4 footballing terms which were named after players

#4 The Makelele Role

Claude Makelele

Defensive midfielders are of paramount importance to a football team these days. In fact, some teams prefer to play two of them in a 4-2-3-1 formation. However, this role was popularised in the late 1990s and early 2000s by French midfielder, Claude Makelele.

Makelele was a destroyer who thwarted opposition attacks repeatedly in the midfield. He also gave cover to the advancing fullbacks, and acted as a 5th defender for his team.

Makelele's dominant performances for Real Madrid, Chelsea, and the French national team made him indispensable for any team he played for, and therefore the playing position itself was named after him.

However, there are different types of defensive midfielders, and not all of them perform the same function. Still, we do not have the scope to discuss all those intricacies in this article, and would rather prefer to celebrate Makelele’s impact on the game by looking at some of his exploits.