The Regista Position In Football And It’s History

Football, by many, is considered to be an art. If that’s the case, then the Regista is perhaps the position that deploys the best artist. Several positions in football have become common words in the football lexicon. There is the Raumdeuter, the Thomas Muller. There is the Claude Makelele role, the Mezzala, the False Nine, the Libero, the Inverted Wingers, the Inverted Full Backs, the Sweeper and whatnot. However, the Regista is perhaps the most talked about role in modern football.

Regista is also a position that has stood the test of time. It originated in the 1930s and is still an integral part of modern football nine decades later. The reason for its survival is simple, the qualities that a world-class Regista has are tough to find because of the role’s demands.

Being a Regista requires a brilliant vision which has to be backed up by exquisite passing and a keen positional sense. 

So, what is a Regista, and how has it survived a century of innovation in football?

Regista meaning in football? 

The word Regista comes from Italian, which means ‘Director’. So, the Regista is a player who directs and controls the game’s flow. They are the master puppeteer who dictates the team’s offence. They are the link between the defence and attack, just like the number six.

A Regista spends a lot of time on the ball, which helps him dictate the game’s tempo. Like many roles in football, the Regista owes its birth to Italian football. In the 1930s, the Italian league was a hotbed of the most innovative coaches anywhere in the world. 

Gippo Viani, Erno Egri Erbstein, and Vittorio Pozzo are some of the names whose tactics revolutionised football, some of which continue to this day. Pozzo was the inventor of the Regista, who deployed the position in his Metodo system. Pozzo was the manager of the Italian national team at that time.

Italians coaches are the only tacticians in world football, that truly define players roles and what they do.. be hearing terms like Regista, Mezzala, Trequartista and Carreiro just a few terms used for midfielders. You’ll be amazed when these roles are broken down. @Edwyeen

— Inemesit (@Sam_3VM) August 19, 2022

However, during the 1930s, teams put less emphasis on defence. So, Pozzo used a 2-3-5 formation with five defenders. The two defenders in the backline were tasked with only defensive duties. And the man playing as the centre half in the second line…