1956 in football

American football

 * NFL Championship – New York Giants won 47-7 over the Chicago Bears
 * Orange Bowl (1955 season):
 * The Oklahoma Sooners won 20-6 over the Maryland Terrapins; voted national champions by AP Poll and Coaches Poll
 * 1956 college football season:
 * The Oklahoma Sooners win the college football national championship (don't participate in a bowl game the following January due to "no-repeat rule")
 * 1956 NAIA football season
 * Montana State and St. Joseph tie for the first ever National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championship game.