Since the beginning of football, there have been different styles of center forwards, one of them is the player who used to step back to set up plays. This style required ample technical quality and above-average tactical awareness, and therefore was not a style applicable to just any player, but to capable and sovereign players with the ball. This style is almost as old as football. In the 19th century, great players such as John Goodall and G. O. Smith were already standing out in such a way, with Smith's Corinthians possessing an attacking style that was copied.

The "False 9"

A centre-forward whose main role is to drop deep, creating space for the other forwards or midfielders and giving numerical advantage in the midfield; false 9, deep-lying centre-forward. The term false 9 is relatively new, yet the role has been out there for a long time.

Sindelar✳
The Wunderteam relected in its artist.

The term is new and, in such a way, it is even adaptable to the situation of the cent-reforward in more recent football, as the most common style is that of a centre-forward that is more a goal-scorer, who participates less in plays and does not have as much mobility as a playmaker one would have. The term was given during the period when Pep Guardiola's Barcelona dominated Europe with Lionel Messi in charge of offensive actions. However, as much as the term is too new, the style is quite old.