In football (soccer), a player whose place is in the middle part of the pitch, between the defenders behind and the forwards in front. Midfielders do the most running in a team: they win the ball back, pass it forward, and link defence to attack. Because the job is so broad, people add another word to say which kind — a defensive midfielder (also called a holding midfielder) stays back and protects the defenders; an attacking midfielder plays high up and creates chances for the strikers; a central midfielder works in the middle; a wide midfielder or wing midfielder works along the side lines. 'Midfielder' is the player; 'midfield' is the part of the pitch, and also the group of players together ('our midfield was too slow today'). British speakers sometimes just say 'he plays in midfield'. The word is also used in other field sports such as hockey and lacrosse, where American speakers often shorten it to 'middie'. Remember that football here means the game with a round ball that Taiwanese students call 足球 — in American football the word midfielder is not used.