Football Manager 2020: Positions and Roles Explained

Lining up is the cornerstone of success in Football Manager 2020, along with tactics, and both positions and roles need to be considered. We show the differences and explain what to look out for.

Role play for tactics foxes: in FM 2020 you have to make big decisions on every position.

Position and role are directly related, but it is important to know the differences in detail.

Football Manager 2020: Many roles for each position

Position and role are basically not difficult to understand:

• The position describes where each player is in the basic formation. This is quite classic and simple to understand, for example, the wingers, the center forward, the fullbacks and the central midfielder.
• The role, on the other hand, specifies what style of play the player pursues.
• This is important to know, because there are several possible roles per position, some of which differ greatly from each other. This means: without changing the position, you can massively influence your entire game system by changing the role.
• An example is the classic six-man position "Defensive Midfield". Here, defensive-oriented roles such as "Deep six" or "Clearer" are possible, but also creative roles such as "Withdrawn playmaker", which influence the game forward.
• Logical: The role must fit the skills of the player. Also, you can give each role an alignment, namely "Defend", "Support" or "Attack". This affects the offensive urge, the willingness to take risks and the movement radius of the player.
• In addition, any special requirements must be considered for each role. For example, a "Segundo Volante" works best when he has a defensive player next to him for protection.

Not least because of the roles, the lineup in Football Manager 2020 offers endless possibilities. To manage this complexity, it is first essential to really understand all the roles. The in-game descriptions (info box next to the role display) are the first step; however, whether your formation works as an overall system also depends on how the roles interact and are compatible with tactics.