A football player or footballer is a sportsman who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of rugby are association rugby, American rugby, Canadian rugby, Australian rule rugby, Gayle rugby, rugby league and rugby league.

It is estimated that there are 250 million association football players in the world, many of whom play other forms of football.

Jean Pierre Papin described football as a "universal language". Football players of almost all levels around the world can regularly attract large audiences, and players are the focus of a wide range of social phenomena, such as the culture of the association's rugby.

Football players usually start with amateurs, and the best players gradually become professional players. Usually, they start with a youth team (any local team) and then offer contracts based on their skills and talents. After signing, some people will learn to play football, some will be promoted to senior or professional teams.

Studies have shown that league players less than 200ms after a referee whistles are more likely to miss points than those who spend more than a second.

In some top men's leagues, wages are significantly higher than in other positions. The average player in the Premier League earns about $1 million a year. Some of the wealthiest clubs in the European Football League earn an average of $6 to $8 million a year. The best players in these clubs make $70 million a year.

However, at this level, only a small number of professional male football players are paid. In other departments and leagues, salaries are likely to be much more modest, and quite a few players are semi professionals. For example, the average annual salary of Major League soccer players (starting in 2009) in 2013 is $148693, which varies greatly depending on the player's position (for example, $85296 for goalkeepers and $251805 for forwards).

The popularity and average salary of women's leagues are much lower. For example, as of January 2017, players in the National Women's Football League (nwsl), which began in 2012, could receive between $15000 and $40000 per year.