The College Football Playoff National Championship is a post-season

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the

NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

(FBS), which began play in the 2014 college football season. The game serves as the final of the College Football Playoff, a

bracket tournament A bracket or tournament bracket is a tree diagram that represents the series of games played during a knockout tournament. Different knockout tournament formats have different brackets; the simplest and most common is that of the single-elimin ...

between the top four teams in the country as determined by a selection committee, which was established as a successor to the

Bowl Championship Series The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, including ...

and its similar BCS National Championship Game. The participating teams in the College Football Playoff National Championship are determined by two semifinal games (sometimes called the " Plus-One system"), hosted by an annual rotation of bowls commonly known as the New Year's Six. Thus, the teams to compete in the final are not directly selected by a selection committee, as had been the format used for the BCS National Championship Game. The game is played at a neutral site, determined through bids by prospective host cities (similar to the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

and NCAA Final Four). When announcing it was soliciting bids for the 2016 and 2017 title games, playoff organizers noted that the bids must propose host stadiums with a capacity of at least 65,000 spectators, and cities cannot host both a semi-final game and the title game in the same year. The winner of the game is awarded the College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy, which is sponsored by Dr Pepper. It was created as a new championship trophy, rather than the "crystal football" that has been given by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) since 1986, as officials wanted a new trophy that was unconnected with the previous BCS championship system. The inaugural game was held at

AT&T Stadium AT&T Stadium, formerly Cowboys Stadium, is a retractable roof, retractable-roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL), and was completed on May 27, 2009. I ...

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region. ...

, in January 2015, and was won by Ohio State. A top-ranked team did not win the College Football Playoff National Championship until LSU won the sixth edition of the game, in January 2020. Alabama has the most appearances in a College Football Playoff National Championship, with six, and also the most wins, with three. Note that the College Football Playoff National Championship is not awarded by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The highest level of college football that the NCAA awards a championship in is the Division I

Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

(FCS).

Venues

2019_CFP_-_trophy_on_the_sidelines_(crop)

The number of cities capable of bidding for the event is restricted by the 65,000-seat stadium minimum. In addition to Raymond James Stadium in

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

, which was the other finalist for the 2015 matchup, the stadium restriction would limit the bidding to cities such as New Orleans,

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

, and Pasadena. Other possible future hosts include Orlando, San Antonio, and almost any city with a National Football League franchise, since all but three of the stadiums in that league (only one, the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

' Soldier Field, will fall short beginning with the 2020 season) meet the capacity requirements and, unlike the

, there is no ''de jure'' restriction on climate. Officials in New York City said they would like to host the game at Yankee Stadium, which hosts the annual Pinstripe Bowl, but it falls short of the attendance limit as it only holds approximately 54,000 fans in its football configuration—a game could still be hosted in the New York metropolitan area, but it would have to be at MetLife Stadium in

East Rutherford, New Jersey East Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 10,022, reflecting an increase of 1,109 (+12.4%) from the 8,913 counted in the 2010 census.

. On December 16, 2013, host selections for the 2016 and 2017 title games were announced.

Glendale, Arizona Glendale () is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, located approximately northwest of Downtown Phoenix. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 248,325. History In the la ...

( University of Phoenix Stadium) was selected to host the 2016 game and Tampa, Florida ( Raymond James Stadium) was selected to host the 2017 game. Four cities had submitted bids for the 2016 game: Glendale, Jacksonville ( TIAA Bank Field), New Orleans ( Mercedes-Benz Superdome), and Tampa. Six metropolitan areas had been vying for the 2017 game: Tampa, the San Francisco Bay Area ( Levi's Stadium), Minneapolis ( U.S. Bank Stadium), San Antonio ( Alamodome),

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

( Hard Rock Stadium), and Jacksonville ( TIAA Bank Field). The host for the 2020 game was announced on November 4, 2015. *2020 – Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. The hosts for the 2021 through 2024 games were announced November 1, 2017. * 2021 – Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. * 2022 –

Lucas Oil Stadium Lucas Oil Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It replaced the RCA Dome as the home field of the National Football League (NFL)'s Indianapolis Colts and opened on August 16, 2008. The stadium was ...

in Indianapolis, Indiana. * 2023 – SoFi Stadium in

Inglewood, California Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 107,762. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. The city is in the South Bay ...

. * 2024 – NRG Stadium in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. The hosts for the 2025 and 2026 games were announced on January 6, 2022. * 2025 -

Mercedes-Benz Stadium Mercedes-Benz Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Opened in August 2017 as a replacement for the Georgia Dome, it serves as the home stadium of the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL) ...

in Atlanta, Georgia * 2026 – Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The 2025 game was originally supposed to be played at

Allegiant Stadium Allegiant Stadium is a domed stadium located in Paradise, Nevada. It is the home stadium for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL), the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Rebels college football team, the Las Ve ...

in Las Vegas, Nevada, but the game was moved to Atlanta due to a conflict with the

Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...

happening around the same time. Since cities hosting College Football Playoff semifinal games cannot host the final in the same year, Pasadena and New Orleans were not eligible for the 2018 game; South Florida and North Texas could not host in 2019; and Glendale and Atlanta were excluded from 2020 consideration. The same exclusions rotate every three years through 2026.

Game results

Rankings are from the CFP Poll released prior to matchup. Attendance at the January 2021 game was limited due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United States The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the Uni ...

.
Source:

Future games

Appearances by team

Updated through the January 2022 edition (8 games, 16 total appearances). 1st round, updated through the January 2022 edition (16 games, 32 total appearances).

Appearances by conference

Updated through the January 2022 edition (8 games, 16 total appearances).

Coaches

The following coaches led their teams to the National Championship final. Including the January 2022 game, Nick Saban has reached the final the most times, six, with a 3–3 record.