Player Positions in Soccer

Part of the Video Series How to Play Soccer

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What is the difference between a forward and a striker? Learn about the three main positions in soccer, as well as two of the most common formations that teams play in this free online video soccer lesson for beginners.

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Video Transcript

Player Positions in Soccer
The game of Soccer is played with 11 players, one Goal Keeper and 10 what we call field players. Besides the Goal Keeper which we have talked about there are three positions in Soccer. I want to talk about each position and a little bit about the responsibilities of each. First of all you have the Defenders; usually there are 3 or 4 to a side. Defenders are responsible for marking the Forwards, making sure they don’t score and passing the ball up to the mid-field and forward players to start the attack. Then the mid-field players who arguably have the most responsibility of anyone on the team. There job is to run the length of the field covering both defense and contributing offensively. They are responsible for marking mid-field players running through trying to score on them. They are also responsible for distributing the ball to the Forwards on their team and scoring for themselves. Finally, there are Forwards, usually two Forwards, sometimes one, sometimes three. Their primary job is to score goals. They help out on defense a little bit but again, their job is to score goals and help their other forwards and mid-field players by scoring goals. I’ll talk to you about some basic formations you play. Most basic is called 4-4-2, 4 Defenders, 4 mid-field players and 2 attacking players or Forwards. Another common formation is 3-5-2, 3 Defenders, 5 mid-field players and 2 Forwards. These are the two most common formations in Soccer.

About the Expert

Expert: Mick Lewis is a veteran soccer player of 20 years. He won Academic All Conference honors as a collegiate player. Read More