Football Field Length in Yards: 100 Yards, End Zones and 40 Yards

An American football field is 100 yards long between the goal lines, and the football field length in yards rises to 120 once you add the two 10-yard end zones. It is 53 1/3 yards (160 feet) wide. That means 40 yards is a bit less than half of the playing field, or the distance from a goal line to the 40-yard line.

The standard dimensions

Part of the field	Measurement
Playing field, goal line to goal line	100 yards (300 feet)
Each end zone	10 yards
Total length including end zones	120 yards
Width	53 1/3 yards (160 feet)

These are the dimensions used in the NFL, and in college and high school football in the United States, with minor differences in some leagues. The league’s own site is nfl.com, and there is a clear overview of the playing area on Wikipedia.

Canadian football is different. Its field is 110 yards long between goal lines, with 20-yard end zones, and 65 yards wide, so it is noticeably longer and wider.

How far is 40 yards?

Forty yards is 120 feet, or about 36.6 metres. On a 100-yard field, that is 40 percent of the playing area. If you stand on the goal line and walk to the 40-yard line, you have covered exactly 40 yards. There is a quirk with the numbering, though. The yard markers count up from each goal line to the 50 at midfield and then count back down. So the 40-yard line on one side of the field is 40 yards from its nearest goal line, but the two 40-yard lines are 20 yards apart from each other, because they sit symmetrically either side of midfield: 10 yards from the 50 each way.

Here is a quick way to picture the distances.

• 10 yards: the length of one end zone, or one first-down measure.
• 40 yards: the goal line to the 40, about 36.6 metres.
• 100 yards: goal line to goal line, about 91.4 metres.

Reading the lines and markings

Football fields are patterned so you can read distance at a glance.

• Lines run across the field every 5 yards.
• Large numbers appear every 10 yards: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, then back down to 10.
• Short tick marks, known as hash marks, run along the field and show each yard.
• The 50-yard line is the middle of the field.
• The goal line marks the edge of the end zone, and the end line marks the back boundary of the field.

The 40-yard dash

You may know the 40-yard distance from the NFL Scouting Combine, where prospects run a 40-yard dash to display speed. The distance was chosen as a standard test: long enough to show acceleration and a degree of top speed, short enough that everyone can be compared on the same basis. Times are measured in seconds, and official results are published by the league. Players are often discussed as skilled or unskilled based on that time, though a good time does not guarantee success on the field. If you follow the sport and the money that surrounds it, you might enjoy our piece on how much Davante Adams is worth, where speed and production meet contracts.

A 40-yard field goal

This is a different thing. A 40-yard field goal means the kick is attempted from about 40 yards from the goal line, but the actual flight of the ball is longer. The ball is snapped from the line of scrimmage, and the kicker takes it from a holder a few yards behind that spot. The goal posts are also placed at the back of the end zone, 10 yards behind the goal line, so the real distance the ball must travel is about 17 yards more than the stated number.

Soccer for comparison

People searching for football field length sometimes mean soccer. A soccer pitch varies from stadium to stadium. For international matches, the length must be between 100 and 110 metres (roughly 109 to 120 yards), and the width between 64 and 75 metres (about 70 to 82 yards). So a top-level soccer pitch is similar in length to a full American football field including end zones, but usually a bit wider.

Field	Length	Width
American football (goal lines)	100 yards	53 1/3 yards
American football (with end zones)	120 yards	53 1/3 yards
Canadian football	110 yards (goal lines)	65 yards
International soccer pitch	about 109 to 120 yards	about 70 to 82 yards

Useful conversions

• 1 yard = 3 feet = 0.9144 metres.
• 40 yards = 120 feet = about 36.6 metres.
• 100 yards = 91.44 metres.
• 120 yards = about 109.7 metres.
• A mile is 1,760 yards, or about 17.6 football fields of 100 yards.

If you often switch between imperial and metric units, the same method works for volumes. Our explainer on ounces, cups and millilitres in a pint shows how much the right reference point matters.

Picturing the distance

A hundred yards is about 91 metres, close to the length of a typical city block in many towns. At a normal walking pace you would cross a football field in roughly a minute and a bit; sprinters do it in well under fifteen seconds. Standing at one end of a stadium and looking at the far goal line gives a good feel for it, and anyone who has watched a quarterback throw 50 or 60 yards will have a sense of why those passes are impressive. When someone says a play gained 40 yards, imagine going from the goal line to nearly the middle of the field: that is a very big gain.

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

The football field length in yards is 100 between goal lines and 120 with end zones, with a width of 53 1/3 yards. Forty yards is 120 feet, or about 36.6 metres, which is just under half the playing area. Remember the numbers climb to the 50 and then fall, and you can read any field at a glance.