POSITION NUMBERS SOCCER FULL

Midfielders also have specialised roles and their position varies according to formations.Ĭentral midfielders: Midfielders located centrally on the pitch are called central midfielders (CM).

MidfieldersĪs the name suggests, midfielders occupy the middle area of the football pitch and their role is to act as the link between defence and attack.

POSITION NUMBERS SOCCER FULL

Full backs are mostly quick with good positional sense. If a team plays three centre backs and has two highly offensive full backs operating in the formation, they are also referred to as wing backs. Besides defence, full backs often contribute offensively by charging up the pitch with overlapping runs to stretch the opposition defence. Depending on which flank they operate in, they are further distinguished as a left back (LB) or a right back (RB). In a four-defender formation, teams generally utilise two centre backs while in a three or five-player backline involves three centre backs.Ĭentre backs are usually tall and physically imposing players with good aerial ability.įull backs: The defenders who operate from either side of their centre backs are termed as full backs or side backs. Defenders can be further divided into the following categories according to their roles.Ĭentre backs: Centre backs (CB) or central defenders are centrally placed defenders just in front of the team’s goal. However, four at the back is the most commonly used tactic in modern football. Teams mostly play three to five players as defenders in a match. In modern football, though, even defenders tend to participate heavily in their team’s build-up play to initiate offensive moves. Defendersĭefenders are usually the players in the playing XI, whose primary task is to defend their goal from opposition attacks. Goalkeepers are allowed to leave their respective penalty box but once they do, they will need to abide by the rules applicable to regular outfield players, i.e no using of hands. Goalkeepers are the only player on the football team who can use their hands to catch or control the ball, but only if they are in their own penalty box. Generally seen in a different coloured jersey than the rest of the team, a goalkeeper usually stays in his own team’s penalty area, usually under the goalpost, to protect the goal. GoalkeeperĪ goalkeeper (GK) is essentially a team’s last line of defence. Here’s a breakdown of all football positions and their roles. While the one goalkeeper per team is a constant, the number of defenders, midfielders and forwards and their starting positions on the football pitch can vary according to the team’s formation or tactics. The latter three – defenders, midfielders and forwards, can be further divided into multiple positions. Football positionsĪs for the 11 players on the pitch, they can be broadly divided into four positions – goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders and forwards. However, if a team is reduced to less than seven players due to suspensions, the match is deemed forfeit. If a team runs out of substitutions and one or more of the on-field players is forced to leave due to an injury or other circumstances, the side will have to continue playing with reduced numbers until the end of the match even if they have unused substitute players on the bench.Ī team will also need to play with less than 11 if one or more of their players get sent off during the match after seeing a red card for offences committed during the game. Most of the major competitions in the world are still using the five substitutions rule. However, the limit was increased to five recently due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Traditionally, teams have been allowed a maximum of three substitutions in a match. In youth or grassroots football, though, it is sometimes allowed and called a return substitution. Once a substitution is made in a senior-level match, the player who is replaced cannot go back onto the field in a subsequent substitution. The range, however, is a minimum of three and a maximum of 12.ĭuring the course of a match, a team can opt to replace any of its outfield players with one from the bench. The maximum number of players a team can have on their bench for a match can vary from competition to competition. The additional players are often called the bench. In addition to their starting XIs, teams also have additional players on their roster who are present in their respective team’s dugout during a match. One of these has to be a goalkeeper while the other 10 are outfield players.

In a football match, each of the two competing teams can have a maximum of 11 players on the field at any time. A few cut-down variations like five-a-side and seven-a-side also exist but aren’t quite mainstream. Football, or soccer, is arguably the most followed sport in the world.Īnd every top-level competition in football, be it international or club-level, follows the 11-a-side format.

Position numbers soccer