FootballPositions on a football team.
From goalkeeper to striker: explore each position and its responsibilities throughout the game.
These guides cover 11-a-side football. Left and right positions share a guide; sweeper/libero and false nine have separate entries to distinguish roles from positions. A team does not use every position at once.
13 articles have completed editorial review. Diagrams are original; the height table uses sourced historical data, not player selection standards.
Goalkeeper ↗
Understand the goalkeeper role in football: positioning, responsibilities in each phase, tactical diagrams, practice ideas, and sourced historical data.
Center back ↗
Understand the center back role in football: positioning, responsibilities in each phase, tactical diagrams, practice ideas, and sourced historical data.
Fullback ↗
Understand the fullback role in football: positioning, responsibilities in each phase, tactical diagrams, practice ideas, and sourced historical data.
Wingback ↗
Understand the wingback role in football: positioning, responsibilities in each phase, tactical diagrams, practice ideas, and sourced historical data.
Defensive midfielder ↗
Understand the defensive midfielder role in football: positioning, responsibilities in each phase, tactical diagrams, practice ideas, and sourced historical data.
Central midfielder ↗
Understand the central midfielder role in football: positioning, responsibilities in each phase, tactical diagrams, practice ideas, and sourced historical data.
Attacking midfielder ↗
Understand the attacking midfielder role in football: positioning, responsibilities in each phase, tactical diagrams, practice ideas, and sourced historical data.
Wide midfielder ↗
Understand the wide midfielder role in football: positioning, responsibilities in each phase, tactical diagrams, practice ideas, and sourced historical data.
Winger ↗
Understand the winger role in football: positioning, responsibilities in each phase, tactical diagrams, practice ideas, and sourced historical data.
Striker / center forward ↗
Understand the striker / center forward role in football: positioning, responsibilities in each phase, tactical diagrams, practice ideas, and sourced historical data.
Second striker ↗
Understand the second striker role in football: positioning, responsibilities in each phase, tactical diagrams, practice ideas, and sourced historical data.
Sweeper / libero ↗
Understand the sweeper / libero role in football: positioning, responsibilities in each phase, tactical diagrams, practice ideas, and sourced historical data.
False nine ↗
Understand the false nine role in football: positioning, responsibilities in each phase, tactical diagrams, practice ideas, and sourced historical data.
Data you can verify and reuse
Source: Pappalardo et al. (2019), A public data set of spatio-temporal match events in soccer competitions, Scientific Data 6:236; file Players on Figshare. The original file contains 3,603 player records from a dataset covering five European domestic leagues, the 2018 World Cup, and Euro 2016. It is not a current player roster.
| Original role | Records | With height | Missing | Median (cm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goalkeeper | 426 | 417 | 9 | 189 |
| Defender | 1200 | 1174 | 26 | 184 |
| Midfielder | 1257 | 1231 | 26 | 180 |
| Forward | 720 | 704 | 16 | 182 |
Method
Each wyId is counted once and grouped by its original role.name. Only numeric heights greater than zero are included in the median. Heights are sorted in ascending order; the middle value is used, or the average of the two middle values for an even count. Missing heights are not filled in, and playing time is not used as a weight. All 3,603 IDs in the file are unique.
Record counts do not represent the distribution of positions in a lineup. The data only distinguishes Goalkeeper, Defender, Midfielder, and Forward; it does not measure CB, WB, false nine, or other specialized roles separately. Differences in median height do not establish that height causes success or define physical requirements.
Usage rights and attribution
Figshare lists the CC BY 4.0 license for the Players file. You may share and adapt the data, including commercially, with attribution, a license link, and an indication of changes. This table is a summary recalculated by FootballCap and does not imply endorsement by the data authors.
Suggested attribution: “Pappalardo et al. (2019), Players, Figshare, CC BY 4.0; FootballCap grouped the records by role and calculated median heights, September 9, 2026.” When reusing the data, retain the dataset and license links above.
FIFA and Coaches’ Voice articles are reading references, not openly licensed content. FootballCap links to them and provides brief paraphrases. Field diagrams are original, with no copied photos, charts, or videos from those sources.
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