Best Number 8 Football Players: Meaning, Role & Soccer Legends

The number 8 shirt carries a mystique that often goes unnoticed. Overshadowed by the glamour of the 10 or the prestige of the 7, it quietly adorns some of football's most complete performers. This is the jersey of architects of the game - midfield maestros, who create attacks and intercept the play of the opponent, and smoothly combine the defense with the attack.

What makes a great number 8? Versatility. These are the players who are the heartbeat of the engine room and as such, they are a combination of technical genius, as well as tactical intelligence. They are box-to-box warriors that can squeeze through an overcrowded defense using a needle, and then run back to quash a retaliation. The contemporary 8 is footballing perfection, a combination of sight, strength, ingenuity and toughness.

There are thunderous long-range strikes and the tiniest through balls that open the most firmly closed defenses, it is all done by the number 8. In the history of football, there have been legends that have made this shirt to be a legend of mastery of the middle field. We shall glorify the best to ever bear it.

The Number 8: Meaning and Role in Football

The number 8 occupies football's most demanding real estate—central midfield. As opposed to the number 10 who plays in attack pockets, or the number 6 who plays in defense, the number 8 is always on the move. They're everywhere, all the time.

Tactically, they bridge worlds. And then as soon as they receive the ball with the center-backs, they are running to the penalty area to score a goal. Great number 8s play the game like chess grandmasters, putting themselves in the right position to either receive passes, or take advantage of the situation.

Best Number 8 Football Players

Best Number 8 Football Players Details

1. Andrés Iniesta

Don Andrés wasn't just a footballer; he was poetry in motion. The diminutive Spaniard glided between tones with a supernatural grace and the impossible appeared ordinary. He could squeeze out of narrow places without falling over - they would close in and he would come through, ball stuck to his foot.

The trophy of Iniesta reads like fiction. Nine La Liga titles. Four Champions Leagues. He played in two European championships and a world cup with Spain where his extra-time goal in the final match made him a national hero. He won the Ballon d’Or as a runner-up in 2010 and it is believed that he should have won.

He was a member of the Barcelona mythical midfield trio with Xavi and Busquets, which reinvented football. His vision was incredible--it would come in the form of passes where no one could see any. Even now, playing in Japan, his magic endures. Simply put: Iniesta redefined what a number 8 could be.

2. Lothar Matthäus

The German machine. Matthäus was a warrior in football, the midfielder who could play to rule matches by his sheer strength of will and his technical excellence. He had played five world cups, the same as Rafael Márquez, and in 1990 he led West Germany to the win.

Strong, smart, merciless. Matthäus came through midfields like a freight train and defenders would scramble. His firing was savage; his tactics, beyond reproach. He moved smoothly between defense, onward and attack, anticipating danger before it happened.

His awards are overwhelming: in 1990, he won the European Player of the Month, in 1991, FIFA introduced the first-ever World Player of the Month, and he was 38 in 1997 when he was voted German Footballer of the Month. Thirty-eight! He was unstoppable at such clubs as Bayern Munich and Inter Milan. Whole does not even start to describe him. Matthäus was the first to define midfield standards that others are still pursuing.

3. Steven Gerrard

Stevie G embodied Liverpool. During 17 years, he played red and led the Reds during 12 years. His devotion was mythical, his influence volcanic. Gerrard also had something that cannot be bought or purchased and that is, the heart of a warrior that pushed his team on when all was lost.

Istanbul, 2005. Trailing AC Milan 3-0 at the half in the finals of the Champions League, Gerrard not only scored but won a penalty kick and dragged American Liverpool into the most unbelievable comeback in the history of football. It was typical of Gerrard: there was no giving up, no giving up.

His thunderbolt was a right foot. Screamers from 30 yards? Routine. Passing over the field? Daily business. He had strength and dexterity united, force and wit. Being a deep-lying playmaker, his distributive power organized the attacks of Liverpool surgically. Gerrard did not merely play at Liverpool he was Liverpool. An absolute titan.

4. Frank Lampard

Goalscoring midfielders had the ability to do things that were revolutionized by Super Frank. The all time leading scorer of Chelsea, Lampard, had turned coming to the box late into an art form. He was always at the right moment; he would be lost by his defenders, and then he could show up, ball in net.

Three Premier League titles. A Champions League. FWA Footballer of the Year of 2005. Lampard was placed second in Ballon d’Or and FIFA player of the year the same year. His brilliance in the field was as much equaled by his fantastic industry.

What made him special? Everything. Technically, positionally, and mentally invincible. He was able to ping 60-yard passes, and run forward to complete the movement. Box-to-box, that would not suit him--Frank was box-to-box-to-goal. He changed Chelsea into champions. The Premier League hero in all meanings of the word.

5. Toni Kroos

Precision personified. Kroos doesn't run; he conducts. The German metronome controls the Real Madrid midfield and passes so accurately that he appears to be programmed. Both feet? Equally brilliant. His vision enables him to see passes that other people cannot imagine and his performance makes them a reality.

In 2014, Real Madrid came to an agreement with him at a bargain price of £25 million. What a steal. Since that time: several LaLiga wins and three successive Champions Leagues. They play alongside Luka Modrić to make up what has been described as the most threatening partnership in Europe of the midfield, playing the games by sheer technical excellence.

Kroos will never achieve the quickest player on the pitch. He doesn't need to be. His football brain works multiple steps ahead and he throws passes which bypass complete defensive lines. Set-pieces? He's lethal. Long-range strikes? Spectacular. Kroos is an indication that it is intelligence and technique that beats athleticism. A new generation star that will become a legend of Real Madrid.

6. Juninho Pernambucano

The free-kick wizard. Juninho did not only take dead-ball opportunities, he made his own guaranteed threats. He was arguably the best set-piece master of all-time and the trick was achievable through physics-bending swerve and dip, which made goalkeepers powerless. More than 76 career free-kick goals is a lot to say.

But it is an injustice to Juninho to reduce him to free-kicks only. At Lyon he was an all round playmaker, making chances with the delicate passing, making worldies at long range, and with vision that opened defenses. He brought Lyon alone to the status of French juggernauts instead of domestic also-rans.

Seven Ligue 1 titles in a row. Ligue 1 Player of the Year. Three times within the Team of the Year. His football mentality was unbelievable; his style, impeccable. Juninho was able to manipulate the tempo, pass in every direction on the field and afterwards bend in an unstoppable free-kick. Lyon's greatest-ever player? Absolutely. A highly underestimated genius of football.

7. Hristo Stoichkov

El Pistolero, The Bulgarian bullet was violent and temperamental and altogether brilliant. Stoichkov was a forward in the Barcelona Dream Team that won four consecutive La Liga and one Champions League through a number 8 that he wore with a devastating effect.

His masterpiece was the 1994 world cup. He made it to the semifinals with Bulgaria and won the Golden Shoe with six goals and the Ballon d'Or of the year. Five-time Bulgarian Player of the Month. Twice runner-up for FIFA World Player of the Year. The accolades pile up.

As a left back the conversion of Stoichkov to a forward was a destructive force. His speed was scalding; no one could live with him. That left foot? Pure dynamite. He could play striker or creative midfielder with equal brilliance, adapting his game to dismantle opponents. Tenacious, versatile, and utterly fearless, Stoichkov was a 90s icon who transcended football.

8. Gennaro Gattuso

Rino was fire incarnated. The toughest midfielder you will ever encounter is Gattuso, a raging man barely held back, a defensive killer that lives to win every ball, every fight, every minute. His aggression was legendary; even referees felt his intensity.

But don't mistake fury for lack of quality. Gattuso was brilliant. At AC Milan, he provided the steel that allowed Andrea Pirlo to flourish. But where Pirlo plotted gracefully, Gattuso slapped the ground, toiled, urgently defended his brethren with ferocious commitment.

Two Serie A titles. Two Champions League. A World Cup with Italy in 2006. His bag of victories justifies his style. Gattuso lacked flashy skills but compensated with unmatched work rate and passion. This was pure strength that made his team better. Rino was one of the greatest defensive midfielders ever to play, and he showed that heart and determination are the best currencies in football.

Also Read | Top 5 Youngest Football Players to Play the Game

Conclusion

The eight shirt symbolizes the most versatile players of football. These myths did not concentrate on anything - they were good at all. Everyone, Iniesta with his silk, Matthäus with his steel, Gerrard with his heart and the goals of Lampard with his, gave something different and something the same all over the world, universal genius.

What unites them? Do-it-all, smart, and unquenchable appetite when it comes to matches. They are builders and demolishers, makers and completers. The 8s are working in the shadows of football when compared to more glamorous positions, but their contribution is equally bright.

These eight legends did not put on the jersey they made.They showed that the most valuable players in football are not necessarily the scorers or the showmen, but the all-rounders, who get everything going. Eight is the magic number in that it requires completion. These players provided precisely that.