A football team is eleven players, and only one of them can use their hands. The other ten divide the pitch into jobs: stopping goals, making chances, and scoring them. Here's who plays where.
The four jobs
Almost every outfield role falls into one of four groups, from your own goal to the other:
- Goalkeeper — the last line, and the only player who may handle the ball, inside their own penalty area.
- Defenders — centre-backs in the middle who block and head clear, full-backs on the sides who also push forward.
- Midfielders — the engine room: a holding midfielder who protects the defence, central midfielders who link play, and wingers wide on the flanks.
- Forwards — the strikers and centre-forwards whose main job is to score.
Reading a formation
A formation is just the ten outfield players counted from the back: defence, then midfield, then attack. A 4-4-2 means four defenders, four midfielders and two strikers. The goalkeeper is never counted — the numbers always add up to ten.
4-3-3, and why teams pick it
In a 4-3-3 there are four at the back, three in central midfield and three across the front. The two wide forwards stretch the pitch and the midfield three keep control of the middle. It's one of the most common shapes in the modern game.
Numbers on shirts
Squad numbers can be anything today, but the old numbers still describe a role, and commentators still use them:
- 1 — goalkeeper
- 2 and 3 — full-backs
- 4 and 5 — centre-backs
- 6 — holding midfielder
- 8 — central midfielder
- 7 and 11 — wingers
- 10 — the playmaker
- 9 — the striker