“What position are you playing today?”
“I am playing the 6.”
“Oh……OK. Well go have fun.”
I remember having this conversation with my kid and having no idea what she was playing. So, I decided to put together a very general guide to help parents out about the positions of soccer.
General Positions
First off, there are 11 players on the field divided up into 4 main areas.
Goalkeeper – Responsible for protecting the goal, can use his or her hands.
Defense – Responsible for preventing goals from the other team, plays in back near their own goal.
Midfield – Responsible for connecting the defense and the attack, plays in between the two.
Attack – Responsible for scoring goals on the other team, plays up front closer to the other teams goal.
Formation
The second thing you need to know is what formation the team is in. Generally, the formation will be called using 3 numbers. The first number will indicate the number of defenders, the second number will indicate the number of midfielders, the third number will indicate the number of attackers.
Examples:
4-3-3: 4 Defenders, 3 Midfielders, 3 Attackers
4-4-2: 4 Defenders, 4 Midfielders, 2 Attackers
5-4-1: 5 Defenders, 4 Midfielders, 1 Attacker
Positions
To keep it simple, we will use the positions in the 4-3-3. The positions can be named or numbered. These are very general descriptions.
- Goalkeeper – Goalie (GK)
- Right Fullback – Defender on the Right Side (RB)
- Left Fullback – Defender on the Left Side (LB)
- Center Back – Defender in the Middle (CB)
- Center Back – Defender in the Middle (CB)
- Defending Midfielder – Midfielder in the Middle (CDM)
- Right Midfielder/Right Wing – Midfielder or Wing on Right Side (RM/RW)
- Central Midfielder – Midfielder in the Middle (CM)
- Striker – Attacker up Top (S)
- Attacking Midfielder – Attacker up Top (CAM)
- Left Midfielder/Left Wing – Midfielder or Wing the Left Side (LM/LW)
There you go. Obviously, this is a very general description of the positions of Soccer. However, it should give you a very good jumping off point to understand the positions of soccer and helping your child to improve.
