Starting lineup

A starting lineup in sports is an official list of the set of players who will actively participate in the event when the game begins. The players in the starting lineup are commonly referred to as starters, whereas the others are substitutes or bench players.

The starters are commonly the best players on the team at their respective positions. Consequently, there is often a bit of prestige that is associated with being a starter. In both baseball and basketball, it is common for players' positions to be denoted by a number as well as by a name. In that instance, the associated number is used as well. If a common abbreviation is known, the abbreviation is listed after the associated number.

American football
In American football, a team starts with 11 players on offense, 11 players on defense, and a special teams squad of 11 players for punts, kickoffs, and extra point attempts. Very often most of the special teams players are starters or bench players for offense or defense. An example of this is Devin Hester of the Chicago Bears. He is their prime kick returner but also is a wide receiver.

Offense:
 * 1) QB -- Quarterback
 * 2) RB -- Running back
 * 3) C -- Center
 * LG, RG—Left and right guards on either side of the center
 * LT, RT—Left and right tackles on either end of the five man offensive line
 * 1) TE -- Tight end
 * 2) WR -- Wide receiver -- Teams can have up to five receivers on the field so long as there are no more than 11 offensive players.

Defense: Traditional football defense is the 4-3 (4 defensive linemen plus 3 linebackers) formation. However, the 3-4 (3 defensive linemen plus 4 linebackers) formation is becoming more popular among professional and NCAA Division I teams.
 * 1) DT—Depending on formation a team may have up to two defensive tackles.  If there is only one he is called the Nose Tackle (NT)
 * 2) DE—A team has two defensive ends
 * 3) LB—A team can start three or four linebackers based on formation
 * 4) SS -- Strong safety
 * 5) FS -- Free safety
 * 6) CB—Teams usually start two cornerbacks

Special Teams:
 * 1) K -- Kicker
 * 2) P -- Punter
 * 3) PR -- Punt returner
 * 4) KR -- Kick returner
 * 5) LS -- Long snapper

The National Football League counts how many times each player takes the first snap of the game. This statistic reflects offense and defense only, not special teams. (Every game starts with a kickoff, which would be a special teams play.) A player gets credited with only one start if he should happen to be on both the offensive and defensive starting lineups (as has happened several times in recent years with Troy Brown of the New England Patriots, who played both wide receiver and defensive back.) Yet, this is not the official starting lineup. The list of players to start the game is usually determined by the head coach of the franchise and not the league.

In American college football, the official record of the game includes a "Game Participation" chart which shows the starting lineups and the other participants. The starting lineups reflect the two teams' offenses and defenses, not the kickoff teams.