Football has gone more complicated than ever. We no longer seem to have that classic number 10 player who occupies zone 14 and then gives a through ball to the striker for the goal.

What Is Zone 14?

If you are not aware, a football pitch is divided into a six-by-three grid with a central strip as wide as the six-yard box. Zone 14 is the central area just outside the six-yard box.

What Is A Classic Number 10?

The 90s generation and before have a clear view of what that is even without the terminology. The answer is that it is a player with specific requirements. This can be summed up as the following:

• A skilled player

• Playing in the space behind the attackers

• He is one in charge of preparing the attacking play for the team

• Ability to break defense with a single pass from the central area

Euro 2000 And Beyond

The clearest examples of players like that can be seen during and after Euro 2000. Totti, Riquelme, Zidane, Rivaldo, Kaka, and players that are able to do that, not the entire season but regularly throughout the season. Just enough for us to associate the role with them.

The Issue With The Classic Number 10

The most important characteristic in that role is the player's ability to break defense with a single pass from the central area. Think of Ozil's pass to Cristiano Ronaldo in the 21 April 2012 El Classico. Or simply that FIFA/PES through ball.

If you apply all the characteristics, including the one we just mentioned, you would find them to apply to many players. However, the issue isn't the ability as much as it is something else.

The Creation Of The Number 10

When football started, a team was divided into two groups, a group with the task of preventing a goal and one with the task of scoring goals. A third group later joined with the task of connecting the two. It was just that simple with the rest depending on players' ability to improvise.

There weren't real roles at the time. There were only defenders, midfielders, and attackers. The closest thing we saw after that was Herbert Chapman's WM formation or 3-2-2-3 in the mid-1920s. We will talk about this later, but it was the first formation aiming to exploit the space behind the attack, more specifically the area we now call "Half-space".

Nándor Hidegkuti

In 1953 Hungary beat England 6-3 with Hidegkuti scoring a hat trick in what later became known as "Match of the century". Why was he able to do so? The defensive style at the time was man-to-man, but Hidegkuti was dropped from being at the far end to playing in zone 14. His marking man was a defender who couldn't follow him and if he did he'd leave the area behind him exposed.

This was wildly credited as the time the role false 9 was introduced. However, the Hungarian coach Márton Bukovi later created the WW formation or MM depending on what angle you're looking at it. While Chapman's WM was 3-2-2-3, Bukovi's WW was 3-2-3-2 with Hidegkuti occupying the center part of the second 3.

Image source

The Freedom Of The Role

The role or position caught on and kept evolving, especially during the 80s. With the point of it aiming to exploit the area behind the attackers, the classic number 10 could stand centrally or move into the wing making him tough to mark. However, the area required the player to have the skills and ability to keep the ball.

The 2002 World Cup final gave us a clear example with emphasis on the position as Brazil player 3-4-1-2 with Ronalndiho playing that role and Germany played Bukovi's 3-2-3-2 with Bernd Schneider playing that role. The 2006 World Cup final between France and Italy also had that with both teams playing 4-2-3-1 with Zidane Totti occupying the role respectively.

In Conclusion

The Classic Number 10 as a role can be seen in 4-4-2 as one of the strikers dropping. It is a role that evolved with the game and seemingly dying as I will explain later. However, many titles were won thanks to that role alone.