There are eleven players on a soccer team, but several roles are associated with each position; fullbacks could be wingbacks, and there’s the box-to-box midfielder who could even play as a holding midfielder. The list goes on, but there’s one role that consistently captures the imagination, and that’s the mystical false 9.
A role that captured the imagination of the fans and one that very few players can pull off to the level that lifts fans from their seats, a world-class false 9 is worth their weight in gold. The stadium fills up; the noise levels go through the roof. Once the ball gets to the feet of your false 9, you’re hoping they can turn the game in your favor.
Let’s look back at some of the best false 9 players of all time; it’s a list of some of the greatest soccer players the world has ever known. It doesn’t matter how much time goes by; these names will live on in the pages of the soccer history books, so let’s jump in, shall we?
7. Roberto Firmino
| Games | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| 520 | 155 | 110 |
You’ll find that many excellent false 9’s have similar abilities; indeed, they can all dribble the ball better than most, and many have a wicked shot up their sleeve or an ability to find a key pass.
Roberto Firmino has all of these skills, and more. Liverpool’s Brazilian playmaker is a superb example of a player using their talent, but more importantly, their brain, to be a great false 9.
With the ability to play as a winger, a center forward, and an attacking midfielder, it’s perhaps no surprise that Jurgen Klopp used Firmino as a false 9 when he arrived at Liverpool.
The intelligence of his passing and the excellent movement off the ball all ally well with the role. And Roberto Firmino is one of the best the Premier League has seen for many years.
6. Dennis Bergkamp
| Games | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| 732 | 263 | 121 |
It’s a testament to just how complete a player Dennis Bergkamp was that even today, 16 years after his retirement, the Dutch master is still held in such high regard.
An incredibly gifted and focussed player, Bergkamp could do things with a soccer ball that would stop your heart.
Schooled for the first five years of his youth career at Ajax, Bergkamp learned to play soccer the right way, “Total Football,” as it’s known, turned a young Bergkamp into a creative wizard that strived for perfection both on and off the field. After moving to Arsenal in 1995, the Dutch player enjoyed his best years playing in a second striker position.
Not really referred to as a false 9 role in the 1990s, it’s now recognized as precisely the role Bergkamp played. Able to drop deep and link up play, a deadly striker of the ball, Bergkamp had everything.
If you want to see a few of his most incredible goals, I suggest the pirouette goal against Newcastle United in 2001/2 and his sumptuous goal against Argentina at France 98; sublime.
5. Thomas Muller
| Games | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| 717 | 270 | 250 |
Thomas Muller often goes under the radar, the German has been at Bayern Munich since he was eleven years old, but those in the know all agree that Muller is one of the finest attacking midfielders in history.
Muller is regarded as the greatest off-the-ball player of all time; his positional awareness is second to none.
Playing his entire professional career at Bayern, Muller has been recorded as claiming his role is best described as a Raumdeuter, which translates as a “space interpreter.” It’s hard to argue; Muller’s talent for making use of space, and turning defense into attack, is astonishing.
Thomas Muller is an unflappable player and uses his temperament to great effect. He can drop deep looking for the ball, receive it with very little space to spare, and then calmly find the right pass with unerring accuracy.
As a false 9, Muller drifts behind the Bayern Munich forward line, scaring the daylights out of defenders, popping up with crucial goals and vital assists.
4. Johan Cruyff
| Games | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| 512 | 269 | 151 |
Johan Cruyff wasn’t just a soccer player or a manager; he was a dynasty, and the legendary Dutchman almost singlehandedly transformed the face of soccer through his ideas and philosophies.
Rightly regarded as one of the greatest soccer players of all time, Cruyff acted as the onfield conductor, directing play and epitomizing the concept of “Total football.”
Cruyff’s position was fluid; as a member of the Ajax team that, under manager Rinus Michels, transformed soccer, Cruyff would find space behind and between the lines, making him a genuinely devastating player. You can’t stop what you can’t see, and Cruyff moved around the pitch like a panther.
Dominating possession and creating chances, the team would revolve around the lynchpin, as Cruyff used his intelligent passing to open up defenses.
The Cruyff turn, the way he would start games as a center forward yet keep foraging into midfield, losing his markers; Cruyff was a master of the false 9 position.
As important a figure in soccer today as he was fifty years ago, there will never be another player quite like Johan Cruyff.
The generations of future attacking midfielders, and the fundamental understanding of the devastating effect of an excellent false 9, all stem from this magnificent player.
3. Kevin de Bruyne
| Games | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| 539 | 134 | 207 |
Kevin de Bruyne is possibly the heir apparent to the crown most recently worn by Lionel Messi, given his increased importance to the Manchester City team that currently dominates the Premier League. A creative genius that’s rarely ruffled, de Bruyne, at times, is unstoppable.
One of the most versatile players in world soccer, de Bruyne dominates the midfield, roaming freely in an attacking position, often as a false 9.
You’ll rarely see the Belgium international try and tackle, he can’t head a ball, and he’s not really that quick over any kind of distance, so what is it that makes him one of the best players on the planet?
For a start, his brain is often 60 seconds ahead of the game, he’s already in the right position, he already knows where everyone else is on the field, and he can destroy teams with passing that wouldn’t look out of place on FIFA.
Moving around opposing players, de Bruyne finds the space, creates the chances, and dictates the ebb and flow of the game.
This incredible set of skills has made Manchester City the force they are today; even with some of the best players in the Premier League playing for Manchester City, Kevin de Bruyne looks about four levels above everyone else.
The Belgian isn’t for sale, and even if he was, your team can’t afford him. Most countries probably can’t afford him; he’s that good.
2. Roberto Baggio
| Games | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| 604 | 277 | 153 |
A playmaker as gifted as Roberto Baggio comes along once in a generation, and this mercurial False 9 was arguably the most incredible Italian soccer player of all time.
Loved the world over, Baggio was the perfect player; creative, able to pass with pinpoint accuracy, and had a talent for vanishing from their radar that baffled opposing defenders.
The role of the false 9 is to drop deep and make things happen; Baggio spent a career making this role an art form. Arguments abound about whether Baggio was actually a False 9 or not, leading Michel Platini to refer to Baggio as a “9 and a half” due to his ability to create and score goals.
Baggio cut an unlikely hero figure with his ponytail, Buddhist religion, and disdain for global fame. Still, for almost every soccer fan around at the time, especially Italians, he was the greatest player of the era.
The list of accolades given to Roberto Baggio is too many to repeat, as are the glowing testimonials by fellow professionals, the perfect incarnation of the Italian False 9.
Given standing ovations by home supporters and away fans alike, not many Italian soccer players were as universally loved; it all stemmed from what Baggio could do with the ball.
Italians are, first and foremost, soccer fans, and you can’t be a soccer fan and not appreciate just how superb Roberto Baggio was.
1. Lionel Messi
| Games | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| 815 | 686 | 319 |
Lionel Messi, simply the most outstanding soccer player of all time, was a complete player in every respect. Messi’s talent was so far ahead of his fellow professionals that he could literally have played anywhere on the pitch.
Luckily for us, the legendary Argentine played as a False 9 for portions of his career, especially while under Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola.
While many False 9s were great at creating chances for teammates, and some were better at scoring than they were creating, Lionel Messi is the complete package.
Able to score goals for fun; La Liga record goalscorer with 474 goals. He could also create something out of nothing, as his 192 La Liga assists can prove (another record, by the way).
As a false 9, Messi would use his dribbling skills to drop back into the busier midfield area, collect the ball, and then ghost past opponents like they were statues.
A shot on goal or a razor-sharp pass would often ensue, and the Argentine playmaker would do this with such regularity that his records simply kept stacking up; he is literally the best player ever to step foot onto a pitch.
