Defender (association football) in the context of "Attacking midfielder"

The forward (no. 10, in red) is past the defender (no. 16, in white) and is about to take a shot at the goal. The goalkeeper will try to stop the forward from scoring is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on being able to create space for attack. Their advanced position and limited defensive responsibilities mean forwards normally score more goals on behalf of their team than other players.

Attacking positions generally favour direct players who take on the defense of the opponent in order to create scoring chances, where they benefit from a lack of predictability in attacking play. Modern team formations normally include one to three forwards. For example, the common 4–2–3–1 includes one forward. Less conventional formations may include more than three forwards, or sometimes none.

Daniel Alberto Passarella (born 25 May 1953) is an Argentine former footballer and manager, who is considered one of the greatest defenders of all time. As a player for Argentina, he was part of two FIFA World Cup-winning teams; he captained his nation to victory at the 1978 World Cup which Argentina hosted, and was also part of the winning squad in 1986.

Although playing as a centre-back, Passarella was also a proficient goalscorer; at one point, he was football's highest-scoring defender, with 134 goals in 451 matches, a record which was subsequently broken by Dutch player Ronald Koeman. In 2004, Passarella was named one of the 125 greatest living footballers by Pelé at a FIFA awards ceremony. In 2007, The Times placed him at 36th in their list of the 50 hardest footballers in history, recalling that he "tackled with the ferocity of the wild bull of the Pampas". In 2017, he was named as the 56th best player by FourFourTwo in their list of the 100 all-time greatest footballers. As a manager, he coached the Argentina and Uruguay national teams, among several club sides.

Vasilije Šijaković (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Василије Шијаковић; 31 July 1929 – 10 November 2003) was a Montenegrin footballer who played as a defender. He played at two World Cup Finals tournaments for Yugoslavia.

In association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundaries, with mobility and passing ability, they are often referred to as deep-lying midfielders, play-makers, box-to-box midfielders, or holding midfielders. There are also attacking midfielders with limited defensive assignments.

The size of midfield units on a team and their assigned roles depend on which formation is used; the unit of these players on the pitch is commonly referred to as the midfield. Its name derives from the fact that midfield units typically make up the in-between units to the defensive units and forward units of a formation.