美國美式足球聯會
维库，知识与思想的自由文库
 美國美式足球聯會(American Football Conference，簡稱AFC或美聯)是美國國家美式足球聯盟兩聯會其中之一。美國美式足球聯會與國家美式足球聯會(NFC)在1970年代一同於國家美式聯盟合併之後創立。除的克里夫兰布朗、匹茲堡鋼人和之後的巴爾的摩烏鴉同意加入原先已經擁有10支球隊的美聯，其他的NFL球隊都屬於國聯。最初這項安排並不受到這些城市球迷的歡迎。 AFL的球迷們很失望因為AFL放棄了原有的名稱和標誌加入了NFL—他們討厭的前敵人，取而代之的是，合併的聯盟為美聯創造了一個類似於原本AFL的標誌，特別的A字母和六顆圍繞的星星。美聯的標誌基本上從被創造的1970年起，並沒有什麼改變，即使字母A不像初次亮相般大膽顯眼。因為不明的因素，AFL的標誌A是藍色的，但美聯的卻是紅色的。 自從合併之後，五個擴充球隊加入了美聯，而兩個已經離開，變成現在的16支隊伍。當西雅圖海鷹和坦帕灣海盜於1976年加入聯盟時，他們暫時各別被分在國聯以及美聯。這項安排持續了一年直到兩隊轉換聯會。海鷹最後在2002年加入了國聯。另一支擴充球隊，傑克遜威爾美洲虎於1995年加入美聯。 Due to the relocation controversy of the Cleveland Browns, 一支全新的美聯球隊—巴爾的摩烏鴉正式於1996年成立，布朗隊於1999年回復運作。 
一些非中文的文字因为尚未翻譯而被隐藏，歡迎參與翻譯。
The remaining 16 teams are organized into four divisions (North, South, East, and West) of four teams each. Each team plays the other teams in their division twice (home and away) during the regular season in addition to 10 other games/teams assigned to their schedule by the NFL the previous May. Two of these games are assigned on the basis of the team's final record in the previous season. The remaining 8 games are split between the roster of two other NFL divisions. This assignment shifts each year. For instance, in the 2006 regular season, each team in the AFC East will play a game apiece against each team in both the AFC South and the NFC North. In this way division competition consists of common opponents, with the exception of the 2 games assigned on the strength of each team's prior season record. The NFC operates according to the same system. At the end of each football season, there are playoff games involving the top six teams in the AFC (the four division champions by place standing and the top two remaining non-division-champion teams ("wild cards") by record). The last two teams remaining play in the AFC Championship game with the winner receiving the Lamar Hunt Trophy. The AFC champion plays the NFC champion in the Super Bowl.
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