Playmaker

In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's offensive play, and is often involved in passing moves which lead to goals.

One example of this position was Diego Armando Maradona, who has been described by FIFA as a "playmaker and goalscorer."

In English football the term overlaps somewhat with attacking midfielder, but the 2 types of midfielders are not necessarily the same.

In Italian football there are actually two types of playmakers, the trequartista (playmaker in the central attacking midfield position) and the regista (deep-lying playmaker).

The trequartista, jersey number 10, will sit between midfield and the forwards and make incisive passes to the wingers or forwards, seeing them through on goal or to deliver killer crosses.

The registas or deep-lying playmakers, usually jersey number 8, 6 or 5 (in south-american football), operate from a deep position - in or even behind the main midfield line, where they can use space and time on the ball to orchestrate the moves of the whole team, not just attacks on goal. An example of a regista or a deep-lying playmaker is Andrea Pirlo.

In Argentinian football a playmaker is known as an enganche, literally meaning hook. In Brazilian football the deep-lying playmaker is called meia-armador, while the attacking midfield playmaker is called meia-de-ligação.

The most complete playmakers are known as advanced playmakers, or free role playmakers (fantasisti in Italian), as they can operate both in central and attacking midfield and in wide positions. Others still seemingly operate as a second striker, or rifinitore in Italian, that then falls back to link between the midfield and the attack, such as Roberto Baggio and Francesco Totti.

Playmakers are not necessarily constrained to a single position - creativity, tactical awareness and good passing ability are the true requirements.

Because many midfielders have these attributes, they tend to be the playmakers of a team. The attacking playmakers are sometimes called the "number 10" of the team, as they often wear the number 10 jersey.

Qualities of a good playmaker

Perhaps the most important quality of a playmaker is the vision and ability to read the game, and get into good positions making for effective reception and distribution of the ball. Intuition and creativity are other key elements of a playmaker's game, as they need to know where different players are at different times, without taking too long to dwell on the ball. A good playmaker posesses good ball control and dribbing skils, and will often hold possession, allowing other team members to make attacking runs. The ostensible role of the playmaker is to then provide or facilitate the final pass which leads to a goal. In football terminology this is often known as a killer ball or the final ball and is officially recorded as an assist.

Advanced playmakers are often known for their ability to score goals as well as their passing ability. They are often mobile players; their movement off the ball is just as important as their movement on the ball, as they must create space for further attacking plays.

Playmakers and tactics

Classical No. 10 playmakers are not often renowned for their tackling or defensive capabilities, hence English commentators often see them as a luxury in a football team, but they retain their places due to their ability to change games. Because of this, it has become more common for box to box midfielders with good vision, tackling, tactical, passing and technical ability to play in the playmaker role, as is shown by various coaches employing Steven Gerrard, Alberto Aquilani, Daniele De Rossi, Thiago Motta, Yaya Touré and Kevin Prince Boateng in this position. In a 4-4-2 formation a playmaker will usually play alongside a defensive midfield player to ensure that the team is not vulnerable to attack. However with different formations a team may play with multiple playmakers. Most English teams usually use only one playmaker to minimize defensive frailties and also because using more than one may inhibit each playmaker's playing style. The downside to this approach is that a team lacks the necessary creativity when faced with a defensive opponent. Some contemporary teams using formations such 4-2-3-1, 4-4-1-1, 4-5-1 have multiple playmakers, usually a regista (deep-lying playmaker) and a trequartista.

Carlo Mazzone and Carlo Ancelotti were known for having been able to adopt their formations to allow them to implement various playmakers into their starting formation. At Brescia, Mazzone moved Andrea Pirlo, originally a trequartista, into the regista role behind the midfield, whilst Roberto Baggio played the trequartista role. At Milan, Ancelotti made a similar move, also employing Pirlo as a regista, allowing Rui Costa and later Kakà to play as a trequartista, whilst Clarence Seedorf and Gennaro Gattuso protected them defensively. At Barcelona, Josep Guardiola was able to incorporate several skillful players with playmaker qualities into his team (such as Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas and Lionel Messi) through the use of his personal variation on tiki-taka tactics, allowing the team to move the ball around, switch positions, creating attacking runs, and retain posession. His use of heavy pressing gave each player defensive responsibilities when posession was lost.

See also

• Association football positions
• Formation
• Striker
• Midfielder
• Defender
• Goalkeeper
• Point guard, a basketball position with a similar role to the association football playmaker, and actually translated "playmaker" in several European languages
• Quarterback, an American Football position with a similar role to the association football deep-lying playmaker