[textile]

If you watch football, you would probably know number 9 is usally a striker. And number 7 is usually, like Beckham, a right-side midfielder.

You might also noticed number 11 often plays left midfield, number 6 and 8 in central midfield. And so on.. The picture looks something like this for a 4-4-2 formation:

2   4   5   3
7   6   8   11
    9   10

But why? It seems random yet most teams follow this unwritten guideline.

On CFCNet forum today, I found “this explaination”:http://www.cfcnet.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=993 which clear things up:

It goes back further than that, pre Hungary v England days, can’t remember year, maybe 1956 when we lost at home 6-3. Teams back then lined up in a 2-3-5 formation.

                            2-Right Back 3-Left Back
                  4-Right Half 5-Centre Half 6-Left Half
7-Outside Right 8-Inside Right 9-Centre Forward 10-Inside Left 11-Outside Left

After that famous beating numbers and positions adapted to a 4-4-2 or a 4-2-4, the numbers didn’t reflect the position you played in, 9 stayed as a traditional centre forward but should have become left winger in the new formations. But as Harry and Blueblood said they are the modern day positions and numbers we now know.
Jim