The captain of a football/soccer team, sometimes known as the skipper, is a team member chosen to be the on-pitch leader of the team; they are often one of the older or more experienced members of the squad, or a player that can heavily influence a game or has good leadership qualities. The team captain is usually identified by the wearing of an

armband An armband is a piece of material worn around the arm. They may be worn for pure ornamentation, or to mark the wearer as belonging to group, or as insignia having a certain rank, status, office or role, or being in a particular state or conditi ...

. In the 2024/25 edition of the Laws of the Game, it was made mandatory for each team to have a captain and for each captain to be identified by the previously traditional but non-mandatory captain's armband.

Responsibilities

The only official responsibility of a captain specified by the Laws of the Game is to participate in the

coin toss A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by a ...

prior to kick-off (for choice of ends or to have kick-off) and prior to a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. Captains have no special authority under the Laws to challenge a decision by the

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

. However, referees may talk to the captain of a side about the side's general behaviour when necessary. At an award-giving ceremony after a fixture like a cup competition final, the captain usually leads the team up to collect their medals. Any trophy won by a team will be received by the captain, who will also be the first one to hoist it. The captain also generally leads the teams out of the dressing room at the start of the match. A captain is also tasked with running the dressing room. The captain generally provides a rallying point for the team: if morale is low, it is the captain who will be looked upon to boost their team's spirits. Captains may join the manager in deciding the starting eleven for a certain game. In youth or recreational football, the captain often takes on duties that would, at a higher level, be delegated to the

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Club

A ''club captain'' is usually appointed for a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. If they are unavailable or not selected for a particular game, or must leave the pitch, then the club vice-captain will assume similar duties. The match captain is the first player to lift a

trophy A trophy is a tangible, decorative item used to remind of a specific achievement, serving as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are most commonly awarded for sports, sporting events, ranging from youth sports to professional level athlet ...

should the team win one, even if they are not the club captain. A good example of this was in the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final when match captain

Peter Schmeichel Peter Bolesław Schmeichel (born 18 November 1963) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. During eight seasons at English club Manchester United, he won 15 trophies including five Premier League titles, three FA C ...

lifted the trophy for

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

as club captain

Roy Keane Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971) is an Irish football pundit, former coach, and former professional player. He is best known for his career in the Premier League, in particular his captaincy of Manchester United. He is the joint most ...

was suspended. In the

2012 UEFA Champions League Final The 2012 UEFA Champions League final was an association football match which took place on Saturday, 19 May 2012 between Bayern Munich of Germany and Chelsea of England at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany. The match was to decide the winner ...

, match captain

Frank Lampard Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of English club Coventry City. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, one of Chelsea's greates ...

(who was the vice-captain) jointly lifted the trophy for Chelsea with club captain

John Terry John George Terry (born 7 December 1980) is an English professional Coach (association football), football coach and former Association football, player who played as a centre-back. He was previously captain of Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, the En ...

, who was suspended, but given permission by UEFA. A club may appoint two distinct roles: a club captain to represent the players in a public relations role, and correspondent on the pitch.

has had both of these types of captains:

was the club captain on ''and'' off the pitch from 1997 to 2005 as he was a regular in the starting eleven, but his successor

Gary Neville Gary Alexander Neville (born 18 February 1975) is an English football pundit, former coach and player, and co-owner of English Football League club Salford City. As a player, Neville was a right-back and spent his entire career with Manches ...

while nominally club captain from 2005 to 2010 had made few first team appearances due to injuries. In his absence other players (

Rio Ferdinand Rio Gavin Ferdinand (born 7 November 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back, and is now a television pundit for TNT Sports. He played 81 times for the England national team between 1997 and 2011, and ...

or vice-captain

Ryan Giggs Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; born 29 November 1973) is a Welsh football coach, former player and co-owner of Salford City. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, and one of the best wingers in the history of footba ...

) were chosen to captain the team on the field, such as in the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

(Ferdinand was captain as he was in the starting eleven, while Giggs was a substitute) and 2009 UEFA Champions League Finals, respectively. After Neville retired in 2011, regular starter

Nemanja Vidić Nemanja Vidić ( sr-Cyrl, Немања Видић, ; born 21 October 1981) is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Widely considered to be one of the greatest defenders in history, Vidić is best known for his t ...

was named as club captain.

Vice-captain

A ''vice-captain'' (or ''assistant captain'') is a player that is expected to captain the side when the club's captain is not included in the starting eleven, or if, during a game, the captain is substituted or sent off. Examples include

Ronald Araújo Ronald Federico Araújo da Silva (born 7 March 1999) is an Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Barcelona and the Uruguay national team. Primarily a centre-back, he is also capable of playing as a right-back on ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Thomas Müller Thomas Müller (; born 13 September 1989) is a German professional Association football, footballer who plays for club FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich. He primarily plays as an attacking midfielder or a second striker. Widely regarded as one o ...

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

, and Dani Carvajal at

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

. Similarly, some clubs also name a ''3rd captain'', a ''4th captain'', or even a ''5th captain'' to take the role of captain when both the captain and vice-captain are unavailable. Examples include

Frenkie de Jong Frenkie de Jong (; born 12 May 1997) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays primarily as a midfielder for club Barcelona and the Netherlands national team. He is widely regarded as one of the best midfielders of his generation and as one ...

as a 3rd captain and Raphinha as a 4th captain for

. In their 2015–16 season, Barcelona Femení had six named captains.

International

In the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

, when

Bryan Robson Bryan Robson (born 11 January 1957) is an English association football, football manager and former player. He began his career with West Bromwich Albion F.C., West Bromwich Albion in 1972, where he amassed over 200 appearances and was club ca ...

was injured and vice-captain

Ray Wilkins Raymond Colin Wilkins (14 September 1956 – 4 April 2018) was an English football player and coach. Born into a footballing family with his father and three brothers involved in the game, Wilkins played as a midfielder. He began his career a ...

received a two-game suspension for a red card,

Peter Shilton Peter Leslie Shilton (born 18 September 1949) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. His 31-year career included spells at 11 clubs and he has the uni ...

became England's captain for the rest of the tournament. During the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

in South Africa, Germany had three captains.

Michael Ballack Michael Ballack (; born 26 September 1976) is a German former professional footballer. He was selected by Pelé as one of FIFA's 100 Greatest Living Players, and as the UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year in 2002. He won the German Footballer of ...

had captained the national team since 2004, including the successful qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup, but he did not play in the latter tournament due to a last minute injury.

Philipp Lahm Philipp Lahm (; born 11 November 1983) is a German former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Full back (association football), full-back. Widely regarded as one of the greatest full-backs of all time, Lahm was the longt ...

was appointed captain in South Africa, but due to an illness that ruled him out of Germany's final fixture,

Bastian Schweinsteiger Bastian Schweinsteiger ( , ; born 1 August 1984) is a German former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. Earlier in his career, he primarily played as a wide midfielder before later switching to a central mi ...

captained the team for that game which was the third-place match. Lahm stated in an interview that he would not relinquish the captaincy when Ballack returned, causing some controversy, so team manager

Oliver Bierhoff Oliver Bierhoff (born 1 May 1968) is a German association football official and former player who played as a striker. He has previously served as the technical director of the Germany national team. A tall, strong and prolific goalscorer, Bier ...

clarified the situation, saying: "Philipp Lahm is the World Cup captain and Michael Ballack is still the captain". Lahm ended up becoming the permanent captain of Germany until his retirement, as Ballack was never called up in the national team again.

References

External links