Know football positions, number of players and substitution rules

Football, or soccer, is arguably the most followed sport in the world.

And every top-level competition in football, be it international or club-level, follows the 11-a-side format. A few cut-down variations like five-a-side and seven-a-side also exist but aren’t quite mainstream.

How many players in football

In a football match, each of the two competing teams can have a maximum of 11 players on the field at any time. One of these has to be a goalkeeper while the other 10 are outfield players.

In addition to their starting XIs, teams also have additional players on their roster who are present in their respective team’s dugout during a match. The additional players are often called the bench.

The maximum number of players a team can have on their bench for a match can vary from competition to competition. The range, however, is a minimum of three and a maximum of 12.

During the course of a match, a team can opt to replace any of its outfield players with one from the bench. This is called a substitution.

Once a substitution is made in a senior-level match, the player who is replaced cannot go back onto the field in a subsequent substitution. In youth or grassroots football, though, it is sometimes allowed and called a return substitution.

Traditionally, teams have been allowed a maximum of three substitutions in a match. However, the limit was increased to five recently due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the major competitions in the world are still using the five substitutions rule.

If a team runs out of substitutions and one or more of the on-field players is forced to leave due to an injury or other circumstances, the side will have to continue playing with reduced numbers until the end of the match even if they have unused substitute players on the bench.

A team will also need to play with less than 11 if one or more of their players get sent off during the match after seeing a red card for offences committed during the game. However, if a team is reduced to less than seven players due to suspensions, the match is deemed forfeit.

Football positions

As for the 11 players on the pitch, they can be broadly divided into four positions – goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders and forwards.

The latter three – defenders, midfielders and forwards, can be further divided into multiple positions.

While the one goalkeeper per team is a constant, the number of defenders, midfielders and forwards and their starting positions on the football pitch can vary according to the team’s formation or tactics.

Here’s a breakdown of all football positions and their roles.

Goalkeeper

A goalkeeper (GK) is essentially a team’s last line of defence. Generally seen in a different coloured jersey than the rest of the team, a goalkeeper usually stays in his own team’s penalty area, usually under the goalpost, to protect the goal. Goalkeepers are the only player on the football team who can use their hands to catch or control the ball, but only if they are in their own penalty box.

Goalkeepers are allowed to leave their respective penalty box but once they do, they will need to abide by the rules applicable to regular outfield players, i.e no using of hands.

Defenders

Defenders are usually the players in the playing XI, whose primary task is to defend their goal from opposition attacks. In modern football, though, even defenders tend to participate heavily in their team’s build-up play to initiate offensive moves.

Teams mostly play three to five players as defenders in a match. However, four at the back is the most commonly used tactic in modern football. Defenders can be further divided into the following categories according to their roles.

Centre backs: Centre backs (CB) or central defenders are centrally placed defenders just in front of the team’s goal. In a four-defender formation, teams generally utilise two centre backs while in a three or five-player backline involves three centre backs.

Centre backs are usually tall and physically imposing players with good aerial ability.

Full backs: The defenders who operate from either side of their centre backs are termed as full backs or side backs. Depending on which flank they operate in, they are further distinguished as a left back (LB) or a right back (RB). Besides defence, full backs often contribute offensively by charging up the pitch with overlapping runs to stretch the opposition defence.

If a team plays three centre backs and has two highly offensive full backs operating in the formation, they are also referred to as wing backs. Full backs are mostly quick with good positional sense.

Midfielders

As the name suggests, midfielders occupy the middle area of the football pitch and their role is to act as the link between defence and attack. Midfielders also have specialised roles and their position varies according to formations.

Central midfielders: Midfielders located centrally on the pitch are called central midfielders (CM). The number of central midfielders mostly depends on the team’s strategy.

If a central midfielder is tasked to primarily defend by staying in front of their backline, they are called central defensive midfielders (CDM). Players specialising as CDMs mostly have a high work rate and are good at tackling and interceptions.

More attack-minded central midfielders who prioritise supporting the forwards in attack rather than defence are called central attacking midfielders (CAM). CAMs generally possess the ability to play killer final passes and can shoot well from distance.

Central midfielders can also be neutral and try to contribute both defensively and offensively.

Wingers: Midfielders who operate from the flanks just ahead of the full backs are called wingers. They are called left wingers (LW) or right wingers (RW) according to their position on the pitch. While they do help their full backs defensively, a winger’s primary task is to attack and take on opposition defenders.

Traditionally wingers stay out wide and send in crosses into the opposition box for their forwards to finish.

In modern-day football, however, the concept of inverted wingers also exists. Inverted wingers are players who tend to cut in from wide and shoot at goal or assist a team-mate from a more central position. A left-footed player playing on the right wing or vice versa is considered ideal for inverted wingers.

Wingers are generally pacy, have good dribbling ability, can cross the ball well and are good shooters of the ball.

Forwards

Forwards or strikers are the team’s most advanced players on the pitch, whose job is exclusively to score goals. Hence, all forwards are great at finishing and often possess very good positional sense to find space for themselves in the opposition box. They can also be skillful, physically imposing or both, according to their style of play.

A forward who plays more centrally just in front of the opposition goal is called a centre forward (CF). More often than not, centre forwards are physically imposing and can both head and shoot the ball well. They are also good at holding the ball up by evading pressure from opposition defenders to allow their team-mates to run up and support in attack.

Sometimes centre forwards are instructed to drop deep to receive the ball and create goal-scoring chances for their team-mates instead of operating near the opposition box. In such cases, the centre forwards are also referred to as False 9s. It’s rare but some famous coaches like Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho have utilised the False9 in certain big match scenarios.

Some teams often deploy forwards in the lane between the wingers and the centre forwards. These strikers are referred to as right forwards (RF) or left forwards (LF) according to which side they are playing from. Generally fleet-footed, right forwards and left forwards can drift out wide or cut back in to trouble the opposition backline.