Soccer positions explained: names, numbers and what they do

From Manuel Neuer to Harry Kane, German football boasts some of the best players in the world in their positions. But what are the player positions in soccer? Allow us to break it down and explain...

Position: Goalkeeper 

• The most defensive position in soccer
• Main job to stop opposition goals
• Also organises the defence and builds play from the back
• Wears gloves, and a different coloured jersey from teammates
• Only player who can use their hands in their 18-yard box

Watch: Explaining the role of a goalkeeper

Bundesliga archetype: Manuel Neuer 

The best goalkeeper in the world, and arguably of all time. Neuer has the shot-stopping ability of anyone who has gone before him, but the term "sweeper-keeper" was effectively invented for the Bayern Munich man, who has revolutionised the position in a two-decade career which has brought a joint-record 13 Bundesliga titles, two UEFA Champions Leagues and the 2014 FIFA World Cup with Germany.

On the rare occasions that his club or national team defences are breached, Neuer's reading of the game allows him to race off his line to quell the danger. When his team is in possession he is just as valuable, with distribution and technique honed from moonlighting in midfield in training. And for anyone who doubts that the 40-year-old is up to the traditional nitty-gritty of the position, it's worth remembering he has a record 246 shut-outs in the Bundesliga (as of summer 2026) and is the only goalkeeper in Bundesliga history with more than 100 appearances to have conceded fewer goals than games played.

Watch: Manuel Neuer - The sweeper keeper

Position: Full-back

• Lines up either side of the defence
• Marks opposition wingers
• Provides support for the wide midfielder ahead of them
• May overlap and send crosses into the opposition box
• Often takes throw-ins

Bundesliga archetype: Philipp Lahm

Lahm was Bayern captain before hanging up his boots in 2017, and had spent 15 years before that as the quintessential full-back in German, and indeed world, football. Neuer's teammate for club and country for much of that run, he too is a World Cup and Champions League winner, one who tallied 19 assists in the 2012/13 campaign. 

Lahm was particularly attacking the year Bayern won their first continental treble, and Pep Guardiola later described him as "perhaps most intelligent player I have ever trained" on moving him into midfield later on, but Lahm broke through on the left of a back four before spending most of his career on the right of one, and none have done it better.

Watch: Explaining the role of modern full-backs

Position: Wing-back

• Modern variation of the full-back
• Overlaps and sends crosses into the opposition box
• Still marks opposition wingers when needed
• Expected to stay on their touchline
• One of the most physically demanding positions

Bundesliga archetype: Alphonso Davies

If anyone puts the "wing" in "wing-back", it's Canada superstar Davies. Bayern's 'Roadrunner' started life as an out-and-out winger when he burst onto the scene with the Vancouver Whitecaps in Major League Soccer, before finding his feet further back at Bayern.

One of the fastest players ever seen in the Bundesliga, topping out at 22.69 mph, Davies' pace means he moves from one end of the pitch to the other at a rapid rate. It allows him to cover defensive space and track opposition wingers quicker than most players on the planet, as well as rapidly join Bayern attacks when they overturn possession. 

Watch: Analysing Davies at the peak of his powers

Position: Centre-back

• Shuts down opposition attackers
• May employ zonal or man-marking strategies
• Brings the ball out from the back
• Often tall and physically strong
• Bravery and heading ability desirable, for use in either box

 Bundesliga archetype: Nico Schlotterbeck

An asset with or without the ball, Schlotterbeck's physical presence, reading of the game and distribution make him the ideal modern centre-back and have turned him into one of the most prized possessions in football.

He doesn't just sit back and mop up but plays on the front foot, stepping out of his defensive line to both steal the ball and carry it forward to launch attacks. The fact he's also left-footed is another string to his bow, using that boot to deliver both short and long-range passes accurately.

Watch: Explaining what it means to be a defender

Position: Sweeper

• A safety net for the centre-backs alongside them
• Races to cover gaps when defence is breached
• Less concerned with man-marking
• Reads the game from deep
• Joins midfield build-up when in possession

Bundesliga archetype: Franz Beckenbauer

The sweeper position has made a comeback to a degree, teams dabbling with back threes more often than they have for much of the last 20 years, and the system often requiring a central player who can cover the defenders either side of him or carry the play into midfield, if not both. 

But when back fours first ruled supreme, Franz Beckenbauer effectively invented the role, Der Kaiser bombing into midfield from defence for Bayern and Germany throughout the 1960s and 1970s. A key cog in three consecutive European Cups with Bayern and a World Cup with Germany, Beckenbauer is one of only two defenders - Fabio Cannavaro being the other - to have won the Ballon d'Or.

Watch: Franz Beckenbauer - the face of German football

Position: Defensive midfielder

• Sits in front of the defence
• Wins the ball back with tackles and interceptions
• Covers teammates when they go forward
• Harries opposition attackers
• Physically fit and tenacious

Bundesliga archetype: Sami Khedira

Khedira broke through with hometown team VfB Stuttgart in 2006, and one season later they were Bundesliga champions. Seven years on, by this time a midfield fulcrum for Real Madrid, he helped Germany to their World Cup triumph in Brazil in 2014. 

Khedira scored 52 club goals in his career, which was testament to his ability in the final third, but most of his best work came at the other end, with Inverting the Pyramid author Jonathan Wilson perhaps best describing him as a "destroyer with carrying tendencies."

Position: Deep-lying playmaker

• Sits in front of the defence
• Creative playmaker from deep
• Distributes to teammates, near and far
• Sets the team's tempo
• Capable of tackling, though a secondary task

Watch: Explaining formations in football

Bundesliga archetype: Xabi Alonso

Few players have played the game with such grace and apparent ease as Alonso. The former Bayern, Real Madrid and Liverpool midfielder never looked like breaking a sweat at the heart of three of the biggest clubs in world football. Boasting vision and precision, he was easily one of the finest central midfielders of the modern game as a deep-lying playmaker. Career stats of nearly 50 goals and some 75 assists in 700 senior club games doesn’t tell the full story. He was often the player playing the pass before the assist, breaking defensive lines from deep.

But you don’t win three Bundesliga titles, multiple Champions Leagues, the World Cup and back-to-back Euros without being something special, which Alonso has also proven he is as a coach. His reading of the game as a player allowed him to quickly spot what was needed at Bayer Leverkusen, signing Granit Xhaka as his right-hand man and almost carbon copy in the Werkself midfield. The Swiss midfielder turned out to be instrumental in helping Alonso’s side become the first Bundesliga Invincibles.

Watch: Explaining different types of midfielders

Position: Central midfielder

• Lines up in the middle of the field
• Equally adept at attacking and defending
• Maintains possession
• Tracks back to tackle and block shots
• Breaks into the opponent’s box and tries to score

Bundesliga archetype: Lothar Matthäus

Matthäus was that rare player who was able to play more than one role to a world-class level. Germany's No.10 at Italia '90, he dropped deep in the final to man-mark Diego Maradona out of the game as West Germany beat Argentina 1-0 - but he was a sweeper by the time Bayern made it to the Champions League final in 1999, in which they were cruelly edged by Manchester United.

Matthäus was a box-to-box midfielder for most of his career, though, renowned for his perceptive passing, positional sense, well-timed tackles and powerful shot, often employed from the edge of the box. "He's the best rival I've ever had. I guess that's enough to define him," Maradona later said of Germany's 150-cap record appearance-maker.

Position: Attacking midfielder

• Dictates play from behind the strikers
• Creates goalscoring chances for the attackers
• Technique and creativity crucial
• Ability to shoot from range an advantage
• Historically associated with the No.10 jersey

Bundesliga archetype: Jamal Musiala

The classic No.10 was a string-pulling midfielder, typically with technique dripping from every pore, playing in the hole behind his team's central striker. They didn't always have to be the fastest - who can run quicker than the ball can move anyway? - since imagination and creativity were key.

Today, the position is on the wane, with the attacking line expected to press from the front, but Musiala fuses old and new school interpretations better than most. Musiala still plays slick through-balls and enjoys a mazy run of his own that we've come to expect of the world's finest wearing the No.10, while still pressing with the intensity that Vincent Kompany has demanded of his Bayern team.

Watch: What is a No.10 in football?

Position: winger

• The widest attacking player
• Takes on opposition defenders
• Provides crosses into the box
• Meets crosses from the opposite wing
• Often the fastest player on the field

Bundesliga archetype: Leroy Sané

When you think of wingers, you imagine a player running forward at pace with the ball at his feet, looking to cross for a teammate in the penalty area. A conventional winger - as opposed to an inverted winger - usually sees a right-footed player operate down the right flank and a left-footer on the left, with the idea of going round the outside of defenders and delivering the ball on your stronger foot.

Ex-Bayern and Schalke man Sané has long embodied what it means to be a modern winger. With a top speed approaching 22 mph and confidence on the ball, he could beat his man for pace and skill to create space for himself. But what makes the four-time Bundesliga champion so useful is that he's comfortable on either side. The left-footer can play both as a conventional winger on the left or as an inverted winger on the right who prefers to come inside to stay on his stronger boot.

Watch: Sané's best bits in the Bundesliga

Position: Inverted winger 

• Same, wide, attacking starting position as a conventional winger
• Takes on opposition defenders
• Cuts inside onto stronger foot to score or assist
• Push opposition full-backs onto their weaker sides
• Dribbling ability as important as pace in the role

Bundesliga archetype: Arjen Robben

There was scarcely a sight more iconic then Robben cutting inside from the right and steering a left-footed shot into the far corner of his opponents' goal. Everyone knew he was going to do it; nobody knew how to stop it. The Dutch wing wizard was used on the left when breaking through for PSV Eindhoven and the Netherlands as a youngster, with subsequent spells at Chelsea and Real Madrid just as likely to see him stationed on his natural side.

After joining Bayern in 2009, he made the right wing his own, though, with Robben and fellow inverted winger Franck Ribéry - collectively known as Robbery - stealing the show with 17 major honours won together. The fastest player in the world when clocked at just under 23 miles per hour at the 2014 World Cup, Robben didn't need that same top speed later in his career, with his ball control, trickery, and a dip of the shoulder taking on a greater importance.

Watch: Robben's top 5 goals

Position: False 9

• Starts up front near the opposition goal
• Replaces the traditional striker in most formations
• Drops deep to pull opposition defenders out of position
• Often a converted midfielder
• Dribbles and creates chances

Bundesliga archetype: Mario Götze

Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, 13 July 2014, 5.43pm local time: "Show the world you are better than Messi and decide the World Cup" - Germany coach Joachim Löw to a 22-year-old Mario Götze…

Maracanã, Rio, 13 July 2014, 6.08pm local time: Götze, having replaced Miroslav Klose, steers home Andre Schürrle’s cross with an exquisite volley to lift Germany to a fourth World Cup at Argentina's expense.

The way Götze ghosted in between Martín Demichelis and Ezequiel Garay made him impossible to pick up. The centre-backs knew who was marking Klose, a natural striker, and when, all game. When Götze came on, he drifted between the lines of Argentina's defence and midfield. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. In a few short seconds, Argentina were floored.

Position: Forward

• Drifts into area between opposition midfield and defence
• Starts from similar position to No.10
• Provides assists and scores goals
• Elusive and difficult to mark
• More versatile than the target-man

Watch: Explaining different types of forwards

Bundesliga archetype: Thomas Müller

To describe Müller as an archetype of any position might seem, on initial inspection, to be doing him down. The self-monikered Raumdeuter, Müller's style has left pundits - and indeed defenders - perplexed for years.

However, his coaches and teammates could hardly hold him in higher regard. The Bayern icon allegedly lacks a bit of technical skill, but his awkward gait belies an ability to control the ball that few can match. No ordinary player could bag 10 goals across two World Cups, while 150 Bundesliga strikes and over 200 assists tell their own story for a player who essentially created a new role in football that many want to emulate but so few can do.

Watch: Müller, the best in the world without the ball?

Position: Striker

• Closest player to the opponent's goal
• Responsible for scoring goals
• Holds the ball up until teammates can join the attack
• Harries opposition defenders
• Physically strong

Bundesliga archetype: Harry Kane

From Gerd Müller to Robert Lewandowski, Bayern and the Bundesliga have boasted some of the best strikers the game has ever seen, but few compare with current Munich No.9 Kane, who joined from Tottenham Hotspur in summer 2023.

Kane reached 100 competitive Bayern goals in only 104 appearances, breaking the record across Europe's top five leagues of 105 games by Erling Haaland at Manchester City and Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid.

What sets Kane apart from other current top strikers is that he is not an out-and-out conventional centre-forward. Ex-Dortmund man Haaland, for example, is less involved in build-up play but does his best work finishing chances in the box. Kane does that but is also able to drop deep and play as a 9.5, teeing up others with his vision and passing accuracy.

Watch: Kane's 98 Bundesliga goals in only three seasons