In gridiron football, the neutral zone is an area in which no member of either team may be, other than the person holding the ball. The neutral zone only exists in

dead ball Dead ball is a term in many ball sports in which the ball is deemed temporarily not playable, and no movement may be made with it or the players from their respective positions of significance. Depending on the sport, this event may be quite rout ...

situations (i.e. when play is not ongoing).

Description

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

, the neutral zone can be described as the length of the football 11 inches (28 centimeters) from one tip to the other when it is spotted (i.e. placed on a certain spot) on the field prior to the snap of the ball during a scrimmage down. In

Canadian football Canadian football () is a sport played 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 oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...

, the neutral zone, formally known in that code as the scrimmage zone, is a full one yard (3 feet or 36 inches) in front of the tip of the ball during a scrimmage down. The snapper (usually the

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

) is exempt, as he must place his hand on the ball (thus entering the neutral/scrimmage zone) to execute the snap. The one-yard neutral zone is also used in the

China Arena Football League The China Arena Football League (), often abbreviated as the CAFL, was a professional arena football league that played its games in the People's Republic of China. It featured players from the now-defunct Arena Football League (AFL) and other ...

and was tested for use in the

XFL XFL may refer to: Sports * XFL (2001), a defunct American football league that played its only season in 2001 * XFL (2020), a professional American football league Vehicles * Bell XFL Airabonita, a 1940 U.S. Navy experimental interceptor aircra ...

but eventually rejected. The neutral zone is much longer for kickoffs, safety kicks and

fair catch kick The fair catch kick is a rule at the professional and high school levels of American football that allows a team that has just made a fair catch to attempt a free kick from the spot of the catch. The kick must be either a place kick or a drop kic ...

s, where ten yards separates the kicking team from the receiving team. The

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

and, if used, a holder are allowed to enter this neutral zone. In addition to not being allowed to enter the neutral zone before the kick, the kicking team may not recover their own kick until the ball has traveled beyond the neutral zone or has been touched by an opposing player. Knowing whether the ball has passed beyond the neutral zone or remained in or behind the neutral zone is important during forward pass plays and during scrimmage kicks. *"Behind the neutral zone" refers to the "offensive" side of the neutral zone. *"In the neutral zone" refers to the actual neutral zone. *"Beyond the neutral zone" refers to the "defensive" side of the neutral zone. In accordance to NFL rules, an additional definition of the neutral zone came into effect after a September 12, 2005, fight between the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

Jeremiah Trotter Jeremiah Trotter (born January 20, 1977) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons. He played college football for the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks and w ...

and the Atlanta Falcons' Kevin Mathis that occurred prior to the opening kickoff. A new rule was instituted that each end of the field from the

end zone The end zone is the scoring area on the field, according to gridiron-based codes of football. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on an opposite side of the field. ...

to the 45-yard line is reserved for one team, and that no player other than a kicker may be between the 45-yard lines prior to the game.

References

American football terminology {{Americanfootball-stub