#Positions and numbers in soccer professional

They usually remain in the half of the field that contains the goal they are defending. Main article: Defender (association football) A defender (in the foreground, wearing a white shirt) challenging for possession.ĭefenders play behind the midfielders and their primary responsibility is to provide support to the team and to prevent the opposition from scoring a goal. This happened in the 2023 NSWL Championship final, when goalkeeper Mandy Haught was sent off with a red card, and her team already reached the limit of substitutions, causing midfielder Nealy Martin to take her place as goalkeeper.

If that is not possible, an outfielder must do so and wear the goalkeeper's shirt. If a goalkeeper gets sent off or injured, a substitute goalkeeper must take their place in goal. Unlike other positions, the goalkeeper is the only required role in a football match.

#Positions and numbers in soccer professional

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. 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. Since the 1970s, goalkeepers have also typically worn specialised gloves. Common colours include yellow, green, grey, black and shades of blue. Goalkeepers must also wear a different coloured kit from the outfielders and officials. Positioning is another important job and is one of the hardest to master as keeper. Goalkeepers are the only players on the pitch who are allowed to handle the ball, but this is restricted to their own penalty area. 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. Unlike their teammates, goalkeepers typically remain in and around their own penalty area for most of the game. 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. Goalkeeper is the most defensive position in football. Main article: Goalkeeper (association football) Goalkeeper diving to keep the ball away from goal. This tactic required players who were extremely versatile, such as Johan Cruyff, who could play every position on the pitch apart from goalkeeper. However, in Total Football tactics, the players are only loosely defined into a position. Footballers who are able to play comfortably in a number of positions are referred to as ' utility players'. 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. 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. 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. 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 (though some old familiar ones remain). 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 (or left wing), inside-left, centre-forward, inside-right and outside-right (or right wing).

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 the early development of the game, formations were much more offensively aggressive, with the 1–2–7 being prominent in the late 1800s.

These positions describe both the player's main role and their area of operation on the pitch. 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. 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. Teams must always have a goalkeeper, but the remaining 10 players may be arranged in any combination. The most common positions used in association football.