What’s the difference?
Are they just two words for the same player (the frontmost player/s on the field) or do they define his duties differently?
It’s just something that’s been bugging me forewer and I’ve never gotten around to ask.
I don’t think there is anything “official” to say, but in my mind all strikers are forwards, but not all forwards are strikers. Wingers, for example, are forwards (if true wingers, as opposed to wide midfield players). A striker, on the other hand, is a center forward.
So basically a forward is an attacking player and a striker is a type of forward.
(I first spotted this in Championship Manager, ages ago, where they (still in FM) differentiate between Striker and CF)
To my mind, a striker spends most of his time at the far end of the field, in front of the goal. A forward might move back and forth a bit more in the field, playing more of a role in midfield at times, on the wings, and generally may play more of a part in defense.
Then Van Nistelroy and Inzaghi would be typical strikers and a runner-type like Owen be more of a forward?
Yes, except I wouldn’t call an attacking midfield player a forward…
To me as well, “striker” says something about the type of player too - he’s a goal scorer primarily, not creator. Ian Rush; Gary Lineker; Robbie Fowler; Michael Owen - these were all strikers. Players like Cantona didn’t seem like strikers in the same way to me, though they could be classified as centre forwards.
Added on edit - if you look at Liverpool today, I would say Torres is a striker, while Kuyt is a forward.
I’m not familiar enough with Inzaghi to say, but something along those lines as goes with the other two.
I don’t think Owen runs around much, though he’s crocked so often I don’t really remember. But yea, guys who do little but hang around the opponents penalty box get called strikers, guys who play more of midfield roll too (say Ronaldinho, Messi, Ronaldo) are forwards. Although the definition is pretty blurry with guys like that, you could call them midfielders/forwards/strikers.
Yeah, I know it’s hard to categorize almost every player on the pitch these days (save, maybe the goalie and central defenders).
But thank you all for the clarifications and examples!
I’m going to WAG that some of this terminology is a holdover from the days when teams used to play with 5 in the front line (5 forwards, 3 midfield, 2 defenders). Nobody ever does this these days.
The 5 in the front line were forwards, but they wouldn’t all be strikers. A striker was the guy whose main skill is making that last touch that scores the goal.
This.
Alan Shearer = striker
Teddy Sheringham = forward (when he was playing up front and not as an attacking half)
It should be noted at this point that the designation striker denotes only an intent to score goals, rather than actual success in so doing.
Cf. Dalian Atkinson, Dean Saunders, Tony Cascarino…
Good one 
But it’s true, cause I doubt anyone would class Christiano Ronaldo as a striker - he’s a winger/attacking midfielder/forward
They seem to to me, with fullbacks playing winger constantly, and just the central defenders and defensive midfielder defending really. Only the top teams seem to do it much though.
This is sort of true, but there aren’t too many old-style wingers around. There are guys who run the wings, yes, but they tend to do it from midfield - sometimes even from defence, as you say. The older strategy was something like “pack the upfield and hoof the ball forward at every opportunity”.
The formation you describe depends largely on keeping the ball away from your opponents. If they rarely get a touch, the relative frailty of the defence is less of a problem, so more players can be used in attacking roles.
And if they play too far forward, like Gary Lineker, you call them a ‘goal-hanging git’…if he’s not playing for you.
Sounds like an English invention, perhaps from Liverpool? Although someone should tell them fans in the stands aren’t their strikers.
But yeah, no way a team like uh, England, could accomplish it with the way they eagerly give the ball away. Arsenal working over Newcastle last week was pretty much 2-3-5 or something though.
And despite his hat trick against the Croats today - Walcott is definitely a forward, but I would say not a striker.
We always called that a “cherry picker”, but I couldn’t tell you why.