I don't know much about this football so it is probably way more nuanced than I'm giving it credit for, but I'm actually disappointed this is not about American Football. I think it is an interesting problem in that there is both the play calling decision made by the coach, and then the choices each (highly specialized) agent makes during execution. In addition to learning the physics to actually execute well of course.
There is also a nice hierarchical structure i.e. there is a clear outcome to each play, to each set of downs, to each possession.
Obviously this mostly has to do with personal preference, and I know that's all you were commenting on. But I've encountered enough people that seem to think football is a mindless game that I wanted to get a comment out there when I saw the topic come up.
I think one difference between American Football and Football is that American football tends to have specialized events happening. You have field goals, you have turnovers, you have punts, and so on. Each of them require specialized instructions, someone who is a wide receiver will not share the same skill as a QB. In Football, by and large the skillsets that everyone develops is the same, i.e. good ball control and fitness. There is specialization when it comes to specific positions, but it is not as drastic a change. This could allow you to get away with simpler player models in Football, everyone can basically be modeled by a simple "footballer", instead of different people for "kicker", "quarter back", "line back" and so on. Potentially, this can make sport simulation environments for RL like this easier for football.
As a fan of both American football and soccer, I'd love to see them both done. It would be interesting to see what an AI could do with the totally fluid nature of soccer, and also the hybrid poker+RTS aspects of American football.
There is also a nice hierarchical structure i.e. there is a clear outcome to each play, to each set of downs, to each possession.
Obviously this mostly has to do with personal preference, and I know that's all you were commenting on. But I've encountered enough people that seem to think football is a mindless game that I wanted to get a comment out there when I saw the topic come up.