In association football, channels is the name given to certain areas of the pitch, created by the space between players and groups of players. There are two types of channels, vertical (between full backs and their closest centre back), and horizontal (between defence, midfield, and attack).

Vertical channels

The channels are subjectively described (there is no specific marking of the pitch) as the areas in which wide-playing strikers look to receive the ball, being a vertical strip extending from the halfway line to the goal line, and close to, but not too near the edge of the pitch, just inside the touchline, an area more commonly occupied by a winger. By receiving the ball in the channel, a striker hopes to confuse the opposing defence, as he is between the full-back and

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, and makes them unsure as to who should mark or close down the striker, this thinking time allows the striker more time on the ball, and also distracts the defence from other players who are making runs.

Horizontal channels

These channels are the areas created between the defence and midfield (usually occupied by that team's defensive midfielder/anchor man, or the opposition's advanced playmaker/deep lying forward), and midfield and attack (usually occupied by that team's advanced playmaker/deep playing forward, or the opposition's defensive midfielder/anchor man). Formations that usually create these channels are the 4–4–2, 5–4–1, 5–3–2. In modern times, formations have been developed to cancel out these channels, examples of these formations include the 4–2–3–1, 4–3–2–1, 4–4–2 diamond. An example of the use of this is the

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

team, who use a fluid (meaning the players are free to move around and exchange positions) 4–3–3 formation to use the channels created by the oppositions formation to gain an advantage, e.g.

Xavi Xavier Hernández Creus (born 25 January 1980), known as Xavi is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of La Liga club Barcelona. Widely considered one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Xavi wa ...

with the ball in midfield, passing to one of the front three players who start either in the oppositions defensive zone, and drops back towards his midfield, or starting in the oppositions midfield zone, and moves forward. Barcelona's formation, as well as taking advantage of opposition's channels, also looks to cancel out the chance of their own team creating them, with the use of

Sergio Busquets Sergio Busquets Burgos (, ; born 16 July 1988) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for La Liga club Barcelona, where he is captain. He is considered to be a deep-lying playmaker capable of directing gameplay ...

as a defensive midfielder, who looks to occupy the space between his back four and midfield three.

References

Association football terminology {{soccer-stub