AFC Championship Game The American Football Conference ( AFC ) Championship Game is one of the two final playoff matches of the National Football League , the largest professional American football league in the United States . The game is played on the penultimate Sunday in January and determines the champion of the American Football Conference . The winner then advances to face the winner of the National Football Conference ( NFC ) Championship Game in the Super Bowl . The game was established as part of the 1970 merger between the NFL and the American Football League ( AFL ) , with the merged league realigning into two conferences . The first AFC Championship Game was held on January 3 , 1971 , with the Baltimore Colts defeating the Oakland Raiders , 27 - 17 . The most recent game was played on January 23 , 2011 , with the Pittsburgh Steelers defeating the New York Jets , 24 - 19 . Since 1984 , each winner of the AFC Championship Game has also received the Lamar Hunt Trophy , named after the founder of the AFL and longtime leader of the Kansas City Chiefs . History . The first AFC Championship Game was played in 1970 after the merger between the NFL and the AFL . The game is considered the successor to the former AFL Championship , and its game results are listed with that of its predecessor in the annual " NFL Record and Fact Book " . The original AFC was formed by joining the ten former AFL teams with three pre - merger NFL teams : the Baltimore Colts , the Cleveland Browns , and the Pittsburgh Steelers . The realignment was done in order to create two conferences with an equal number of teams , as the pre - merger NFL consisted of six more teams than the AFL . Every AFC team except the Houston Texans has played in an AFC Championship game at least once . The Seattle Seahawks , who have been members in both the AFC and the NFC , hold the distinction of appearing in both conference title games . Playoff structure . At the end of each football season , a series of playoff games involving the top six teams in the AFC are conducted , consisting of the four division champions and two wild card teams . After two rounds of play , the two teams remaining face in the AFC Championship game . Initially , the site of the game was determined on a rotating basis . Since the 1975 - 76 season , the site of the AFC Championship has been based on playoff seeding , with the highest surviving seed hosting . A wild card team can only host the game if both participants are wild cards , in which case the fifth seed would host the sixth seed . Such an instance has never occurred in the NFL . Lamar Hunt Trophy . Since 1984 , the winner of the AFC Championship Game has received the Lamar Hunt Trophy , named after the founder of the AFL . The original design consisted of a wooden base with a sculpted AFC logo in the front and a sculpture of various football players in the back . It , and the George Halas Trophy that is awarded to the NFC Champion , were redesigned for the 2010 – 11 NFL playoffs by Tiffany & Co . at the request of the NFL in an attempt to make both awards more significant . The trophies are now a new , silver design with the outline of a hollow football positioned on a small base to more closely resembles the Vince Lombardi Trophy , awarded to the winner of the Super Bowl . AFC Championship Game appearances 1970 – present . < nowiki > * < / nowiki > last NFL title - 1964 < nowiki > * * < / nowiki > last AFL title - 1968 < nowiki > * * * < / nowiki > last AFL title - 1969 AFC Championship Game records . < nowiki > * < / nowiki > Tied for Conference Championship Record < nowiki > * * < / nowiki > Conference Championship record