Association football positions
In the sport of association football, each of the 11 players on a team is assigned to a particular position on the field of play. 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. These positions describe both the player's main role and their area of operation on the pitch.
In the early development of the game, formations were much more offensively aggressive, with the 1–2–7 being prominent in the late 1800s. In the latter part of the 19th century, the 2–3–5 formation became widely used and the position names became more refined to reflect this. In defence, there were full-backs, known as the left-back and right-back; in midfield, left-half, centre-half and right-half; and for the forward line there were outside-left, inside-left, centre-forward, inside-right and outside-right. As the game has evolved, tactics and team formations have changed and so many of the names of the positions have changed to reflect their duties in the modern game. The term "half-back" fell out of use by the early 1970s and "midfield" was used in naming the positions that play around the middle third as in centre midfield and wide midfield.
The fluid nature of the modern game means that positions in football are not as rigidly defined as in sports such as rugby or American football. Even so, most players will play in a limited range of positions throughout their career, as each position requires a particular set of skills and physical attributes. Footballers who are able to play comfortably in a number of positions are referred to as "utility players".
However, in Total Football tactics, the players are only loosely defined into a position. This tactic required players who were extremely versatile, such as Johan Cruyff, who could play every position on the pitch apart from goalkeeper.
Goalkeeper
Goalkeeper is the most defensive position in football. 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. Unlike their teammates, goalkeepers typically remain in and around their own penalty area for most of the game. As a result, goalkeepers have a better view of the pitch and often give advice to their defence when the other team is on the attack or during set pieces. Goalkeepers are the only players on the pitch who are allowed to handle the ball, but this is restricted to their own penalty area. Positioning is another important job and is one of the hardest to master as keeper.Goalkeepers must also wear a different coloured kit from the outfielders and officials. Common colours include yellow, green, grey, black and shades of blue. Since the 1970s, goalkeepers have also typically worn specialised gloves. They provide better grip on the ball and protect their hands from hard shots and headers, as well making it easier to punch or push the ball away. Caps were common between the 1910s and 1960s, as well as woolly jumpers, but these are not worn in any professional or semi-professional context today.
Unlike other positions, the goalkeeper is the only required role in a football match. If a goalkeeper gets sent off or injured, a substitute goalkeeper must take their place in goal. If that is not possible, an outfielder must do so and wear the goalkeeper's shirt.
Sweeper-keeper
With the advent of the offside rule, the role of a sweeping defender has largely become obsolete. However, in the last decade it has become popular for goalkeepers to take on that role instead. 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. Manuel Neuer has often been described as a sweeper-keeper.Defender
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. They usually remain in the half of the field that contains the goal they are defending. Taller defenders will move forward to the opposing team's penalty box when their team takes corner kicks or free kicks, where scoring with one's head is a possibility.Centre-back
The principal role of the centre-back, is to block the opponent's players from scoring, and safely clearing the ball from the defensive half's penalty area. As their name suggests, they play in a central position. Most teams employ two centre-backs, stationed in front of the goalkeeper. There are two main defensive strategies used by centre-backs: the zonal defence, where each centre-back covers a specific area of the pitch, and man-to-man marking, where each centre-back has the job of covering a particular opposition player.Centre-backs are often tall, strong and have good jumping, heading and tackling ability. 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. Sometimes, particularly in lower leagues, centre-backs concentrate less on ball control and passing, preferring simply to clear the ball in a "safety-first" fashion. However, there is a long tradition of centre-backs having more than just rudimentary footballing skill, enabling a more possession-oriented playing style.
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. Once the set piece is complete, they will retreat to their own half.
The position is sometimes referred to as "centre-half". This originates in the late part of the 19th century, when most teams employed the 2–3–5 formation, the row of three players were called half-backs. As formations evolved, the central player in this trio, moved into a more defensive position on the field, taking the name of the position with them.
Sweeper
The sweeper ) 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. Their position is rather more fluid than other defenders who mark their designated opponents. The sweeper's ability to read the game is even more vital than for a centre-back. The catenaccio system of play, used in Italian football in the 1960s, notably employed a defensive libero. With the advent of the modern offside rule came the need to hold more of a defensive line to catch opposing players offside. Use of a sweeper role became less popular as the last man can play an attacking opponent onside, which could in the case of the sweeper be behind the main defence. Nowadays, the position is commonly taught in American and Italian youth football, with most teams elsewhere never playing the position.Former German captain Franz Beckenbauer is commonly seen as the inventor of the libero and the best player in the role. However, players such as Velibor Vasović and Armando Picchi were prominent sweepers prior to Beckenbauer. Some of the greatest sweepers were Gaetano Scirea, Bobby Moore, Franco Baresi, Daniel Passarella and Lothar Matthäus.
Full-back
The left-back and the right-back 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. Full-backs traditionally do not go up to support the attack but may move up as far as the halfway line depending on the defensive line being held. In the modern game, there has been the tendency to prefer the use of the attacking full-back role though they are more often than not still referred to as right- or left-backs.Originally, a full-back was the last line of defence, but as the game developed in the early 20th century, the centre-half role was dropped backwards and came to be known as 'centre-back', and the full-backs were then pushed out wider to create the right-back and left-back positions.
Wing-back
The wing-backs are defenders with a more advanced emphasis on attack. The name is a portmanteau of "winger" and "full-back", indicating greater emphasis on their responsibilities in attack. They are usually employed as part of a 3–5–2 formation, and can therefore be considered part of the midfield when a team is attacking. They may also be used in a 5–3–2 formation and therefore have a more defensive role. The term "wing-back" itself is gradually falling out of use as there is less of a distinction with the full-back roles in the modern game, especially when used in a 4–3–3 or 4–2–3–1 formation.The wing-back role is one of the most physically demanding positions in modern football. Wing-backs are often more adventurous than traditional full-backs and are expected to provide width, especially in teams without wingers. 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. A defensive midfielder is usually fielded to cover the advances of an opponent's wing-back.