Different Football Defense Positions. A football team generally consists of just one “keeper” and ten additional players known as “outfield” players. Each of the 11 team members in football is responsible for covering a certain position on the football pitch.
These 10 players play a variety of defensive, midfield, and offensive positions, and the positions they play for each of them depend on the system in which they are used.
These positions are filled by football players from both teams, and they are required to stay in them at least until the game is over.
These formations were much more aggressively offensive in the past, notably in the late 1800s. Below you can see the different football defense positions:
The so-called “2-3-5 formation” gained popularity and widespread use around the end of the 19th century, which contributed to an increase in usage and global recognition of these position names.
In defense, we have “full-backs,” which are also referred to as the “left-back” and “right-back,” individually.
Then there’s “left-half,” “centre-half,” and “right-half” which is in the midfield.
Then in the mid to forward, we have “inside-left,” “centre-forward,” “outside-right,” and “right-wing” for the front line, as well as “outside-left” (also known as “left-wing”).
With the evolution of football games and so it becoming more and more popular, both team and tactics formations have very much changed. As a result, many of these positions’ names have changed to reflect their duties in the modern game of football.
The “half-back” term is no longer used since the early 1970s as well as “midfield”, which was used in naming the positions that play all around the middle third as in “centre midfield” and “wide midfield”.
These roles in football are nowadays not as strictly defined as they once were in sports like “rugby” or American football. Throughout their careers, the majority of football players will still primarily play in a small number of positions.
The reason for the above is that each position calls for having a specific set of abilities as well as physical characteristics. For example, to be able to hold yourself as a professional custodian, you must be able to catch the football while it is being kicked really hard and thrown with great force. To be able to do that, you must have years of practice in addition to being in excellent physical health.
However, there are some football players who can easily switch between multiple positions. They are referred to as “utility players” in football.
Football players are solely classified into one position in so-called “Total Football” strategies. The position with the most defense in a football game is the goalkeeper.
The primary responsibility of this individual is to prevent goals from being scored by the opposing team by catching, palming, or punching the ball off of shoots, crosses, and headers.
Another crucial task for goalkeepers is positioning, which is also one of the trickiest skills for a keeper to acquire.
Each keeper must don a unique color of equipment. The colours can range greatly: black, yellow, green, grey various blue tones, etc. They frequently don specialized gloves as well.
A greater hold on the football and protection from powerful shots and headers are two key functions of these gloves. Additionally, they facilitate punching and pushing the ball away.
Additionally, there are players that perform the role of the “centre-back” (sometimes known as “central defenders”). In particular, “strikers” on the other team are to be stopped from scoring in order to accomplish this task.
They have the authority and responsibility to remove the ball from their alleged “penalty area”. Two “centre-backs” are typically used by football teams, and they are positioned in front of the custodian.
The two basic defensive tactics that “centre-backs” can employ are as follows.
Both “man-to-man marking” (where each centre defender is tasked with covering a specific opponent’s player) and “zonal defense” are examples of these strategies.
Typically, “centre-backs” advance for set-piece corners and free kicks.
Due to their height and the threat of an aerial goal posed by their ability to jump, these locations are ideal for these players. They withdraw to their own side after the set piece is over.
A center-back known as a “sweeper” “sweeps up” the soccer ball when the opposition manages to get past the defense.
In comparison with other defenders that mark their allocated opponents, these players’ positions are a bit more fluid. Even more so than for a center-back, a player of this type must have the ability to understand the game.
However, the sweeper position is not as common as the last man, who may keep an offensive opponent onside.
The “left-back” and “right-back” are the defenders placed on each side of the “centre-backs” to provide defense against the wide players who are attacking.
These players frequently have to play defense against the opposing wingers, who try to sneak the ball past them along the sides to cross the pitch or pass to their attackers in the penalty area.
Traditionally, “full-backs” do not rise to aid the attack.
However, if the defensive line is maintained, they might advance as far as the midway line. These days, it’s common to employ the offensive “full-back” (or “wing-back” role).
A full-back has always been the final line of defense. However, as the sport evolved in the first decades of the twentieth century, the “centre-half” position lost favor and was renamed “centre-back”.
We have seen almost all the different football defense positions above. Now you can stay connected to your favorite players and clubs with the most recent football updates and rumors.
