A Glossary of Football Position Names in Other Languages: Volante, Mediapunta, Sechser, Trequartista and More

Football position names in other languages, such as volante, mediapunta, Sechser and trequartista, are local words for roles that English labels only approximately cover. Each has its own history, and none maps cleanly onto the single position label a data page lists for a player, a gap that matters to anyone reading RubiScore beside foreign-language sources.

This glossary covers verified terms from Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German and French, grouped by area of the pitch, and ends with a map of how the terms relate and five reading rules. Lineups, formations and player positions can be checked at https://rubiscore.com while reading.

Why Do Position Names Not Translate One-to-One?

A name can describe a line, a slot, a shirt number or a job, and languages mix the four differently. Wikipedia separates a position, the area of the pitch, from a role, the tactical responsibilities inside it.

The origins differ too. The German Sechser is a shirt number turned into a position. The Italian terzino comes from the "third line" of the old 2-3-5 shape, according to a coaching thesis from the Italian federation (FIGC). The Brazilian volante comes from a surname.

Standards show the same spread. The IPTC, a news-industry standards body, publishes a soccer position vocabulary with 18 player entries, including forward, striker and center-forward as separate items, but no wing-back. A 2014 paper in the Revista Brasileira de Futebol surveyed Portuguese-language literature and found many names for positions but few definitions.

Goalkeepers and Defenders: Which Terms Map Cleanly?

  • Goalkeeper words. These map one-to-one. Spanish says portero, and Latin American Spanish also arquero, literally "archer". Brazilian Portuguese says goleiro, European Portuguese guarda-redes, and German Torwart or Torhüter (TW). The difference is vocabulary, not role.
  • Innenverteidiger and Außenverteidiger (German). Literally "inside defender" and "outside defender", abbreviated IV and AV, they correspond to centre-back and full-back. The Bundesliga's own explainer says teams field two or three Innenverteidiger depending on a back four or a five-man line, so the word survives a change of shape.
  • Zagueiro and central (Portuguese). Zagueiro, from zaga, "rear" or "defence", is the Brazilian centre-back. In Portugal the usual words are central and defesa central, so one player is a zagueiro in a Brazilian report and a central in a Lisbon one.
  • Lateral, latéral and terzino. Lateral (Portuguese, Spanish), latéral (French) and terzino (Italian) all mean full-back. Italian adds terzino fluidificante for the attacking full-back, which the FIGC thesis links to Giacinto Facchetti at Inter. The Brazilian paper treats the attacking version as a separate word, ala.
  • Libero and Ausputzer. Libero is Italian for "free"; Ausputzer is the German alternative. The Bundesliga explainer says that since the move to a back four the sweeper's job is mainly done by the ball-playing goalkeeper, so both labels belong mostly to older lineups.

Midfield: Where Do the Names Differ Most?

  • Volante (Portuguese, Spanish). In Brazil, the defensive midfielder in front of the zagueiros. The Brazilian paper lists trinco as a synonym, and European Portuguese press uses trinco and médio-defensivo. The football sense is traced to Carlos Volante, an Argentine who played for Flamengo from 1938 to 1943, not to the word for a steering wheel. Wikipedia notes that elsewhere in Latin America volante means a midfielder generally, and Wiktionary lists it as a Peruvian and Chilean synonym for extremo, the winger.
  • Pivote and mediocentro (Spanish). Wiktionary glosses pivote in football as "pivot, defensive midfielder"; it also means the centre in basketball. Mediocentro is the central midfielder, narrowed with defensivo or ofensivo.
  • Interior (Spanish). SpanishDict lists a sports sense of interior as "midfielder". It is not the English "inside forward", which WordReference renders simply as delantero. The gloss is broad, so the formation has to show how centrally he plays.
  • Mediano, interno and mezzala (Italian). FIGC coaching material names mediano (cover), interno (defend and relaunch), regista (create) and mezza punta (attack) as central-midfield jobs, and groups mediani, mezzali and registi under "centrocampisti". Mediano began as the name for the pyramid's three half-backs.
  • Sechser, Achter and Zehner (German). The Bundesliga explainer maps 6er to the defensive midfielder (DM), 8er to the central midfielder (ZM) and 10er to the attacking midfielder (OM), and calls two Sechser in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 a Doppelsechs. The numbers are historic: until 1994/95, Bundesliga starting-XI shirts were limited to 1-11 and handed out by position. The same page says the line between Sechser and Achter is fluid, even within a match.
  • Milieu relayeur and milieu récupérateur (French). French Wikipedia text says "milieu de terrain" replaced demi in the 1970s and now takes qualifiers such as récupérateur (ball-winner), relayeur (relay midfielder) and offensif. It calls the numbered postes 6, 8 and 10 fading terms and names the relayeur as the modern replacement for the poste 8.
  • Trequartista (Italian). Built on tre quarti, the "three-quarters" zone: the playmaker between midfield and forwards. Wikipedia notes that not every attacking midfielder is one, because some are essentially auxiliary attackers. The FIGC text adds that the 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 pushed the trequartista out of many teams or into a second-striker job.
  • Mediapunta and meia atacante. Mediapunta joins media, "half", and punta, "point" or "tip"; dictionaries gloss it as attacking midfielder. Brazil says meia atacante and Argentina enganche for the offensive playmaker, per Wikipedia. Wikipedia lists attacking midfielder and second striker as separate English positions, while mediapunta, as dictionaries define it, sits between midfield and forwards.

Wide Players: Midfielder or Forward?

  • Extremo and ponta. Extremo is the winger in Spanish and in European Portuguese; Brazil says ponta, which the Diário de Notícias glosses as "extremo em Portugal". Wikipedia notes that Latin and Dutch footballing cultures still count wingers as forwards, while English-speaking usage usually counts them as midfielders.
  • Ala. Larousse lists ala beside extremo as a Spanish word for winger. In Brazilian Portuguese, the Revista Brasileira de Futebol defines ala as a lateral freer to attack, typically in a back three. Same word, different slot.
  • Außenstürmer (German) and ailier (French). Außenstürmer, or Flügelstürmer, means "outside striker"; the Bundesliga explainer ties it to a front three such as a 4-3-3. French uses ailier for an attacker who plays on one side. Both file the wide player as an attacker.
  • Esterno (Italian). FIGC coaching text uses esterni di centrocampo for the two outside midfielders, numbered 7 and 11, in a 3-4-1-2. An English feed might file that job as wing-back, wide midfielder or winger.

Attackers: Which Words Cover the Front Line?

  • Ponta de lança (Portuguese). Literally "spear tip". Portuguese press such as Record uses it for the out-and-out striker who specialises in the area. Brazilian football writing has long used it for a forward who drops into midfield, the old number 10 type. One word, two jobs.
  • Centroavante, avant-centre and Mittelstürmer. Brazilian paper: the atacante de área, popularly centroavante, usually wearing 9. French text: attaquant de pointe or avant-centre. German: Mittelstürmer (ST) or 9er. The Bundesliga explainer adds that 9er once covered shirts 9 and 11, so it can mean either of two strikers.
  • Hängende Spitze, seconda punta and segundo atacante. German "hanging tip" is a forward sitting between the opposing back line and midfield, which the Bundesliga explainer treats as the older name for the falsche Neun. Italian says seconda punta and rifinitore; Brazilian Portuguese says segundo atacante or atacante recuado. English separates false nine from second striker; the German explainer groups them.

How Do the Terms Relate?

Most labels sit on one of four layers:

  • Line: goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, forward. The Bundesliga explainer names the same four areas, Tor, Abwehr, Mittelfeld and Sturm. A four-way tag (GK, DF, MF, FW) stops here.
  • Slot: area plus side or depth, such as Innenverteidiger, lateral, mediocentro or extremo. A three-way midfield tag (DM, CM, AM) works at this level.
  • Shirt-number shorthand: Sechser, Achter, Zehner, 9er. These are habits of speech, not definitions.
  • Role: behaviour, such as trequartista, relayeur, terzino fluidificante or mediapunta.

A player can therefore carry several correct labels. A hypothetical player who sits in front of a back four in a 4-2-3-1 could be a volante in a Brazilian report, a Sechser in a German one, a pivote in a Spanish one, a DM in a three-way feed and plain MF in a four-way feed. Each label answers a different question.

Formations do not settle it either. The Brazilian paper notes that two teams in a 4-4-2 can field different mixes: two volantes and two meias de armação, or one volante, two meias de contenção and one meia atacante.

Five Reading Rules for Foreign Position Labels

  • Rule 1: Identify the layer. Ask whether the word names a line, a slot, a number or a role before translating it.
  • Rule 2: Note the country and the era. Zagueiro or central, ponta de lança in Brazil or Portugal, volante in Brazil or elsewhere in Latin America: the source decides the meaning.
  • Rule 3: Treat number names as habits. Sechser and Achter overlap, and the Bundesliga shirt rule that tied numbers to positions ended after 1994/95.
  • Rule 4: Check how wide players are counted. A winger is a forward in Latin and Dutch usage and often a midfielder in English usage, so compare winger counts only within one source.
  • Rule 5: Compare labels within one source, then check the lineup. Do not merge GK, DF, MF, FW tags with DM, CM, AM tags. Lineups and player positions on platforms such as RubiScore show where a player was listed, which makes a gap between label and role easier to spot.

A foreign position name is best read as a clue about where to look, not as a translation to copy.