Both American and Canadian soccer are descended from rugby union and began in Canada as a game between British soldiers stationed in Montreal. The soldiers played a series of games against students from McGill University. McGill played several games against Harvard in 1874 and a tradition was born. Despite their mutual origins, the Canadian and American game developed differently and now have substantially different rules and regulations.

The biggest difference between Canadian and American football is the size of the playing field. In Canada, soccer fields are 110 yards long and 65 yards wide. In America football fields are 100 yards long and 53 1/3 wide. The goal posts in Canadian football are placed at the front, rather than the rear of the end zone, which is also deeper in Canadian football than it is in American football.

Canadian soccer teams have twelve players compared to eleven for American teams. Because the same number of players are required at the line of scrimmage in both games, this results in an extra backfield player on Canadian teams. This means that the typical Canadian offensive setup has two slot running backs instead of a tight end and on defense, two defensive running backs and a safety instead of two safeties, as is typical in the American game.

Another difference between the two games is the number of attempts. Instead of four like in the American game, Canadian football has three. This results in a more passing and kicking oriented game as fewer downs are available for short yardage running plays. The kicking rules are also slightly different, as the kicker can recover and advance his own kick. For this reason, kicking is a much more integral part of Canadian soccer than American soccer.

The biggest difference between the kicking rules in the two games is that there is no fair receiving rule in Canadian football. In football, if a kick returner believes he won’t be able to advance the ball after the recovery, he can call a fair catch and be immune to contact. In Canadian football, no player on the kicking team, except the kicker and any player behind him on the field, may be within 5 yards of the ball unless it has been touched by an opponent. Also, in Canadian football, any kick that goes into the end zone is a live ball, except for successful field goals.

There are other minor differences as well, including scoring, movement, and timing rules, but they are not as significant as the major differences noted here.