The first question to answer when you want to know the size of a professional football is: What is a football? In the U.S., it is a standard NFL oblate-spheroid pigskin. In the U.K., a football is a regulation, pig-bladder rugby ball. And in Europe it is a FIFA-approved football sphere called a soccer ball in the U.S. Professional footballs come in many approved regulation sizes and shapes.
Professional Sized American Football
The approved specifications for an NFL and NCAA football are interchangeable, with a little extra variation allowed in college, according to Wilson Footballs, the only official manufacturer of footballs for the NFL and the NCAA. The covering of the ball is pebble-grained leather with no corrugations other than seams. This is relevant to size because this material and its stitching are stretchable. Inflation pressure can change dimensions slightly with use, temperature and altitude. The ball conforms to maximum and minimum size and shape. End-to-end length must be 10 7/8 to 11 7/16 inches, end-to-end circumference 27 3/4 to 28 1/2 inches, and mid-ball circumference 20 3/4 to 21 1/4 inches. Inflated pressure is 12 1/2 to 13 1/2 lbs. per square inch. The weight must be between 14 and 15 oz.
The Other Football: Rugby
The U.K.-based International Rugby Board's "Law 2" of 2004 states the regulation ball must be oval, of an in-line length of 11 to 11 3/4 inches, end-to-end circumference of 29 1/8 to 30 5/16 inches, and mid-ball circumference of 22 7/8 to 24 3/8 inches. As with the American football, the ball material is flexible, but may be treated for water resistance and a good grip. It weighs between 14 1/2 and 16 1/4 oz.
Soccer Is Football Too
FIFA, the international soccer governing body, stipulates its football size in "Law 2 - The Ball." The spherical ball is composed of flexible leather or other suitable material, no more than 28 inches and no less than 27 inches in diameter. It may weigh no more than 16 oz. or less than 14 oz. at the beginning of the match. The ball must be filled to 0.6 to 1.1 times atmospheric pressure at sea level, which is between 8.5 lbs. per square inch and 15.6 lbs. per square inch.
The Right Stuff
The rugby ball was originally simply a sewn pig bladder whose size and shape varied with the size of the pig. Today's rugby ball is often made of a tough variety of woven cloth, leather or synthetic material. Rugby balls may sport advertiser's logos. In the U.S., no substitutes have ever been approved for pigskin leather. It must be tan in color, and pebble-surfaced with eight evenly spaced lacings and no external commercial emblems except the manufacturer's logo. Soccer balls, made of leather or another suitable material, are limited in commercial markings like American footballs, but many colors and patterns of sewn panels are permissible.
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