In modern times, I thought that 12-22 were worn in reverse by the home team, hence 22 GK, then down the line.
It varies from country to country and continent to continent but it's generally something like this: 2-6 defenders or defensive mids 8 offensive or defensive mid 10 purely offensive mid 7, 11 right and left wingers 9 center forward My uncle used to tell me that Pele was the one who began the trend of the most skillful midfielders wearing #10, a tradition that's still very much followed in South America. Anyone know if this is true?
the numbering differs by country, due to their implementation of different formations and preference. the ajax/holland numbering: 11.............9...........7 ...........8...10....6 5.........4.........3......2 .................1 the positioning of the 3 centermids differ, but they are usually the same positions; 10=playmaker, 6=dmid, 8=cm in almost all systems these numbers stay the same: 7=right wing or right midfield 11= left wing or left midfield 10=playmaker (midfielder or 2nd striker) 9=center forward (main striker) 2= right d 1=goalie out of those the only one that differs not so uncommonly is the 7, which i see as a forward sometimes.
good summary. about the pele story, i dont know if he started the trend, but i do know that the #10 is always considered the playmaker throughout south america.
Blokhin was more of a left-side forward in a 4-2-2 who often drifted toward the middle. Gennady Evruzhikhin was the last pure leftwing with the USSR as I recall. Robert Gadocha (Poland) is also a name that needs to be remembered for a quality leftwing.