(UPDATE: SUMMER 2025) Welcome back, Soccermanagerite. “You alrite, la?” In today’s episode we take a look at the men who are all about one thing and one thing only: Defend, Defend, DEFEND! That’s right y’all, today we are looking at the ‘Stopper’ role!
From Franco Baresi, Alessandro Nesta, Nemanja Vidić, to the likes of Antonio Rüdiger, Cristian Romero and William Pacho, Football has truly been blessed with a lot of players who play this role as if their life depended on it.
A ‘Stopper’ simply loves to defend! He could care less about how many goals his team scores, or how much possession his team has, but gets absolutely pumped up if there’s a goal saving tackle or block that has just occurred. These type of Defenders tend to be tall and physically dominant as they attempt to impose themselves on their opposition attacker. They thrive at rough soccer and are normally the first to initiate physical altercations.
ATTACKING PHASE
To be brutally honest, ‘Stoppers’ don’t care about what’s going on when your team is in possession. They keep it very simple, with the rare long diagonal pass or progressive dribbling only happening once and a while. They’re so intent on defending that even when the ball is in your team’s attacking third, they are always positioning themselves to be ready for a potential transition from your opps!
DEFENSIVE PHASE
This is a ‘Stopper’s’ bread and butter. They are the best at the defensive side of the game and aim to get involved in as many defensive situations as they possibly can.
POSITIONAL TRAITS
A ‘Stopper’ can be considered a specialist position since they only focus on one aspect of their game. So, what this means is that they generally only play the D(C) position within Soccermanager.
KEY ATTRIBUTES (FROM SM25 and beyond)
Here are the key elements of a top ‘Stopper’:
Marking
Tackling
Positioning
Aerial Ability
Strength
Aggression (This one is MANDATORY)
Concentration
Leadership
BEST PLAYERS OF ROLE IN SOCCERMANAGER WORLDS
(UPDATE) The top 15 ‘Stoppers’ within Soccermanager (in my opinion) are:
Antonio Rüdiger 🇩🇪
Rúben Dias 🇵🇹
Gabriel Magalhães 🇧🇷
Cristian Romero 🇦🇷
Ronald Araújo 🇺🇾
Ibrahima Konaté 🇫🇷
Gleison Bremer 🇧🇷
José Giménez 🇺🇾
Matthijs de Ligt 🇳🇱
Francesco Acerbi 🇮🇹
Robin Le Normand 🇪🇸
Fikayo Tomori 🏴
Sven Botman 🇳🇱
Kalidou Koulibaly 🇸🇳
Nikola Milenkovic 🇷🇸
That’s a wrap for todays’s episode. What are your thoughts on these updates so far, Soccermanagerites? Are you enjoying them? Feel free to leave a comment below or send me a direct email at shaheemjackson9@gmail.com. You can also DM me on Facebook or X @ The Soccer Manager Blog/ The Soccermanager Experience.
ADIOS!!! ✌️💚
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