All you need to know about Super Bowl 2026

American Football's biggest game of the year - the Super Bowl - is taking place on Sunday 8 February.

Described by some as the greatest sporting event in the world, with more than 127 million people watching last year.

The Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots will fight it out in Super Bowl 60 -but for some it's as much about the musical performances during the half-time show, than it is the action on the pitch!

Here's everything you need to know about this year's Super Bowl and what we can expect to happen...

The Super Bowl is the final game of the National Football League (NFL) season in the United States.

The NFL has 32 teams, that are divided into two conferences - the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC).

The winners of each conference meet in the Super Bowl.

The team that wins the Super Bowl becomes that season's champion and are crowned 'world champions'.

This year's edition is known as Super Bowl LX - meaning it's the 60th Super Bowl since the first in 1966, which replaced the older NFL Championship Game.

The Super Bowl is between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks.

The Patriots will play in their 12th Super Bowl - an NFL record.

Their opponents, the Seahawks, are making their fourth appearance.

The Seahawks' only Super Bowl win was in 2014 when, despite being underdogs, they thrashed their opponents Denver Broncos 43-8.

Super Bowl 60's half-time show will be performed by Puerto Rican pop star Bad Bunny.

The singer and rapper has topped Spotify's most-streamed artist list in three of the past five years - but will need to squeeze his hits into less than 15 minutes for this performance.

American rock band Green Day will also be performing on the night and they will take to the stage for the opening ceremony.

Many are predicting that the Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold could take the title of Most Valuable Player (MVP), especially if he can help lead his team to victory.

But if the Patriots can take the win, 23-year-old Drake Maye would become the youngest quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl.

The game is being held in Santa Clara, California at Levi's Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers.

It can hold up to 75,000 people and will also host six games during this summer's World Cup.

After the game there is the post-match ceremony, where the winner is awarded what's called the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

The official name of the Super Bowl trophy is the Vince Lombardi trophy.

It's named after the legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi, who led the Green Bay Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowl games.

The trophy is made of sterling silver and the top part is designed to look like a American football.

It weighs 3.2kg and stands 22 inches (56 cm) tall.

Super Bowl 60 will be available to watch live on Channel 5, Sky Sports and DAZN, but the time difference means it won't begin until 11:30PM UK time.

That means it might be one to catch up on on Monday if you can't stay up that late on Sunday night.

There will also be live text coverage of the game via the BBC Sport website.

Let us know in the comments if you'll be following the action.

It all sounds exciting - but do you need to know a bit more about the game itself?

American Football matches take place between two teams of 11 players on a pitch 100 yards long.

Each team comes from a squad of 53 players, separated into offensive and defensive players and those who take up special positions (especially when kicking the ball is involved), all of which can be called upon to play during the game.

Positions within an American Football team include:

Quarterback: Directs the team and ensure they score as many points as possible.

Wide receivers: Quick, nimble, and catch passes that are thrown to them.

Running backs: Rush the ball forward after receiving them from the quarterback.

Nickelback: Part of a team's defence.

The total game time is 60 minutes made up of four 15 minute quarters - however the Super Bowl can take over 4 hours.

This is due to the Halftime Show and lots of commercial breaks featuring more than 100 adverts.

The aim for any American football team is to score touchdowns by taking the ball into the end zone.

Similar to rugby, both teams are attempting to run the ball to opposite sides of the pitch before touching it down or score a goal by kicking the ball through the upright posts.

Touchdown (six points) - A touchdown is scored when a team crosses the opposition's goal line with the ball, or catches or collects the ball in the end zone.

Field goal (three points) - These are usually attempted on fourth down if the kicker is close enough to the end zone to kick the ball through the posts, or uprights.

Extra point (one or two points) - A point is earned by kicking the ball through the uprights after a touchdown (similar to a rugby conversion). Two points are earned by taking the ball into the end zone again.

Safety (two points) - Awarded to the defensive team when a member of the offensive team is tackled with the ball in his own end zone.