The Regista: An Obsolete Role of Elegance

Through the Italian eyes and mind, we’ve seen innovation like no other. We’ve seen elite defensive talents and, with that, revolutionized tactics and newly found roles. The discovery of the Libero and the nationalized structure of Catennacio further injected Italian identity into a rapidly evolving game. While defensive positioning and roles became a further form of identity in the Italian football brand, the regista's role in the midfield defined a new brand of elegance, class, and control in the game of football. 

The role of the regista is that of a deep-lying playmaker who sits in front of the central defenders, as shown in the picture on the left. They must be press-resistant, deceptive but not fast, and, most importantly, have fantastic passing ability on the ball. Some of the most elite registas, such as Andrea Pirlo and Xabi Alonso, are most credited for their sharp vision and brilliant long-passing ability from deeper roles. Through this, they could dictate the game under their own tempo. “Regista” directly translates to “director” in English. Despite these players not having outstanding physical attributes, their mental profiles made the position so effective. Profiling a regista isn’t easy; finding a player to play the role isn’t expected. But in my opinion, nothing is more elegant than watching a classy regista in its full flow. 

Italian midfielder Andrea Pirlo is widely known to be the best regista ever. To me, what made Pirlo’s career so impressive was how he excelled in this role in three different systems. Pirlo was first thrown into a deep-lying playmaking role under Carlo Ancelotti’s 2000s AC Milan team. Ancelotti set his team up in a back 4 with three midfielders behind an attacking midfield, either Rivaldo or Kaka. Behind them remained Pirlo, Seedorf, and Gattuso. Gattuso was known for being one of the best defensive midfielders of his generation, while Clarence Seedorf was an elite box-to-box midfielder. Having these two midfielders on either side of Pirlo allowed him to dictate the team's tempo while having robust defensive support alongside him. In a tempo-dictating role, Pirlo was an ideal press-resistant player, and an underrated aspect of his game was his ball-shielding despite his relatively small stature. It’s tricky to explain how good Pirlo’s passing ability was in words, but he could put the perfect weight on his passes, whether it was a drifting diagonal to the other side of the pitch or an incisive through ball. 

During his time in Juventus, Pirlo’s role didn’t dramatically change, but the big difference was that he was playing in front of a back three rather than a back 4. Despite less defensive reinforcement behind him, Antonio Conte decided it was still best to use Pirlo in that regista role and played physical, athletic midfielders beside him. Initially, Conte played Claudio Marchisio and Arturo Vidal on either side of him to support Pirlo defensively, and later, he fit Pogba into the team as a player who could drift further forward to create with his tremendous passing ability. Pirlo remained in a similar role for the national team as a high-volume passer whose job was to dictate the tempo and create from deep. He remained a mainstay in the team for almost a decade. During his playing career, Pirlo’s pioneered the role of the regista in Italian football, both domestically and internationally, reaching the pinnacle of the sport, winning both the Champions League and World Cup. 

Over the years, there have been many top-class registas, such as Xabi Alonso, Michael Carrick, and Daniele De Rossi, but the role of the regista has become somewhat obsolete in the modern game. However, Jorginho revived its concept during his time at Chelsea and for the Italian national team. For Chelsea, Jorginho plays as a deep-lying playmaker in front of three central defenders. Thomas Tuchel decided to partner him with either N’Golo Kante or Matteo Kovacic. With Kante, there was much more of a defensive presence due to his outstanding tackling ability, and Kovacic provided even more stability and some box-to-box attacking threat. Mason Mount also provided a dynamic transitional threat as an attacking midfielder. Jorginho remained a consistent starter in that midfield and impressed through his excellent passing ability, and eventually Chelsea won the Champions League. He played the same tempo-controlling role for Italy during the 2021 Euros, which they also won, and he finished 3rd in the Ballon d’Or that year. Although not to the extent of Pirlo and other elite registas, Jorginho still carries their legacy through his play on the pitch. 

The regista in the modern club football game has dissolved due to complex pressing structures and new roles such as inverted fullbacks. Midfielders don’t have the time on the ball that they used to, and the role of the regista is now very “game-state” based. They can be used effectively against low-blocks but risk getting caught in transition. We’ve seen double-pivots rise in recent years and the modern-day 6 in the form of Rodri and Declan Rice. I think the role of the regista will be highlighted during international games in correspondence to how teams are set up differently. Still, the role of the regista has changed significantly in the last decade.