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This article is about defence, the sports position.

In many team sports, the defence player (sometimes colloquially called the d or d-man for male players) is a player who is generally charged with preventing the other team's forwards from being able to bear down directly on their own team's goaltender. Such positions exist in ice hockey and many other sports.

Defence players typically do not have any special rules regarding their play. Generally they are expected to stay on their own half of the playing surface as much as possible.

In ice hockey, some defence players are better known for their offensive prowess than for their close defensive play. Such players are known as offensive defence. Others are not known at all for their goal scoring; these are sometimes known as stay-at-home defence.

In water polo, if an offensive player, such as the center forward, has the ball in front of the goal, and the defender cannot steal the ball, he may intentionally commit a foul. The forward then has a free throw but must pass the ball off to another offensive player, rather than making a shot at the goal. Defensive perimeter players may also intentionally cause a foul and then move toward the goal, away from their attacker, who must take a free throw. This technique, called 'sloughing', allows the defense an opportunity to double-team the center forward and possibly steal the inbound pass. The water polo referee may refrain from declaring a foul caused by a defensive player, if in his judgment this would give the advantage to the defending team. This is known as the Advantage Rule.

• Defenceman (ice hockey)