Below is a chart summarizing player rating by position. The charted is sorted in ascending median rating. There is a great deal of spread, but generally the center midfielder and fullbacks are a bit lower than the wingers and wingbacks.

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The collapsed view below corresponds with the above chart:  a slight bias as the position becomes more offensive-minded.

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I built a linear model for each position “type” and found R-squared values ranging 88%-99%. Each model used all six attributes as predictors with overall rating as the dependent variable. I speculate that player age/experience may account for the unexplained variance. Below is a look at the performance of each position type’s model. Both images visually support the models’ validity.

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Each position type’s model naturally has a different mix of attribute weights. Below are charts showing these weights.

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Forwards need to be good at shooting and this is expressed in the above graph. Interestingly, passing is actually negatively correlated with a forward’s rating. I can think of several great forwards I have played with that fit this category!

Midfield ratings are more balanced than that of defense but dribbling and passing are the two most important skills for this position type.

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Goalkeepers are specialists so these skills are not as directly relevant, but I included them for completeness.

Each player’s position is assigned in the database. This leads to the possibility of having a player being theoretically higher rated in a different position. I found some evidence of this. Below is a table of the top three mismatches by position.

Defenders better as midfielders are an impressive crew:  Lahm, Alves, and Marcelo are three of the top players. Midfielders better as defenders are known for their holding prowess and their enforcer reputation. Midfielders better as forwards are often impressive wingers who can use their speed as a weapon in the open wide spaces. Forwards better as midfielders are represented by two Italians and Neymar, which is surprising since he is viewed as a potent striker. As someone who has watched countless matches, I venture that the positions should be thought of in terms of where the player is expected to defend not necessarily where they are expected to attack; it is common for wingers to cut inside and act like forwards once the opponent’s defenders are occupied by the true forwards. Likewise, the rise of the offensive-minded wing backs can cause trouble for defenses that have to cope with a late runner joining the attack.

The model does a good job of predicting a player’s overall rating, but there are a few exceptions.

Most of these players are lesser known, with the exception of the top right box. These players must have magic not captured in the regular six attributes; one might call this the X Factor.

There is some evidence that the player attributes lead to a few common clusters. Below is a chart showing the weighted sum of squares for a given cluster count. This is a bit of visual confirmation that there are three or four general styles of player; past that the WSS does not change as much.

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Finally, I clustered the top field players (overall rating at least 85) hierarchically. What developed was an insightful way to visualize how different players are stylistically related to each other.

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Football / Soccer’s very own family tree. The forward Gareth Bale is mixed in between the midfielders and defenders. The forward Lionel Messi is mixed in with the midfielders.These are two of the most talked about players today. Maybe being mixed in with different position players in the tree is predictive of being an important, interesting player. If so, keep your eyes on Thomas Müller.