How many formations are there?

By Ethan Keogh

Football formations is an interesting topic to speak about because everyone would give you a different number if asked how many formations there are. In Rinus Michels book, Teambuilding he speaks about there being 3 basic organizational forms and these forms having variations - 5-3-2, 4-4-2 & 4-3-3. Although Michels recognized a fourth option 5-2-3, he did not accept it as an organizational structure because hardly anyone used it. This has changed in recent years with Antonio Conte & Thomas Tuchel adopting this structure and having success.

"Three main organizational forms can be distinguished: 5-3-2, 4-4-2 or 4-3-3. I am of the opinion that all other concepts are derived from these three" - Rinus Michels

Marcelo Bielsa has stated that he believes there are 29 formations however a number of these formations are essentially the same thing with very slight variations in position. Here is a link to a video of all 29 Formations.

I like to look at formations more like Michels than Bielsa. For me, there are only 4 Formation structures - 4-3-3, 4-4-2, 5-2-3 & 5-3-2. From these base structures, the slight variations can be constructed.

In its simplest form, I like to distinguish formations by the number of center backs and the number of central strikers there are. This separates all formations into the four categories mentioned above - 4-3-3, 4-4-2, 5-2-3 & 5-3-2 .

2 Central Defenders & 1 Central striker (433)

2 Central Defenders & 2 Central striker (442)

3 Central Defenders & 1 Central striker (523)

3 Central Defenders & 2 Central striker (532)

From this starting point, the finer details of the formation can be generated. For example, with a base structure of 2 Central Defenders & 1 Central striker a coach can create a 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 4-5-1, & 4-1-4-1. You could argue that you could even create the 2-3-5 formation however this brings me to a separate topic regarding the concept of attacking and defensive formations. You can read about the concept of an attacking and defensive formation here.