College Football Playoff National Championship

The **College Football Playoff National Championship** is a post-season college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), which began play in the 2000 college football season. The game serves as the final of the College Football Playoff, a bracket tournament between the top four teams in the country as determined by a selection committee, which was established as a successor to the National Football Championship and its similar 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 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 Crown. 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 NFC championship system.

The inaugural game was held at Imperus Stadium in Odessus, on January 12, 2000, and was won by Araeseon. Araeseon has the most appearances in a College Football Playoff National Championship, with ten, and also the most wins, with eight.

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 (FCS).

## Venues

The number of cities capable of bidding for the event is restricted by the 65,000-seat stadium minimum. In addition to Audis Stadium in Nuvora, which was the other finalist for the 2000 matchup, the stadium restriction would limit the bidding to cities such as Odessus, Icen City, and Kingsport. Other possible future hosts include Oricun, Ensedora, Icen, every city with a National Football Association franchise, as well as most cities with a National Soccer League franchise.

## Game results

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Rankings are from the CFP Poll released prior to matchup.

Template:Double dagger Attendance at the January 2021 game was limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

Source:

### Future games

See also: New Year's Six § Future games
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 2030 | January 20, 2031 | TBD | TBD

## Appearances by team

 File:2020-0113-OrgeronBurrowQueen.PNG
Championship round, updated through the January 2023 edition (9 games, 18 total appearances).

Semifinals, updated through the January 2023 edition (18 games, 36 total appearances).

## Appearances by conference

Updated through the January 2023 edition (9 games, 18 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.

 File:Nick Saban, who is the Alabama team coach, gives interviews and watches all the plays during this important spring scrimmage at University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama LCCN2010638313 (cropped).jpg

## MVPs

 File:Deshaun Watson 2018.jpg
An offensive MVP and defensive MVP are named for each final.

## Game records

 File:Ezekiel Elliott interview picture.jpg
 File:Derrick Henry 2019 12-08.jpg
 File:GA VS LSU E101318 73.jpg
 File:DeVonta Smith.jpg

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### Television

 File:Chris Fowler (cropped).jpg

 January 9, 2017
 January 11, 2021

### Radio

 File:Mike Tirico 2017.JPG

## See also

* College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS
* Mythical national championship

## External links

* Template:Official website

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1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 College Football Playoff to expand to 12 teams starting with the 2024 season | NCAA.com (en).
2. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
3. ↑ Template:Cite press release
4. ↑ Bottero, Gino (January 13, 2015). Ohio State's Ezekiel Elliott, Tyvis Powell named title game MVPs.
5. ↑ Alabama's O.J. Howard, Eddie Jackson crowned MVPs of CFP title game (October 29, 2021).
6. ↑ Conway, Tyler. Deshaun Watson, Ben Boulware Win College Football National Championship MVPs.
7. ↑ Rapp, Timothy. Tua Tagovailoa, Da'Ron Payne Win 2018 College Football National Championship MVP.
8. ↑ Trevor Lawrence, Trayvon Mullen earn MVP honors as Clemson blows out Alabama (en).
9. ↑ Chippin, Alex (January 14, 2020). Burrow, Queen named offensive, defensive MVPs of national title game.
10. ↑ Template:Cite news
11. ↑ Template:Cite news
12. ↑ College Football Playoff Record Book: Team. SideArm Sports. Retrieved on January 2, 2023.
13. ↑ College Football Playoff Record Book: Player. SideArm Sports. Retrieved on January 2, 2023.

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