End Zone

football · scoring · gridiron

Where points happen. The end zone is a rectangular area at each end of the football field where teams score touchdowns. It sits between the goal line and the end line, and is marked with white lines and orange corner pylons so everyone can see exactly where it is.

Just touching counts. Unlike some other sports, in football you don't need to get the whole ball into the end zone to score. You only need any tiny part of the ball to cross over the goal line, and it counts as a touchdown.

Two scoring zones. There are two end zones on a football field, one on each end. Each team defends one end zone and tries to move the ball into the other team's end zone to score points.

Easy to spot. The end zone is easy to find on the field because it has a bright white border around it and orange square pylons at each of the four corners. This helps players, referees, and fans know exactly where the scoring area begins and ends.

Different names elsewhere. In Canada, they call it the goal area instead of the end zone, though most Canadians still use the American term when talking casually about the sport.