Soccer (Football) Formation

"Offensive tactics in set pieces. ...
Throw-ins[edit]
How throw-ins are best handled depends on where it is:
(1) In one's own half the aim of a throw-in may be to retain possession in order to build up the next attack. The throw may or may not go toward the opponents' goal; the most unmarked player may be a full-back who is behind the ball. Such a throw followed by a quickly taken 'switch' pass can be an effective tactic. Under pressure however, the ball is often thrown up the line, toward the opponents' goal line to gain as much ground as possible.
(2) If the thrower is unmarked, a simple tactic is to take a short throw to the feet or chest of a marked player who immediately returns the ball to the thrower.
(3) In the last third of the pitch a player with a long throw can put pressure onto the defenders by throwing the ball deep into the opponents' penalty area, resulting in somewhat similar tactics to a corner kick situation, but with the added advantage of avoiding the offside trap, as an attacking player cannot be offside from a throw in. ...
Goal kicks.
A goal kick is an important 'set piece' that will occur many times in a game and yet few teams practice it. If taken quickly the kick may be taken short to a full-back who has run into a wide position. Although this may gain little ground it retains the all-important possession of the ball. A longer kick to the midfield is more common and it is vital that the midfield unit are in a position to receive it.
Corners.
A corner kick (or "corner") is a real goal scoring opportunity and it is essential to know who is the best at taking a good corner from both the left and right side of the pitch. A good corner will be aimed high across the goal and may be 'bent' towards or away from the goal. At least one of the forwards should be on or close to the goal line when the kick is taken.
Another tactic on a corner is to let the best shooter stay in the back "trash" position and have the defence worried about those up front. The player taking the corner kick makes a small pass back to the trash shooter who has time and space to take a good shot." [Association football tactics and skills. Wikipedia]
The diagram example "Association football (soccer) - The pitch: throw-ins, goal kicks, corners" was created using the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the Football solution from the Sport area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
www.conceptdraw.com/ solution-park/ sport-soccer

"In the sport of association football, each of the eleven players on a team is assigned to a particular position on the field of play. A team is made up of one goalkeeper and ten outfield players who fill various defensive, midfield and attacking positions depending on the formation deployed. These positions describe both the player's main role and their area of operation on the pitch. ...
Goalkeeper is the most defensive position in football. The goalkeeper's main job is to stop the other team from scoring by catching, palming or punching the ball from shots, headers and crosses. ...
Defenders play behind the midfielders and their primary responsibility is to provide support to the team and to prevent the opposition from scoring a goal. They usually remain in the half of the field that contains the goal they are defending. Taller defenders will move forward to the opposing team's penalty box when their team takes corner kicks or free kicks, where scoring with one's head is a possibility. ...
Midfielders (originally called half-backs) are players whose position of play is midway between the attacking forwards and the defenders. Their main duties are to maintain possession of the ball, taking the ball from defenders and feeding it to the strikers, as well as dispossessing opposing players. ...
Forwards (or strikers) are the players who are positioned nearest to the opposing team's goal. The primary responsibility of forwards is to score goals and to create scoring chances for other players." [Association football positions. Wikipedia]
The diagram example "Association football (soccer) positions" was created using the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the Football solution from the Sport area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
www.conceptdraw.com/ solution-park/ sport-soccer

"Offside (sometimes known as offsides) is a law in association football which states that if a player is in an offside position when the ball is touched or played by a team-mate, the player may not become actively involved in the play. A player is in an offside position when closer to the opponent's goal line than both the ball and the second-to-last defender (which is usually the last outfield player), and also in the opponent's half of the pitch. "Offside position" is a matter of fact, whereas committing an "offside offence" occurs when a player is "actively involved" and is subject to the interpretation of the referee. Goals scored after committing an offside offence are nullified if caught by the referee." [Offside (association football). Wikipedia]
The diagram example "Association football (soccer) offside" was created using the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the Football solution from the Sport area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
www.conceptdraw.com/ solution-park/ sport-soccer

This sport field plan sample was designed on the base of the Wikipedia file: Football pitch metric.svg. [en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ File:Football_ pitch_ metric.svg]
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. [creativecommons.org/ licenses/ by-sa/ 3.0/ deed.en]
"A football pitch (also known as a football field or soccer field) is the playing surface for the game of football made of turf. Its dimensions and markings are defined by Law 1 of the Laws of the Game, "The Field of Play".
All line markings on the pitch form part of the area which they define. For example, a ball on or above the touchline is still on the field of play; a ball on the line of the goal area is in the goal area; and a foul committed over the 16.5-metre (18-yard) line has occurred in the penalty area. Therefore a ball must completely cross the touchline to be out of play, and a ball must wholly cross the goal line (between the goal posts) before a goal is scored; if any part of the ball is still on or above the line, the ball is still in play." [Association football pitch. Wikipedia]
The sport field plan example "Football pitch metric" was created using the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the Sport Field Plans solution from the Building Plans area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.

The vector stencils library "Soccer (Football) positions" contains 18 symbols for drawing association football (soccer) positions diagram.
"In the sport of association football, each of the eleven players on a team is assigned to a particular position on the field of play. A team is made up of one goalkeeper and ten outfield players who fill various defensive, midfield and attacking positions depending on the formation deployed. These positions describe both the player's main role and their area of operation on the pitch." [Association football positions. Wikipedia]
The symbols example "Design elements - Soccer (Football) positions" was created using the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the Soccer solution from the Sport area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
www.conceptdraw.com/ solution-park/ sport-soccer

"In association football, the formation describes how the players in a team are positioned on the pitch. Different formations can be used depending on whether a team wishes to play more attacking or defensive football. ...
The WM system was created in the mid-1920s by Herbert Chapman of Arsenal to counter a change in the offside law in 1925. The change had reduced the number of opposition players that attackers needed between themselves and the goal-line from three to two. This led to the introduction of a centre-back to stop the opposing centre-forward, and tried to balance defensive and offensive playing. The formation became so successful that by the late-1930s most English clubs had adopted the WM. Retrospectively, the WM has either been described as a 3–2–5 or as a 3–4–3, or more precisely a 3–2–2–3 reflecting the letters which symbolised it. The gap in the centre of the formation between the two wing halves and the two inside forwards allowed Arsenal to counter-attack effectively. The W-M was subsequently adapted by several English sides, but none could apply it in quite the same way Chapman had. This was mainly due to the comparative rarity of Alex James in the English game. He was one of the earliest playmakers in the history of the game, and the hub around which Chapman's Arsenal revolved." [Formation (association football). Wikipedia]
The diagram example "Association football (soccer) formation 3-2-5 (WM)" was created using the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the Football solution from the Sport area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
www.conceptdraw.com/ solution-park/ sport-soccer

"A football pitch (also known as a football field or soccer field) is the playing surface for the game of football made of turf. Its dimensions and markings are defined by Law 1 of the Laws of the Game, "The Field of Play".
All line markings on the pitch form part of the area which they define. For example, a ball on or above the touchline is still on the field of play; a ball on the line of the goal area is in the goal area; and a foul committed over the 16.5-metre (18-yard) line has occurred in the penalty area. Therefore a ball must completely cross the touchline to be out of play, and a ball must wholly cross the goal line (between the goal posts) before a goal is scored; if any part of the ball is still on or above the line, the ball is still in play.
The field descriptions that apply to adult matches are described below. Note that due to the original formulation of the Laws in England and the early supremacy of the four British football associations within IFAB, the standard dimensions of a football pitch were originally expressed in imperial units. The Laws now express dimensions with approximate metric equivalents (followed by traditional units in brackets), but use of the imperial units remains common in some countries, especially in the United Kingdom." [Association football pitch. Wikipedia]
The template "Vertical association football pitch" for the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software is included in the Soccer solution from the Sport area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
www.conceptdraw.com/ solution-park/ sport-soccer

This pitch plan sample was designed on the base of the Wikipedia file: Comparison sport playing areas.svg.
[en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ File:Comparison_ sport_ playing_ areas.svg]
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. [creativecommons.org/ licenses/ by-sa/ 3.0/ deed.en]
"A pitch is an outdoor playing area for various sports. The term is used in British and Australian English; the comparable term in American English is playing field. In most sports, the official technical term is field of play, although this is not regularly used by those outside of refereeing/ umpiring circles.
In the sport of cricket, the cricket pitch refers not to the entire field of play, but to the section of the field on which batting and bowling take place in the centre of the field. The pitch is prepared differently to the rest of the field, to provide a harder surface for bowling.
A pitch is often a regulation space, as in an association football pitch." [Pitch (sports field). Wikipedia]
The pitch plan example "Sport fields comparison" was created using the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the Sport Field Plans solution from the Building Plans area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.

"A football pitch (also known as a football field or soccer field) is the playing surface for the game of football made of turf. Its dimensions and markings are defined by Law 1 of the Laws of the Game, "The Field of Play".
All line markings on the pitch form part of the area which they define. ...
Pitch boundary.
The pitch is rectangular in shape. The longer sides are called touchlines. The other opposing sides are called the goal lines. ... The two touch lines must also be of the same length... in international matches, the goal lines must be between 64 and 75 m (70 and 80 yd) long and the touchlines must be between 100 and 110 m (110 and 120 yd). All lines must be equally wide, not to exceed 12 centimetres (5 in). The corners of the pitch are demarcated by corner flags. ...
Goals.
Goals are placed at the centre of each goal-line. These consist of two upright posts placed equidistant from the corner flagposts, joined at the top by a horizontal crossbar. The inner edges of the posts must be 7.32 metres (8 yd) apart, and the lower edge of the crossbar must be 2.44 metres (8 ft) above the ground. Nets are usually placed behind the goal, though are not required by the Laws.
Goalposts and crossbars must be white, and made of wood, metal or other approved material." [Association football pitch. Wikipedia]
The diagram example "Association football (soccer) field dimensions" was created using the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the Football solution from the Sport area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
www.conceptdraw.com/ solution-park/ sport-soccer

"In association football, the formation describes how the players in a team are positioned on the pitch. Different formations can be used depending on whether a team wishes to play more attacking or defensive football. ...
The 2–3–5 was originally known as the "Pyramid", with the numerical formation being referenced retrospectively. ...
For the first time, a balance between attacking and defending was reached. When defending, the two defenders (fullbacks), would watch out for the opponent's wingers (the outside players in the attacking line), while the midfielders (halfbacks) would watch for the other three forwards.
The centre halfback had a key role in both helping to organise the team's attack and marking the opponent's centre forward, supposedly one of their most dangerous players.
It was this formation which gave rise to the convention of shirt numbers." [Formation (association football). Wikipedia]
The diagram example "Association football (soccer) formation 2–3–5 (pyramid)" was created using the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the Football solution from the Sport area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.
www.conceptdraw.com/ solution-park/ sport-soccer