How Many Minutes Are In a Football Quarter? – American Football Rules

An American Football game is divided into four quarters, each lasting 15 minutes. These quarters are separated by 2-minute breaks, and there’s a 12-minute halftime break between the second and third quarters.

Advanced American Football leagues, such as college and NFL, have quarters that last 15 minutes. High school football has 12-minute quarters, while youth league has 8-minute quarters.

Each game has an active play time of about an hour, while the whole experience can last longer. They usually exceed three hours in the professional and college leagues. That is because of the breaks between the quarters, the permitted three timeouts that every team has each half, and the clock stopping by the referee every time the play goes out of bounds or an incomplete pass is made.