The false nine role has adapted over the years. Lionel Messi played the role expertly while at Barcelona. Wayne Rooney and Johan Cruyff also played the role in their careers.
Due to the constantly developing changes in philosophies and tactical approaches in modern-day football, gone are the days of every team operating with a conventional centre forward who is given the license not to contribute in the build-up phase and poach inside the box. Nowadays, the defensive role and link-up ability are almost as crucial as the goals themselves for many coaches worldwide, partly down to the birth of the false nine role. The first sighting of this idea came from the Corinthians in the late 1890s and was brought into modern-day football formations by the great, Johan Cruyff.
The purpose of this role is for the forward to drop deeper into play to provide an additional option during the buildup, leaving the opposition centrebacks with no one to mark, intending to draw defenders out of their positions and leave space in behind. With the false nine playing a pertinent role inside today's game, here are 11 of the very best to have mastered the position down the years. The false nine role has been used in football since the 1890s and has become popular in recent years.
11 Matthias Sindelar Beginning with one of the earliest footballers to play the role, Matthias Sindelar, who captained the Austrian Wunderteam in the 1934 World Cup under manager Hugo Meisl, who became famous as the first mana.