Captain (association football)

[5] At an award-giving ceremony after a fixture like a cup competition final, the captain usually leads the team up to collect their medals.

In youth or recreational football, the captain often takes on duties that would, at a higher level, be delegated to the manager.

Examples include Ronald Araújo at Barcelona, Thomas Müller at Bayern Munich, and Dani Carvajal at Real Madrid.

[13] In the 1986 FIFA World Cup, when Bryan Robson was injured and vice-captain Ray Wilkins received a two-game suspension for a red card, Peter Shilton became England's captain for the rest of the tournament.

Michael Ballack had captained the national team since 2004, including the successful qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup, but he did not play in the latter tournament due to a last minute injury.

[14][15] Lahm ended up becoming the permanent captain of Germany until his retirement, as Ballack was never called up in the national team again.

United States captain Abby Wambach (left, in red) and England captain Steph Houghton (right, in white) shake hands before kickoff, 2015
A captain's armband with FIFA 's "My Game is Fair Play" slogan printed on it
Francesco Totti , Roma captain, lifting the 2007–08 Coppa Italia
James Milner , vice-captain of Liverpool from 2015–2023. As depicted in the image, vice-captains serve as their team's captain when the regular captain is not included in the starting eleven, or if, during a game, the captain is substituted or sent off.