The death of German football legend Franz Beckenbauer aka Der Kaiser last week, aged 78, brought into focus a position in football that he perfected, refined and redefined: the “sweeper” or “libero”.
Though the two terms can be used interchangeably, sweeper is the more accurate way of describing the move, by a lone defender who operates behind defensive lines, to “sweep up” any balls that have gone past the defence.
The libero was what the sweeper role turned into, as it became more finely honed. This player was still supposed to clean up behind the defence, but, if the opportunity arose, they were free to also move up with the ball, or make defence-splitting, counter-attacking passes of their own (hence the term, which is Italian for free).
Beckenbauer was the undisputed emperor of the position. He showed the world just how much influence a person could exert as libero, helping Germany (then West Germany) to its 1974 World Cup win, and making Bayern Munich the powerhouse in club football that it still is.
After all, if a team has a tough-tackling, hard-running player with incredible positional awareness and footballing intelligence, who also has the ability to make piercing runs through the midfield and execute visionary passes, what more could they need?
The sweeper / libero of the past is long gone. In the modern game, he would stand out as much as a player dressed in top hat and frock coat. Imagine trying to operate behind defensive lines in an age when the offside rule is implemented through technology that can measure infringements to the millimetre. Or amid today’s focus on gegenpressing, where the player with the ball is immediately surrounded.
Yet, the sweeper / libero, especially as Beckenbauer shaped it, is visible in today’s play, because it altered modern football in fundamental ways.
The most obvious has been the emergence of the deep-lying playmaker or defensive midfielder as the single most important position in the game. At the 1974 World Cup, Beckenbauer was employed ahead of a back four, with the same brief as that of the modern defensive midfielder: give additional cover to the defenders, intercept passes, break up the opposition’s midfield possession, and orchestrate attacks and counter-attacks.
It could be argued that, ever since, great teams have been structured around great defensive midfielders. If Barcelona’s 2014-15 treble-winning team had Sergio Busquets, Manchester United’s 1998-99 treble-winning team had Roy Keane, Arsenal’s Invincibles had Patrick Vieira, and Manchester City’s current treble-winning side has Rodri.
Transfer markets are now ruled by defensive midfielders, as we saw in the last summer window in Europe, with Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo.
There is a less obvious way in which Beckenbauer’s reinvention of the sweeper role exerts its influence too, and that is in the role of the modern centre-back.
It is no longer enough for a great centre-back to defend solidly. They must also keep possession of the ball, look to start attacking moves and build play, or find passes that penetrate the opposing block or press.
In an era when game philosophy is centred on possession, and its mirror opposite, pressing, defenders need to have the touch and passing abilities of midfielders, so they can be involved in possession play, and so they don’t get robbed when they’re being pressed.
Look closely, the next time you see Ruben Dias, Virgil van Dijk, John Stones, Ronald Araujo or David Alaba work their magic, and you’ll see the sweeper / libero still at work.
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