College Football Playoff National Championship
The College Football Playoff National Championship is a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, which began play in the 2014 college football season. The game is held on a Monday in mid-January and serves as the final game of the College Football Playoff, a bracket tournament between the top five ranked conference champions, and the top 7 ranked at-large teams in the country that are selected by a playoff committee, which was established as a successor to the Bowl Championship Series and then its similar BCS National Championship Game.
The participating teams in the College Football Playoff National Championship are determined by two semifinal games, 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. 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 semifinal 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 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 in Arlington, Texas, on January 12, 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.
The College Football Playoff National Championship is not awarded by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The highest level of college football that the NCAA awards a championship in is the Division I Football Championship Subdivision.
Venues
Cities across the United States can bid on the National Championship Game each year. The number of cities capable of bidding for the event is restricted by a requirement to have a stadium with at least 65,000 seats. The stadium restriction would limit the bidding to most cities with a National Football League franchise, since all but four of the stadiums in the league meet the capacity requirements, and in practice all National Championship venues chosen for up to and including the 2026 game are also home to at least one NFL franchise. Unlike the Super Bowl, there is no de jure restriction on climate. A venue cannot host a semifinal game and the National Championship Game in the same season.Host cities/regions
The first 10 championship games were each held in a different venue. The 2025 game was the first to be contested in a venue that had previously hosted a CFP title game.| Location | Stadium | Games | Years hosted |
| Atlanta | Mercedes-Benz Stadium | 2 | 2018, 2025 |
| Miami metro area | Hard Rock Stadium | 2 | 2021, 2026, 2030 |
| New Orleans | Caesars Superdome | 1 | 2020, 2028 |
| Tampa | Raymond James Stadium | 1 | 2017, 2029 |
| Houston | NRG Stadium | 1 | 2024 |
| Greater Los Angeles | SoFi Stadium | 1 | 2023 |
| Indianapolis | Lucas Oil Stadium | 1 | 2022 |
| San Francisco Bay Area | Levi's Stadium | 1 | 2019 |
| Phoenix metropolitan area | State Farm Stadium | 1 | 2016 |
| Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex | AT&T Stadium | 1 | 2015 |
| Las Vegas Valley | Allegiant Stadium | 0 | 2027 |
Scheduled for the year noted in italics
Note: Years listed are the calendar year in which the game was played rather than NCAA season.
Game results
Rankings are from the CFP Poll released prior to matchup.| Season | Playoff | Date | Winning team | Score | Losing team | Venue | City | Attendance | Notes |
| 2014 | Jan 12, 2015 | #4 2014 Ohio State Buckeyes football team| | 42–20 | #2 2014 Oregon Ducks football team| | AT&T Stadium | Arlington, Texas | 85,788 | Notes | |
| 2015 | Jan 11, 2016 | #2 2015 Alabama Crimson Tide football team| | 45–40 | #1 2015 Clemson Tigers football team| | University of Phoenix Stadium | Glendale, Arizona | 75,765 | Notes | |
| 2016 | Jan 9, 2017 | #2 2016 Clemson Tigers football team| | 35–31 | #1 2016 Alabama Crimson Tide football team| | Raymond James Stadium | Tampa, Florida | 74,512 | Notes | |
| 2017 | Jan 8, 2018 | #4 2017 Alabama Crimson Tide football team| | #3 2017 Georgia Bulldogs football team| | Mercedes-Benz Stadium | Atlanta, Georgia | 77,430 | Notes | ||
| 2018 | Jan 7, 2019 | #2 2018 Clemson Tigers football team| | 44–16 | #1 2018 Alabama Crimson Tide football team| | Levi's Stadium | Santa Clara, California | 74,814 | Notes | |
| 2019 | Jan 13, 2020 | #1 2019 LSU Tigers football team| | 42–25 | #3 2019 Clemson Tigers football team| | Mercedes-Benz Superdome | New Orleans, Louisiana | 76,885 | Notes | |
| 2020 | Jan 11, 2021 | #1 2020 Alabama Crimson Tide football team| | 52–24 | #3 2020 Ohio State Buckeyes football team| | Hard Rock Stadium | Miami Gardens, Florida | 14,926 | Notes | |
| 2021 | Jan 10, 2022 | #3 2021 Georgia Bulldogs football team| | 33–18 | #1 2021 Alabama Crimson Tide football team| | Lucas Oil Stadium | Indianapolis, Indiana | 68,311 | Notes | |
| 2022 | Jan 9, 2023 | #1 2022 Georgia Bulldogs football team| | 65–7 | #3 2022 TCU Horned Frogs football team| | SoFi Stadium | Inglewood, California | 72,628 | Notes | |
| 2023 | Jan 8, 2024 | #1 2023 Michigan Wolverines football team| | 34–13 | #2 2023 Washington Huskies football team| | NRG Stadium | Houston, Texas | 72,808 | Notes | |
| 2024 | Jan 20, 2025 | #8 2024 Ohio State Buckeyes football team| | 34–23 | #7 2024 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team| | Mercedes-Benz Stadium | Atlanta, Georgia | 77,660 | Notes | |
| 2025 | Jan 19, 2026 | #1 2025 Indiana Hoosiers football team| | 27–21 | #10 2025 Miami Hurricanes football team| | Hard Rock Stadium | Miami Gardens, Florida | 67,227 | Notes | |
| 2026 | Jan 25, 2027 | Allegiant Stadium | Paradise, Nevada | ||||||
| 2027 | Jan 24, 2028 | Caesars Superdome | New Orleans, Louisiana | ||||||
| 2028 | Jan 22, 2029 | Raymond James Stadium | Tampa, Florida | ||||||
| 2029 | Jan 21, 2030 | Hard Rock Stadium | Miami Gardens, Florida |
Attendance at the January 2021 game was limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
Source:
Appearances by team
Updated through the January 2026 edition.| Appearances | Team | Wins | Losses | Win % | Season won | Season lost |
| 6 | Alabama Crimson Tide | 3 | 3 | 50 | 2015, 2017, 2020 | 2016, 2018, 2021 |
| 4 | Clemson Tigers | 2 | 2 | 50 | 2016, 2018 | 2015, 2019 |
| 3 | Ohio State Buckeyes | 2 | 1 | 67 | 2014, 2024 | 2020 |
| 3 | Georgia Bulldogs | 2 | 1 | 67 | 2021, 2022 | 2017 |
| 1 | LSU Tigers | 1 | 0 | 100 | 2019 | |
| 1 | Michigan Wolverines | 1 | 0 | 100 | 2023 | |
| 1 | Indiana Hoosiers | 1 | 0 | 100 | 2025 | |
| 1 | Oregon Ducks | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2014 | |
| 1 | TCU Horned Frogs | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2022 | |
| 1 | Washington Huskies | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2023 | |
| 1 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2024 | |
| 1 | Miami Hurricanes | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2025 |