In certain sports, such as football,

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

, handball,

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

, winger is a position. It refers to positions on the extreme left (factually the better side) and right sides of the pitch, or playing field (the "wings"). In

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

and

Canadian football Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...

, the analogous position is the wide receiver. Wingers often try to use pace to exploit extra space available on the flanks that can be made available by their teammates dominating the centre ground. They must be wary however of not crossing the touchline, or sidelines, and going out of play. In sports where the main method of scoring involves attacking a small goal (by whatever name) in the centre of the field, a common tactic is to cross the ball to a central teammate.

Association football

In football, a winger is an attacking

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

in a wide position. Wingers are usually players of great pace or

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

ability so as to provide cut-backs or crosses from which strikers can score. Their main function is to support attack from the wings. Wingers do much high-speed running from defence to attack.

Australian rules football

In Australian rules football, the wingers or wingmen require considerable pace and stamina, as they run up and down the ground linking play between defence and attack and are normally highly skilled in kicking.

Ice hockey

"Winger", in

, is a forward position of a player whose primary zone of play on the ice is along the outer playing area. They typically work by

flank Flank may refer to: * Flank (anatomy), part of the abdomen ** Flank steak, a cut of beef ** Part of the external anatomy of a horse * Flank speed, a nautical term * Flank opening, a chess opening * A term in Australian rules football * Th ...

ing the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

forward. Originally the name was given to forward players who went up and down the sides of the rink. Nowadays, there are different types of wing men in the game—out-and-out goal scorers, checkers who disrupt the opponents and forwards who work along the boards and in the corners. This position is typically just called "Wing", often preceded by the side on which the player normally skates (Left Wing or Right Wing).

Handball

In handball there are two wing positions: left wing and right wing. In a typical team, these positions are occupied by fast and relatively small players. One of their main jobs in a game are fast attacks.

Rugby football

Wingers or wings play on either the extreme left or the extreme right. They are usually the fastest players on the field and score the most tries. Wingers often fall back with the fullback to take kicks from the opposition. There are two s in a rugby league team, numbered 2 and 5. There are two wings in a rugby union team, numbered 11 and 14.

Association football

Australian rules football

Ice hockey

Handball

Rugby football

See also