What does NFC and AFC stand for in football?

The NFC and AFC are the National Football League's conferences.

NFC stands for National Football Conference
AFC stands for American Football Conference

It is somewhat similar to the American League and National League in Major League Baseball, however the National League and the American League in Baseball have different rules (primarily involving the designated hitter), while the NFC and AFC are in the same league, and have identical rules. The NFL's 32 teams are evenly divided into the two conferences, equivalent to the divisions in either Baseball league. Each conference has playoffs to determine its champion at the end of the regular season to decide which teams will play in the Super Bowl, the NFL's championship game. In the Super Bowl, one NFC team and one AFC team play for the league championship. Prior to the 1970 merger of the American Football League and the NFL, The Super Bowls were World Championship games played between the two League champions.


Back in the 60's there were 2 different pro leagues, the AFL (American Football League)and the NFL (National Football League) some time during the late 60's they merged together and became one pro league.


Each conference AFC and NFC is divided up into 4 division so between the both of them there are 8 divisions.



NFC Divisions:
North - Green Bay, Minnesota, Chicago and Detroit
South - Tampa Bay, New Orleans, Atlanta and Carolina
East - Dallas, Washington, Philadelphia and NY Giants
West - San Francisco, Seattle, Arizona and St. Louis

AFC Divisions:
North - Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cinncinati and Baltimore
South - Houston, Tennessee, Indianapolis and Jacksonville
East - New England, Miami, NY Jets and Buffalo
West: Oakland, San Deiago, Kansas City and Denver

This is the way they were re aligned in 2001 to make the NFL more competitive.