In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's offensive play, and is often involved in passing moves which lead to goals.

One example of this position was Diego Armando Maradona, who has been described by FIFA as a "playmaker and goalscorer."

In English football the term overlaps somewhat with attacking midfielder, but the 2 types of midfielders are not necessarily the same.

In Italian football there are actually two types of playmakers, the trequartista (playmaker in the central attacking midfield position) and the regista (deep-lying playmaker).

The trequartista, jersey number 10, will sit between midfield and the forwards and make incisive passes to the wingers or forwards, seeing them through on goal or to deliver killer crosses.

The registas or deep-lying playmakers, usually jersey number 8, 6 or 5 (in south-american football), operate from a deep position - in or even behind the main midfield line, where they can use space and time on the ball to orchestrate the moves of the whole team, not just attacks on goal. An example of a regista or a deep-lying playmaker is Andrea Pirlo.

Michael Laudrup (born 15 June 1964 in Frederiksberg) is a retired Danish footballer, who works as a manager and last coached La Liga side RCD Mallorca. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of football. His most prominent run of football came with Spanish club Barcelona, with whom he won four straight La Liga championships. He famously moved to arch rivals Real Madrid in 1994, with whom he won his fifth La Liga title in a row. He made his debut for the Denmark national football team on his 18th birthday in 1982, and scored 37 goals in a total of 104 appearances for his country. From November 1994, he captained Denmark for a total of 28 matches, including the victorious 1995 Confederations Cup tournament. He retired as an active player in June 1998.

In 1999, he was voted the Best Foreign Player in Spanish Football over the preceding 25-year period and in April 2000 he was knighted, receiving the Order of the Dannebrog. In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Denmark by the Danish Football Association; their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. He was officially named the best Danish footballer of all time by the Danish Football Association (DBU) in November 2006.

Toni Kroos (German pronunciation: [ˈtoːni ˈkʁoːs]) (born 4 January 1990) is a German international footballer who plays for Bayern Munich as a central midfielder. He is the older brother of Werder Bremen forward Felix Kroos.

Kroos was born in Greifswald and first played for local club Greifswalder SC, later transferring to the youth team of Hansa Rostock. Kroos – who plays as a midfielder – changed to Bayern Munich's youth setup in 2006. For the 2007–08 season and on, Kroos was named to the senior team, at the young age of 17. Bayern's manager Uli Hoeneß has stated that in the future Toni will play with the number 10 shirt in the Bayern Munich first team when he has more experience.

Kroos has made an astounding start to his Bayern career, making his Bayern Munich debut on 26 September 2007 in the 5–0 mauling of Energie Cottbus and instantly providing two assists for the two goals scored by Miroslav Klose within 18 minutes of his appearance. Kroos also earned Bayern an extremely valuable victory on his UEFA Cup debut away to Red Star Belgrade, coming on as a substitute in the 81st minute and providing an assist for Miroslav Klose and then scoring the winning goal with practically the last shot of the game.

Andrea Pirlo, Ufficiale OMRI (born 19 May 1979 in Flero, Lombardy), is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer who currently plays for Serie A club Juventus and for the Italian national team. He is usually deployed as a deep-lying playmaker for both Juventus and Italy and is regarded as one of the world's best player in this position. Praised for his inventive play and his long passing ability, he is also a set-piece specialist.

Pirlo has played for the Italian youth teams U-15, U-18 and U-21, captaining and leading the latter to victory in the 2000 as the Golden Player and Top Scorer of the tournament. He joined the Italian senior side during the qualification round for World Cup 2002 and captained the national team to a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics. Later, he was instrumental in their victory in the 2006 World Cup. He was named man of the match three times, including the final, more than any other player in the tournament, and ultimately won the Bronze Ball (third best player in tournament).

Francesco Totti, Ufficiale OMRI, (born 27 September 1976 in Rome) is an Italian footballer who is the captain of Serie A club Roma. His primary position is that of a trequartista, though he has also been successfully utilized as a lone striker. Totti has spent his entire career at Roma, is the number-one goalscorer and the most capped player in the club's history. He is considered as one of the finest players in his generation, and also Roma's greatest player ever.

A 2006 World Cup winner and Euro 2000 finalist, Totti was selected in the All-Star team for both tournaments. He has won many individual awards, including a record five Italian Footballer of the Year awards and two Serie A Footballer of the Year awards. He was named in the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected by Pelé as a part of FIFA's centenary celebrations. In 2011, Totti has been recognized by IFFHS as the most popular footballer in Europe.

Often referred to as Il Bimbo d'Oro (The Golden Boy), Er Pupone (The Big Baby), and Il Gladiatore (The Gladiator) by the Italian sports media, Totti is currently the top active Serie A goalscorer and fifth all-time in league history with 215 goals.