- This article is about football (soccer) players. See also striker (disambiguation).
Strikers, also known as centre forwards, forwards, and attackers, are the players on a team in football (soccer) in the row nearest to the opposing team's goal, who are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals.
Modern player formations include between one and three strikers; two is most common. Coaches usually field one striker who plays over the shoulder of the last defender, and another attacking forward who plays somewhat deeper and assists in making goals as well as scoring. The former is usually a large striker, typically known as a target man, who is used either to distract opposing defenders to help teammates score, or to score himself.
Because they score more goals than other players, strikers are often among the best-known and most expensive players on their teams.
Well-known strikers
- Adriano
- Luis Artime
- Alan Shearer
- Ali Daei
- Gabriel Batistuta
- Dennis Bergkamp
- Carlos Bianchi
- Oliver Bierhoff
- Antonio Cassano
- Careca
- Hernan Crespo
- Samuel Eto'o
- Jimmy Greaves
- Mia Hamm
- Thierry Henry
- Geoff Hurst
- Zlatan Ibrahimović
- Jürgen Klinsmann
- Denis Law
- Gary Lineker
- Roy Makaay
- Fernando Morena
- Gerd Müller
- Michael Owen
- Martín Palermo
- Abédi Pelé
- Del Piero
- Birgit Prinz
- Raúl
- Romario
- Ronaldo
- Wayne Rooney
- Paolo Rossi
- Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
- Javier Saviola
- Andriy Shevchenko
- Tostão
- Marco van Basten
- Ruud van Nistelrooy
- Rudi Voller
- Christian Vieri
- George Weah
- Zico