it, the defense places a player downfield, in or near their end zone, to catch the ball. The risk in this is that the return man may be tackled deep in his own territory, at a considerably worse position than he could have gotten by letting the ball go dead (see below); furthermore, should the returner fumble the ball, the kicking team can recover it and gain a new set of downs (the advantage is that the kicking team is lined up very close together to stop kick blockers, and not spread across the field like a kickoff or punt team, and is therefore in poor position to defend the return). Thus, teams will usually return a kick only towards the end of a half (when the kick will be the final play) or in a particularly desperate situation.
If a ball caroms off one of the goal posts or the crossbar but lands in the field of play, the ball is considered dead and cannot be returned. (This is not the case inarena football, where large "rebound nets" surround the goal posts for the explicit purpose of keeping the ball in play.) However, if the ball continues into the goal after caroming, the score counts. If the ball re-enters the field of play after crossing the vertical plane of the goal, the score also counts; this is now known as the "Phil Dawson rule" after the eponymous player scored a game-tying field goal that rebounded off the back support of the goal and back into the field of play.
Situations where the defense does not return a missed field goal vary between leagues and levels of play:
Occasionally, the defense will succeed in blocking a field goal. If the ball falls in or behind the neutral zone, it is treated like afumble and can be advanced by either team. If the ball instead falls forward beyond the neutral zone, it is treated like a missed field goal underthe rules explained above.
In the early days of football, kicking was emphasized. In1883, the scoring system was devised with field goals counting for five points, touchdowns two points, and conversions four points.[12] In the following year touchdowns doubled in value to four, and rose to five in 1898. Meanwhile, the value of a conversion fell to two points in 1884 and one point in1898.[12] (In 1958, the NCAA created the two-point conversion for conversions scored via run or pass; the NFL followed suit in 1994.) Field goals were devalued to four points in1904, and then to the modern three points in1909. The touchdown was changed to six points in1912 in American football; the Canadian game followed suit in 1956.
The spot of the conversion has also changed through the years. In1924, NCAA rules spotted the conversion at the 3-yard line, before moving it back to the 5-yard line in1925. In1929, the spot was moved up to the 2-yard line, matching the NFL. In 1968, the NCAA diverged from the NFL rules and moved the spot back to the original 3-yard line. Canadian rules originally spotted the conversion at the 5-yard line, which remains closer than in the American code (for kicked conversions) as the goalposts are at the front of the end zone.
In2015, to make conversion kicks harder, the NFL and CFL moved the line of scrimmage for conversion kicks to the 15- and 25-yard lines, respectively. (The CFL also moved the spot for two-point conversion attempts to the 3-yard line, while then NFL remained at the 2-yard line.)
The goalposts were originally located on the goal line; this led to many injuries and sometimes interfered with play. The NCAA moved the goal posts to the rear of the end zone in1927. The NFL (still following NCAA rules at the time) followed suit, but moved the posts back to the goal line starting in the1932 NFL Playoff Game, a change made necessary by the size of the indoorChicago Stadium and kept when the NFL rules stopped mirroring the NCAA rules in1933. The NFL kept the goal posts at the goal line until 1974, when they were moved back to the rear of the end zone, where they have remained since. This was partly a result of the narrowed hashmark distance made in1972 (making them the same width as the goalposts), which had made for easier field-goal angles. The Canadian game still has posts on the goal line.
The width of the goalposts and the hashmarks have also varied throughout the years. In 1959, the NCAA goalposts were widened to 23 feet 4 inches (7.11 m), the standard width for high school posts today. In1991, the college goalposts were reduced in width to 18 ft 6 in (5.64 m), matching the NFL. For the 1991 and1992 seasons, this meant potentially severe angles for short field goal attempts, since the hashmark width remained at 53 ft 4 in (16.26 m). In1993, the NCAA narrowed the distance between the hashmarks to 40 ft (12.19 m), matching the width of hashmarks in the NFL from1945 through1971; as mentioned above, the NFL narrowed the hashmarks in 1972 to goalpost width at 18.5 feet (5.64 m). Canadian hash marks in amateur play are 51 feet (16 m) apart, 24 yards from each sideline. TheCanadian Football League formerly used this spacing, but narrowed the hash mark spacing to 9 yards (8.2 m) in 2022.[13] The Canadian field is 195 feet (59 m) in width, 35 feet (11 m) wider than the American field.
The NFL increased the height of the uprights above the crossbar to 20 feet (6.10 m) in1966 and 30 feet (9.14 m) in 1974. In2014, they were raised five feet to 35 feet (10.67 m) after the adoption of a proposal byNew England Patriots head coachBill Belichick.[14]
The "slingshot" goalpost, having a single post curving 90° up from the ground to support the crossbar, was invented by Jim Trimble and Joel Rottman inMontreal, Quebec, Canada.[15] The first ones were built byAlcan and displayed at theExpo 67[15][16]world's fair in Montreal. The NFL had standardized its goalposts in 1966 and adopted the slingshot for the1967 season.[15] The NCAA subsequently adopted the same rule, but later allowed the use of "offset" goalposts with the older two-post base. The CFL was the first league to use the slingshot goalposts. They debuted in the 2nd game of the CFL's Eastern Conference final in 1966 at Montreal'sAutostade because Landsdowne Park (nowTD Place Stadium), the home ofOttawa Rough Riders, was undergoing renovations. They were also used in theGrey Cup the next week at Vancouver'sEmpire Stadium. Three schools inDivision I FBS currently use dual-support posts:Florida State,LSU, andWashington State. A special exemption was allowed by the NFL for theNew Orleans Saints to use the offset goalposts during the2005 season, when they usedLSU's stadium for home gamesafterHurricane Katrina.
Goalposts at the professional level today are sometimes equipped with avideo camera mounted to the stanchion immediately behind the center of the crossbar. Since these cameras are both above and slightly behind the crossbar, a field goal attempt will be judged good if it strikes this equipment.
A small plastic tee, which can be 1 to 2 inches (25–51 mm) high (smaller than the kickoff tee), may be used for field goals and extra points in some leagues, including US high schools and Canadian amateur play. The NFL (and most other professional leagues) has never allowed the use of tees for field goal kick attempts, having always required kickers to kick off the ground for such attempts (and for extra points; a rare exception for a U.S.-based pro league to allow the usage of such tees for such attempts was the originalUSFL in the 1980s).[17][18] In1948, the NCAA authorized the use of the small rubberized kicking tee for extra points and field goals, but banned them by1989, requiring kicks from the ground, as in the NFL.[19][20] The CFL allows the use of a tee for field goals and convert kicks, but it is optional.[21]
During the2011 NFL season, a record 90 field goals of 50 yards or longer were made.[22] In2012, this record was raised to 92 field goals of 50 yards or longer.[22]
| This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(May 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The longest recorded field goal successfully kicked at any level was 70 yards. It was kicked byCam Little of theJacksonville Jaguars in apreseason game against thePittsburgh Steelers on August 9, 2025.[23]
Note: the NFL does not count preseason games as part of its official records, and thus Little's aforementioned 70-yard kick is not counted as the NFL record despite being the overall record.[24]
The following kicks were successful with the use of a kicking tee, which was banned by the NCAA after the 1988 season. Additionally, prior to 1991, the goal posts were 23 feet, 4 inches. They were narrowed to 18 feet, 6 inches in 1991.[28]
| Division | Distance | Kicker | Team | Opponent | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAIA | 69 yards | Ove Johansson | Abilene Christian | East Texas State | October 16, 1976 | Overall field goal record with the use of a tee[29] |
| Division I FBS | 67 yards | Russell Erxleben | Texas | Rice | 1977 | |
| 67 yards | Steve Little | Arkansas | Texas | [30] | ||
| Division II | 67 yards | Tom Odle | Fort Hays St | Washburn | November 5, 1988 | |
| Division I FCS | 63 yards | Scott Roper | Arkansas State | North Texas | 1987 | |
| Division III | 62 yards | Dom Antonini | Rowan | Salisbury | September 18, 1976 |
After the 1988 season, the use of a kicking tee was banned. The following kicks were successful without the use of a tee.
| Division | Distance | Kicker | Team | Opponent | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division I FBS | 65 yards | Martin Gramática | Kansas State | Northern Illinois | September 12, 1998 | Overall NCAA field goal record without the use of a tee; also the longest field goal since the NCAA narrowed the goalposts in 1991[28] |
| Division II | 64 yards | Garrett Lindholm | Tarleton State | Texas A&M–Kingsville | November 14, 2009 | The 64-yard field goal was made as time expired forcing overtime. Tarleton State went on to win the playoff game[31] |
| Division I FCS | 63 yards | Bill Gramática | South Florida | Austin Peay | November 18, 2000 | |
| Division I FBS | 63 yards | Kyle Konrardy | Iowa State | South Dakota | August 30, 2025 | |
| Division III | 62 yards | Matthew Aven | Claremont | Cal Lutheran | October 19, 2013 | |
| NAIA | 62 yards | Derek Doerfler | Baker | William Jewell | October 8, 2007 |
The longest knowndrop-kicked field goal in college football was a 62-yard kick fromPat O'Dea, an Australian kicker who played forWisconsin. O'Dea's kick took place in a blizzard againstNorthwestern on November 15, 1898.[32]
The longest field goal inU Sports football history is 59 yards by Niko Difonte ofCalgary Dinos playing against theUBC Thunderbirds on November 11, 2017. The field goal was the final and winning play of the 81st Hardy Cup.[33][34]
Because the goalposts in Canadian football are on the goal line, and because downing the ball in the end zone results in the kicking team scoring asingle point, field goal returns are much more common. The longest missed field goal return in the CFL is 131 total yards. Against theMontreal Alouettes on August 22, 1958, theToronto Argonauts' Boyd Carter ran 15 yards, then threw a lateral toDave Mann, who then returned it for the final 116 yards.[39] This return, which started 21 yards behind the goal line, was during the era of 25-yard end zones (which made the maximum theoretical missed field return distance 134 yards in those days) and therefore cannot be met or exceeded on the modern field with 20-yard end zones. Since the shortening of the end zones in the CFL in 1986, a field goal has been returned for the maximum 129 yards on four occasions: byBashir Levingston of the Toronto Argonauts on June 28, 2007,[40] byDominique Dorsey also of the Toronto Argonauts on August 2, 2007,[41] byTristan Jackson of theSaskatchewan Roughriders on July 14, 2012,[42] and byTrent Guy of the Montreal Alouettes on September 23, 2012.[43]
InNCAA college football, only five missed field goals returns for touchdowns have ever been returned 100 yards or more:[44]
In U Sports football, like in the CFL, the longest possible missed field goal return is 129 yards, and this has occurred three times.[34]
In the N.F.L., unlike college and the U.S.F.L., no tee is allowed on field goals.
The NFL allows the use of tees as high as 3 inches for kickoffs, but has never allowed them for field goals and PATs. The pro league, which began to declare its independence from the college game with a number of rules changes beginning in the mid-1930s, also has refused to widen the goal posts.
For place kicks (field goal and convert attempts) the kicking tee platform or block can be no higher than one inch in height as per Rule 5, Section 1, Article 3 of the CFL Rulebook. For kickoffs, the ball may be held or placed on a tee such that the lowest part of the ball is no higher than three inches off the ground; Kicking tees are not required to be used. Kickers may kick off the ground if they desire.