Exhibition game
An exhibition game is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or the team's rankings is either zero or otherwise greatly reduced. Exhibition games often serve as "warm-up matches", particularly in many team sports where these games help coaches and managers select and condition players, before the competitive matches of a league season or tournament. If the players usually play in different teams in other leagues, exhibition games offer an opportunity for the players to learn to work with each other. The games can be held between separate teams or between parts of the same team.
An exhibition game may also be used to settle a challenge, to provide professional entertainment, to promote the sport, to commemorate an anniversary for a famous player, as part of a goodwill tour, or to raise money for charities. Several sports leagues hold all-star games to showcase their best players against each other, while other exhibition games may pit participants from two different leagues or countries to unofficially determine who would be the best in the world. International competitions like the Olympic Games may also hold exhibition games as part of a demonstration sport.
Association football
In the early days of association football, friendlies were the most common type of match. However, with the development of The Football League in England in 1888, league and cup tournaments became the primary methods of competition. The significance of friendly matches thus declined since the 19th century: by 2000, national leagues were established in almost every country throughout the world, with local or regional leagues for lower-level teams.Club football
Since the introduction of league football, most club sides play a number of friendlies before the start of each season. Friendly football matches are considered to be non-competitive and are mostly used to "warm up" players for a new season/competitive match. Some rules may be changed or experimented with, such as unlimited substitutions. Frequently such games take place between a large club and nearby smaller clubs, such as those between Newcastle United and Gateshead, or on a large club on an international tour against local opponents. Since the 2000s, friendlies played in the United States have become increasingly lucrative for European teams.Although most friendlies are simply one-off matches arranged between the clubs in which a certain amount is paid by the challenger club to the incumbent club, some teams do compete in short tournaments, such as the Emirates Cup, Teresa Herrera Trophy, International Champions Cup and the Amsterdam Tournament. Although these events may involve sponsorship deals, a trophy, and television broadcasts, there is little prestige attached to them. In addition, club teams may tour other continents as part of global branding campaigns.
International football
International teams also play friendlies, generally in preparation for the qualifying or final stages of major tournaments. This is essential, since national squads generally have much less time together in which to prepare. The biggest difference between friendlies at the club and international levels is that international friendlies mostly take place during club league seasons, not between them. This has on occasion led to disagreement between national associations and clubs as to the availability of players, who could become injured or fatigued in a friendly.International friendlies give team managers the opportunity to experiment with team selection and tactics before the tournament proper, and also allow them to assess the abilities of players they may potentially select for the tournament squad. Players can be booked in international friendlies, and can be suspended from future international matches based on red cards or accumulated yellows in a specified period. Caps and goals scored also count towards a player's career records. The results can play a part in affecting the country's FIFA ranking. In 2004, FIFA ruled that substitutions by a team be limited to six per match in international friendlies in response to criticism that such matches were becoming increasingly farcical with managers making as many as 11 substitutions per match. An international match loses its official status if this regulation is breached.
Matches in multinational football tournaments such as the King's Cup, the Kirin Cup, Intercontinental Cup and the China Cup are usually considered international friendlies by FIFA.
Fundraising game
In the UK and Ireland, "exhibition match" and "friendly match" refer to two different types of games. The types described above as friendlies are not termed exhibition matches, all-star matches such as those held in the US Major League Soccer, Japan's J.League or South Korea's K League are called exhibition matches rather than friendly matches. A one-off match for charitable fundraising, usually involving one or two all-star teams, or a match held in honor of a player for contribution to their club, may also be described as exhibition matches but they are normally referred to as charity matches and testimonial matches respectively.Training game
A training game is generally a non-competitive football match played between two sides usually as part of a training exercise or to give players match practice. Managers may also use bounce games as an opportunity to observe a player in action before offering a contract. Usually these games are played on a training ground rather than in a stadium with no spectators in attendance.American football
Professional football
The National Football League teams play three preseason games a year, with the exception of two teams each year who play a fourth game, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game. These exhibition games, most of which are held in the month of August, are played for the purpose of helping coaches narrow down the roster from the offseason limit of 90 players to the regular season limit of 53 players. While the scheduling formula is not as rigid for preseason games as they are for the regular season, there are numerous restrictions and traditions that limit the choices of preseason opponents; teams are also restricted on what days and times they can play these games. Split-squad games, a practice common in baseball and hockey, where a team that is scheduled to play two games on the same day splits their team into two squads, are prohibited.The NFL has played exhibition games in Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia and Mexico to spread the league's popularity. The league has tacitly forbidden the playing of non-league opponents, with the last interleague game having come in 1972 between the NFL's New York Jets and the Seaboard Football League's Long Island Chiefs and the last game against a team other than an NFL team was held in 1976.
Exhibition games are quite unpopular with many fans, who resent having to pay regular-season prices for two home exhibition games as part of a season-ticket package. Numerous lawsuits have been brought by fans and classes of fans against the NFL or its member teams regarding this practice, but none have been successful in halting it. The Pro Bowl, traditionally played after the end of the NFL season, is also considered an exhibition game.
The Arena Football League briefly had a two-game exhibition season in the early 2000s, a practice that ended in 2003 with a new television contract. Exhibition games outside of a structured season are relatively common among indoor American football leagues; because teams switch leagues frequently at that level of play, it is not uncommon to see some of the smaller leagues schedule exhibition games against teams that are from another league, about to join the league as a probational franchise, or a semi-pro outdoor team to fill holes in a schedule.
College and high school football
After their spring practice, many college football teams play a public intramural exhibition game commonly called the "Spring Game." The purpose of this game is to promote the team and give new recruits an early chance at public game action. Many of these spring games are nationally televised, though not to the same level of prominence as intercollegiate play.True exhibition games between opposing colleges at the highest level do not exist in college football; due to the importance of opinion polling in the top level of college football, even exhibition games would not truly be exhibitions because they could influence the opinions of those polled. Intramural games are possible because a team playing against itself leaves little ability for poll participants to make judgments, and at levels below the Football Bowl Subdivision, championships are decided by objective formulas and thus those teams can play non-league games without affecting their playoff hopes.
Since the 2024 season, some sportswriters have referred to the Army-Navy game as an exhibition because it is played after the College Football Playoff selection and does not affect either American Athletic Conference standings or postseason bids.
High school football teams frequently participate in controlled scrimmages with other teams during preseason practice, but full exhibition games are rare because of league rules and concerns about finances, travel and player injuries, along with enrollments not being registered until the early part of August in most school districts under the traditional September–June academic term. Some states hold preseason events known as "jamborees" in which several pairs of high school football squads take turns playing one half to give players some experience before the first official game. Another high school football exhibition contest is the all-star game, which usually brings together top players from a region. These games are typically played by graduating seniors after the regular season or in the summer. Many of these games, which include the U.S. Army All-American Bowl and Under Armour All-America Game, are used as showcases for players to be seen by colleges and increase their college recruiting profile, or for athletes to confirm their choice and sign their National Letter of Intent outside of National Signing Day.