Association football positions

A team is made up of one goalkeeper and ten outfield players who fill various defensive, midfield, and attacking positions depending on the formation deployed.

The goalkeeper's main job is to stop the other team from scoring by catching, palming or punching the ball from shots, headers and crosses.

A sweeping goalkeeper is good at reading the game, and prevents scoring opportunities by coming off their line to challenge and/or distract opposing forwards who have beaten the offside trap.

[7] Defenders play behind the midfielders and their primary responsibility is to provide support to the team and to prevent the opposition from scoring a goal.

[9] The principal role of the centre-back,[10][11] (or central defender[12]) (historically called a centre-half[13][14]) is to block the opponent's players from scoring, and safely clearing the ball from the defensive half's penalty area.

Successful centre-backs also need to be able to concentrate, read the game well, and be brave and decisive in making last-ditch tackles on attacking players who might otherwise be through on goal.

[12] Centre-backs will usually go forward for set piece corners and free-kicks, where their height and jumping ability give them an aerial goal threat, while defensive duties are covered by the full-backs.

[19][20] The sweeper (or libero (Italian: free)) is a more versatile type of centre-back that, as the name suggests, "sweeps up" the ball if the opponent manages to breach the defensive line.

Some of the greatest sweepers were Gaetano Scirea, Bobby Moore, Franco Baresi, Daniel Passarella and Lothar Matthäus.

[citation needed] The left-back and the right-back (generally referred to as the full-backs[28]) are the defenders stationed at either side of the centre-backs to provide protection from attacking wide players.

They often have to defend against the opponent's wingers, who will try to take the ball past them down the flanks in order to cross or pass into the penalty area to their attackers.

A wing-back needs to be of exceptional stamina, be able to provide crosses upfield and then defend effectively against an opponent's attack down the flanks.

Midfielders can be expected to cover many areas of a pitch, as at times they can be called back into defence or required to attack with the strikers.

[37] The central midfielder provides a link between defence and attack, fulfilling a number of duties and operating primarily in the middle third of the pitch.

Since most of the action takes place in and around their area of the pitch, midfielders often exert the greatest degree of control over how a match is played.

[39] It is often said that a match is won or lost in midfield, meaning that whichever team dominates the middle area of the pitch is able to dictate the game.

A central midfielder is expected to have good vision, be adept at long and short passing and have great stamina because of the ground they cover in a game.

[44] Defensive midfielders require good positional sense, work rate, tackling ability, and anticipation (of player and ball movement) to excel.

They also need to possess good passing skills and close control to hold the ball in midfield under sustained pressure.

[45] Most importantly, defensive midfielders require great stamina as they are the outfield players who cover the greatest distance during a professional match.

[46] Deep-lying playmakers typically require a good first touch under opposition pressure and the ability to play long crossfield passes to attacking players further upfield.

[48][49] These players typically serve as the offensive pivot of the team, and are sometimes said to be "playing in the hole", although this term can also be used to describe the positioning of a deep-lying forward.

As the game has developed further, some tactical formations (for example, 4–3–3) have used central midfielders deployed in a wider position to provide width, more defensive protection along the flanks and to help compress play in the opponent's half.

[54] They are required to be more "nippy", quick, mobile, and skillful, helping to create goals and scoring opportunities for centre forwards, utilising spaces created in the opposition's defence to provide passes to the strikers, picking up loose balls around the area, or attempting to dribble with the ball and score themselves.

Later, it was popularised in Italian football as the trequartista ("three-quarters") or fantasista, the advanced playmaker who plays neither in midfield nor as a forward, but effectively pulls the strings for their team's attack, and serves as an assist provider.

[citation needed] Whatever the terminology, the position itself is a loosely defined one, a player who lies somewhere between the out-and-out striker and the midfield, who can perform this role effectively due to their vision, technical skills, creativity, and passing ability.

As the supporting forward role was popularised in Italy due to free-role attacking midfielders adapting to a more advanced position in the tactically rigorous 4–4–2 formations of the 1990s, their defensive contribution is also usually higher than that of a pure number ten playmaker.

[57] A centre forward has the key task of scoring goals and for this reason acts as the focal point of the majority of attacking play by a team.

As such, how well a striker is performing tends to be measured purely on goals scored despite the fact that they may be contributing in other ways to a team's success.

However, in the English-speaking world, they are usually counted as part of the midfield having been pushed back there with the advent of the 4–4–2 formation which gradually rose to prominence in the 1960s, given the role's additional defensive duties.