Captain (association football)

The team captain of a football team is a team member who is chosen to be the leader during a football match. Mostly a captain is an older or more experienced player. A team captain often wears an armband.

Tasks

The captain has to participate in the coin toss before the match and before a penalty shootout. Referees mostly talk to the captain about the behaviour of him and his team mates. When the team wins a trophy it is given to the 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 playing.

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.

Captain (association Football) Media

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  United States captain Abby Wambach (left, in red) and England captain Steph Houghton (right, in white) shake hands before kickoff, 2015

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  A captain's armband with FIFA's "My Game is Fair Play" slogan printed on it

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  Francesco Totti, Roma captain, lifting the 2007–08 Coppa Italia

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  James Milner, vice-captain of Liverpool from 2015–2023. As depicted in the image, vice-captains serve as their team's captain when the regular captain is not included in the starting eleven, or if, during a game, the captain is substituted or sent off.