Section 6: Scoring
Point Values
- Touchdown: 6 points — same as NFL/NCAA
- Convert (PAT): 1 point for a kick from the 32-yard line (NFL kicks from the 15-yard line, NCAA from the 3-yard line). The CFL's longer PAT distance makes it a more meaningful play.
- Two-point conversion: 2 points, from the 3-yard line — same as NFL/NCAA
- Field goal: 3 points — same as NFL/NCAA
- Safety: 2 points — same as NFL/NCAA
The Rouge (Single Point) — Narrowed for the 2026 Season
The rouge or single point remains one of the most distinctive scoring plays in Canadian football, but the 2026 CFL Official Playing Rules narrow when it can be awarded. Under Rule 4, Section 2, Article 4 (Single Point or Rouge), the CFL's Board of Governors eliminated the single point previously scored when a kicked ball goes directly out of bounds in the opponent's goal area, either in flight or after hitting the ground, with the stated goal of reducing games decided by a missed field goal that still puts a point on the board.
- How it's scored (2026 rule): A single point is awarded to the kicking team only when a punt, missed field goal, or kickoff settles in the receiving team's end zone and the returner fails to run it out of the end zone (or concedes the play).
- No longer a single: Under Rule 4, Section 2, Article 4, a kick that goes directly out of bounds in the opponent's goal area — whether in flight or after hitting the ground — no longer produces a rouge. A related change under Rule 1, Section 9, Article 2 (Kicked Ball Out of Bounds) and Rule 5, Section 4, Article 13 (Kicked Ball Striking Goal Post Assembly) provides that when a kicked ball goes through the opponent's goal area untouched, or strikes the goal post assembly without a score resulting, the ball is instead next scrimmaged by the opponent at their 40-yard line.
- Scenarios that still score a single: the returner is tackled with the ball in the end zone, the returner kneels in the end zone, or the returner fumbles the ball out of the end zone after fielding a kick that settled there.
- Strategy: The rule change removes the guaranteed point kicking teams previously banked by simply sending the ball through the back of the end zone. Punters and placekickers must now get the ball to settle in the end zone to have any chance at a single, since a kick driven directly out of bounds there scores nothing and instead hands the opponent the ball at their own 40-yard line.
- Game impact: Rouges still decide close games, but only on kicks the returner is forced to field and fails to advance out of the end zone — a team trailing by 1 point can still attempt a punt that settles in the end zone for the tying single, but a kick driven directly out of bounds there no longer accomplishes the same thing.
- NFL equivalent: There is no equivalent play in American football. NFL touchbacks are free — no point is scored.