Let’s take a closer look at soccer and its 11v11 match setup, a subject close to my heart as a soccer enthusiast. This format marks the transition into semi-pro (amateur) and professional soccer, starting at the age of 15.
From my own experience watching and playing, I’ve seen how coaches strategize by arranging their players in various formations.
But no matter how creative they get, every player essentially fits into one of four main roles: the goalkeepers, the ultimate defense; defenders, the team’s backbone; midfielders, who link the defense and offense; and forwards or attackers, the goal-scoring heroes.
I’m excited to share more about these positions and players’ unique roles on the field. It’s fascinating to see how each position contributes to the team’s strategy, making soccer the thrilling game we all love.
11v11 Soccer Position Names
As stated earlier, soccer players occupy four main roles in the three positional areas on a soccer field. These areas are defense, midfield, and attack.
The defense is the area where a team operates to stop their opponents from trying to put the ball between their goalposts and under their crossbar (scoring a goal), which is the primary way to win a soccer match.
The midfield is where a team operates to create chances that can lead to them scoring goals, and the attack areas are the zones from which the team attempts to score goals.
1. Goalkeeper (GK)
Top Player: Alisson Becker – Known for his incredible reflexes and game-reading abilities, Alisson has redefined the role of a modern goalkeeper.
Role and Responsibilities
The goalkeeper is a defensive player with the special responsibility of guarding their team’s goal post.
They are allowed to use their hands, feet, and every part of their body to do this while following a set of rules to prevent injuries or a booking (receiving a warning or punishment).
- Key Attributes and Skills
The goalkeeper must be flexible, agile, attentive, and willing to put themselves in danger for the team. Opponents will attempt to score via powerful shots between the 24-foot-wide and 8-foot-tall goalpost that they are tasked with guarding. They must also be good passers of the ball.
- Positioning and Decision-making
According to the Laws of the Game, the goalkeeper has free reign in the penalty area. This is the area where goalscoring action happens.
However, their primary responsibility is guarding the goalpost, which means they must know when and when not to leave the goal line in their defensive actions.
2. Defenders
- Center-backs (CB)
Top Player: Virgil van Dijk – A defensive wall, Van Dijk combines physical presence with exceptional football intelligence.
Role and Responsibilities
The center-backs are defensive players who guard the goalkeeper. They line up before the goalkeeper to prevent their opponents from seeing a clear line to the goal. They carry out their defensive actions with this in mind. The coach’s tactics determine how many center-backs he uses in matches.
Organizing the Defensive Line
Center-backs are the vice-marshals of a team’s defense. The goalkeeper sees the clear line to the goal from his unique position and shouts instructions to them, who relay them to other team members. They protect their goal this way, giving the goalkeeper little to do.
Tactical Awareness and Communication
They are the most vocal members of a team. In modern soccer, they are usually responsible for starting attacks and, as a result, have to see the path to the goal from their position deep in the field. Their primary duty also requires them to anticipate attacking actions and stop them.
- Full-backs (LB/RB)
Top Player: Trent Alexander-Arnold (RB) – Renowned for his pinpoint crossing and attacking prowess from the defensive flank.
Defensive Duties
A soccer field is a massive 105 × 68-meter area where the sport is played. Golf is the only field sport in the world with a larger playing area than a soccer field.
The massive size of a soccer field means that there must be defenders to stop opponents from coming from the flanks. Fullbacks are those defenders.
They widen the defensive areas for their team and reduce them by driving opponents to the bylines and coming in close to their center-backs to narrow down the opponent’s shooting lanes.
Speed and stamina are the key physical attributes of a fullback.
Overlapping Runs and Supporting Attacks
A fullback’s primary operating area is in defense, but they are also encouraged to participate in their team’s attack. This means they can make overlapping runs if they do not have to defend.
These overlapping runs usually take them deep into the attacking zones, where they can contribute significantly to their team’s attacking play. Defenders rarely score goals or create chances, but the nature of a fullback’s role on the pitch can allow them to be a team’s top goal scorer or assist maker.
A well-rounded fullback can attack and defend.
Balancing Defensive and Offensive Roles
You may see a modern soccer position chart referring to a fullback as a “wing-back.”
Don’t be confused. I will explain the reason in the following lines.
Fullbacks have evolved to become attackers who defend rather than defenders who also attack, which is why the term “wing-back” refers to them.
The coach assigns them the full-back role in defense, but their primary zone of operation is beyond it. They start their defensive actions from the attack zones.
Defending from the front is key to finding balance in the fullback role.
3. Midfielders
- Defensive Midfielder (CDM)
Top Player: N’Golo Kanté – The epitome of stamina and tenacity, Kanté excels in breaking down opposition plays.
Shielding the Defense
A defensive midfielder is a player who plays pivot.
A pivot plays in front of the defense and is one of the soccer field positions in the midfield area.
They are regarded as midfielders because they possess the skills and abilities of the average midfielder, but their job is dirty and thankless, like that of a defender.
Their job is even more thankless than a defender’s because they mop up loose balls and are required to run behind their other teammates and in front of their defense.
This action shields their defense and helps to restart attacking plays.
Breaking up Opposition Attacks
The defensive midfielder’s constant running in front of the defense ensures that opposition attacks do not have an easy road to their team’s goal.
Where fullbacks overlap and fail to return to their defensive zones on time, the defensive midfielder is there to cover for them or the center-back, who drifts outward to cover for the missing fullback.
A team’s defensive midfielder also attacks the opposing midfielder responsible for starting attacks to prevent them from doing so.
They must possess great anticipation, be brave tacklers, and be tireless in serving their team well and fulfilling this assigned role.
Distributing the Ball Efficiently
The defensive midfielder employs their midfield talents to distribute the ball efficiently after they have won it back from the opponents.
They are sometimes playmakers, like Jorginho, Xabi Alonso, Andrea Pirlo, Nicolò Barella, and Hakan Çalhanoğlu, and sometimes disruptors/destroyers, like Rodri, Sergio Busquets, Claude Makelele, N’Golo Kante, and Casemiro.
Regardless of their profile, they must win the ball back by tackling or interceptions and play a pass that will find a midfielder or an attacker to restart their team’s offense.
Great spatial awareness, anticipation, vision, and patience are the key qualities of a good DM.
- Central Midfielders (CM)
Top Player: Kevin De Bruyne – A master of creativity and vision, De Bruyne can dictate the game’s pace from midfield.
Box-to-box Role
Central midfielders occupy the central areas of the field where most of the game is played.
Their zone of operation is the area between the center circle and the outside of the penalty area. Sometimes, they are required to do more.
This is where the box-to-box ability comes in.
A box-to-box center midfielder operates like a defensive midfielder. They possess great stamina, allowing them to run the field length to help distribute the ball.
Clarence Seedorf, Steven Gerrard, Frenkie De Jong, Bruno Guimarães, Federico Valverde, and Leon Goretzka are also great examples of box-to-box CMs.
Linking Defense and Attack
The primary role of a central midfielder is to link defense and attack. This is why they play in the middle of the soccer field.
They receive passes from the defensive areas (either from the defenders or defensive midfielder) and distribute them to the attacking areas.
If they can play box-to-box, this becomes easier. The added skill of being a great ball carrier can help them move up with the ball to force the opponents back while allowing their teammates to slip into favorable attacking areas.
Perfect timing is needed to pull this off.
Creativity and Vision in Midfield
Other than Kevin De Bruyne; Xavi Hernandez, Luka Modrić, David Silva, and Toni Kroos are also some of the best central midfielders in the world for one reason: their creativity and vision.
These men can pick a pass from anywhere. They have mastered forcing the run from an attacker or a free teammate.
Most passes go to teammates who have already found space. These players—and others like them—find spaces for their teammates to occupy with their passes.
This is only possible because of their great ability to create and their eagle’s eye view of the soccer field.
- Attacking Midfielders (CAM)
Top Player: Bruno Fernandes – Known for his goal-scoring ability and knack for crucial assists from the midfield.
Playmaking Responsibilities
Attacking midfielders are midfielders who attack the opponents’ goal.
They play “in the hole”, which is the area between the attack zone and the top of the midfield zone.
Bruno Fernandes, Martin Ødegaard, Bernardo Silva, Jude Bellingham, and Mohammed Kudus are some of modern football’s best examples of attacking midfielders.
Their role requires them to support their attackers either as a second striker or a winger by facilitating the goalscoring opportunities that their team needs.
The attacking midfielders do this by their runs, trickery, passing, and even shooting at the opponents’ goal.
Providing Assists and Scoring Opportunities
As the primary chance creator in the team, they revive passes from the center or defensive midfielder to redistribute them.
These passes become metrics known as “assists” or “created chances” in soccer. They occur when the attacking midfielder has passed the ball into an area where a shot at goal can be taken by the attacker or the overlapping fullback.
Sometimes, their runs can provide these chances. Mohammed Kudus is especially adept at running into attacking spaces, which either opens up space for others he passes into or causes the opponents to foul him, leading to a set-piece situation.
Operating between Midfield and Forward Lines
As stated earlier, the attacking midfielder plays “in the hole,” creating the chances that the team needs to score the goals.
They also contribute goals from this zone too. An example of a scoring midfielder is Frank Lampard, who is Chelsea’s highest goalscorer of all time despite being a midfielder.
4. Forwards
- Wingers (LW/RW)
Top Player: Mohamed Salah (RW)—With a lethal combination of speed, skill, and finishing, Salah is a constant threat on the wing.
Stretching the Opposition’s Defense
Wingers are attackers who play on the flanks. They stretch the opponent’s defense to create space in the penalty area for other teammates to attack.
Wingers are fast, tricky, speedy, agile, and able to cross the ball. These are their key attributes; the ones without which they cannot fulfill their roles effectively.
Ousmane Dembele, Lamine Yamal, Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka, and Anthony Elanga are great examples of modern wingers who greatly encompass these traits.
They like to “hug” the byline in their opponents’ halves in matches to cause damage and catch defenses unaware.
Providing Width in Attack
“Hugging the byline” is soccer’s speak for stretching the opponent’s defense. So is “providing width” in attack and attacking transitions.
Here are a few key reasons why wingers need to be able to do this in games.
Defense becomes difficult: When the defenders get caught in two minds because of the provided width by the wingers, the threat level of the attack increases.
Better penetration: When wingers run into the spaces in the wings or create them with their wing play, more teammates can run into the central areas, increasing the threat level of the attack.
Cutting Inside for Goal-scoring Opportunities
Modern football sometimes requires wingers to “invert”. Wingers who can do this are often called “inverted wingers”.
These wingers cut inside from the flanks to either shoot at goal or make an assist. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are who they are because they mastered this impressive skill.
- Strikers (ST)
Top Player: Robert Lewandowski – A prolific goal scorer, Lewandowski’s positioning and finishing skills are unparalleled.
Goal-scoring Instincts
The striker is the most glamorous soccer role because their primary duty is to score goals.
The defense and midfield work to get the ball to them, and they shoot it between the posts for a goal.
For this to happen, the striker must be a predator with the hunting instincts to sniff out a goalscoring chance and attack it.
This means they must possess a powerful shot, strength, stamina, speed, agility, and the instinct to find spaces where the ball can reach them unencumbered.
A lot of coaches like to play the bigger players in this position.
Holding up Play and Linking with Midfielders
One skill a good striker must possess is the ability to hold up play and link up with his midfielders.
Because soccer fields are large, it is important to conserve energy. When midfield runners come up with the ball, a touch-and-go with a very attentive striker can open up spaces for said striker or other forwards to score a goal.
Where a touch-and-go is not possible, the striker can hold on to the ball with his strength, which draws in defenders to open up spaces for other attackers to exploit, then release a pass for a goalscoring chance.
Movement off the Ball to Create Space
Strikers touch the ball less than other players because of their positional area on a soccer field.
Their time is spent running away from opposition defenders to create attacking lanes that their wingers or their attacking midfielders can exploit.
These runs they make also help them get into positions that favor them so they can have a crack at goal.
This is a core technical skill that any good striker must have.
11v11 Soccer Positions Numbers
| Position | Number |
| Goalkeeper | 1 |
| Fullback (LB/RB) | 2 and 3 |
| Center-back | 4, 5, 6 |
| Defensive midfielder | 4 or 6 |
| Central midfielder | 8 |
| Attacking midfielder | 10 |
| Winger (LW/RW) | 7 and 11 |
| Striker | 9 |
NOTE: The evolution of football has made these obsolete, and players now can choose whatever numbers they like, except for the number 1, which is strictly for the goalkeeper.
Tactical Formations and Variations
4-4-2 formation
This is sometimes referred to as football’s basic formation.
A soccer coach will typically create a soccer position chart with this formation to introduce newbie players to soccer positions by numbers.
This formation has two center-backs, two fullbacks, four midfielders, and two attackers.
It is a balanced formation.
4-3-3
This is the quintessential attack formation in soccer.
In this formation, the wingers are fully defined on the pitch because the system employs three attackers.
The midfield three can be arranged in any pattern, but the typical setup distinctly shows the numbers 4/6 (DM), 8 (CM), and 10 (AM).
4-2-3-1
In this variation of the 4-3-3 formation, there are two DMs, one of whom usually acts as a deep-lying playmaker and three attacking midfielders. One is a clear number 10, while the others act more like wingers.
However, the wide midfielders in this formation can swap positions with the number 10.
4-1-4-1
Coaches usually deploy this as an in-game formation.
In-game formations are formations that come up as a result of tactical shifts within a game.
It is a variation of the regular 4-3-3, where the central midfielder joins the attacking midfielder and wingers in a press or as an added attacker.
3-4-3
This formation is younger than the others that have existed for over 100 years.
As implied, three center-backs are making it difficult to name the soccer positions by numbers.
However, it is great in defense because coaches mostly stick wing-backs next to two central midfielders for the midfield four.
Final Thoughts
When playing soccer, either as an amateur or a new player, you want to have a perfect understanding of these soccer field positions. This is because they help you play the game better and give you an area to focus on.
The knowledge also helps you conserve energy. As I stated earlier, these only apply in 11v11 situations, considered amateur/semi-pro and pro level. For beginner soccer – or youth–field positions, click this link to learn more.
