Wingers, wide midfielders and wide forwards

The traditional job of a winger is to attack the full back, beat them on the outside, and deliver crosses into the box for the strikers to attack. They use pace and skill to get past defenders and stretch the opposition by holding the touchline.

In modern football, many wingers play differently. They start wide but spend most of their time inside, cutting in onto their stronger foot to shoot, or combining with an attacking midfielder in the half-spaces. The position has changed, but the basic idea — using the wide area to create chances — remains the same.

A wide attacker can be classed as three different things depending on the formation. In a 4-4-2 or 4-5-1, the wide players sit in the midfield line and are usually called wide midfielders or wingers — they have clear defensive duties and have to track back when the team loses the ball. In a 4-3-3, the wide players sit in the front line and are usually called wide forwards — they are essentially strikers in a wide starting position, who attack the box rather than supply it. In a 4-2-3-1, the wide players sit in the band of three behind the lone striker and are usually called wingers — somewhere between the two.

The job is broadly the same — using the wide area to create chances — but the height of the starting position changes the balance between attacking and defending. Wide midfielders carry more defensive responsibility; wide forwards carry less. This is why the role is grouped with both midfielders and attackers on this site, and why the same player can fill different versions of the role in different systems.

The dominant version used to be the traditional winger — a player on their stronger-foot side, beating the full back on the outside and crossing for the centre forward. In modern football the inverted winger has largely taken over at the top of the game. A left-footed player on the right or a right-footed player on the left cuts inside onto their stronger foot to shoot, with the full back behind overlapping outside to provide the width.

The shift is mostly about where modern wide attacks are built. Many teams now want wingers to move into scoring positions rather than only cross from the touchline, and the inverted variant suits that idea. Different football traditions have layered their own variants on top — the pressing winger, the inside forward, the wide playmaker, the raumdeuter, the wide target man — each suited to a different kind of system.

If the winger stays wide, the full back may underlap into the inside channel. If the winger moves inside, the full back often overlaps on the outside to provide width. The two players have to balance each other so the team does not leave the flank empty or overcrowded.

Some systems use an inverted full back behind a winger. In that setup, the winger usually holds the width while the full back moves inside to help the midfield.

A possession team often chooses inverted wingers who combine in the half-spaces and pull defenders out of position. A counter-attacking team usually wants quick, direct wingers who can run in behind a high line. A pressing team needs wingers who will close down full backs and centre backs from the front, not only attack with the ball. A team built around crosses still uses traditional wingers who beat the full back on the outside.

These choices shape how the rest of the attack is organised, especially the relationship between the winger and the full back behind them. The full guide to the different winger and wide forward roles, and which one fits which system, sits in the tactics section.