Ultimate 1-50: the male footballers best associated with each squad number

Who is football’s most legendary No 9? Has there ever been a legendary No 28? And why exactly does Mario Balotelli love wearing No 45 so much? Here’s our list and the stories behind it

The relationship between players and numbers is a long-established one filled with memories and fascinating as well as fun stories behind them. With that in mind, the Guardian has had a go at deciding which male player is best associated with each squad number, from 1-50. Various factors were taken into consideration, including how long a player wore/has worn that number, what they achieved/have achieved in it, why they decided to wear it in the first place and, in some cases, how distinctly it has become associated with them in death. The below list is highly subjective and ultimately a bit of fun, but don’t let that stop you being shocked and furious in equal measure.

One is the loneliest number, but it also allows you to stand out – especially in football, where you play by different rules and wear different attire. Nobody stood out quite like Yashin, the almost mythical USSR and Dinamo Moscow goalkeeper of the 1950s and 1960s. He often wore a flat cap in goal, and his trademark kit led to the nicknames “Black Spider” or “Black Panther” (strictly speaking, it should have been the less catchy Very Very Dark Blue Spider). Yashin remains the only goalkeeper to have won the Ballon d’Or; with a respectful nod to Dino Zoff, Peter Schmeichel and others, he was a simple choice.

It would be a crime against dynamism and flair if we didn’t give one of the traditional full-back numbers to a Brazilian. Some of their great right-backs didn’t actually wear No 2 – Djalma Santos and Carlos Alberto, World Cup-winners of 1958 and 1970, sported No 4 – but that still leaves us with the richest pickings. It’s hard to look beyond Cafu, a bullet train on the right for Brazil, Roma, Milan and others. He won two World Cups and is the only man to play in three consecutive finals. Chuck in more than 700 club games, and that’s a mind-boggling amount of runs up that right flank.

Few could dispute this choice. Maldini is No 3. Milan retired his number – it can only be used again if one of his sons plays for the club – and it’s almost a surprise Fifa didn’t do the same. As a left-back or left-sided centre-back, Maldini came as close as anyone to perfecting defending; on the ultra-rare occasions he was given a chasing, by Chris Waddle or Karel Poborsky, it was a JFK moment. It’s an oddity that he didn’t wear No 3 at Italia 90 or USA 94. But for most of his career, to see Maldini with any other number would have been like seeing James Bond in a shell suit.

For longevity and sheer class – on and off the field – Zanetti pips Pep Guardiola, Sergio Ramos and the aforementioned Brazilian right-backs to this number. A Swiss Army knife of a footballer, Zanetti was one of the first players to show that the positions of right-back and centre-midfield spoke the same language. He won 16 trophies in 19 years at Inter, 15 of them as a quietly inspirational captain. José Mourinho said “it was an honour to coach him”, while Maldini called him “my most respected enemy”. As was the case with Maldini, Zanetti’s number was retired by a Milanese giant.

With apologies to Zinedine Zidane, Fabio Cannavaro and Obdulio Varela, the terrifying and granite-willed captain of Uruguay’s 1950 World Cup winners, this was never in doubt. Beckenbauer, libero and captain of the all-conquering West Germany and Bayern Munich sides of the 1970s, was born to stroll around a football field, No 5 on his back, an imaginary Andrex-soft sax jazz soundtrack playing in the background. His biographer, Uli Hesse, wrote that the number “became synonymous with his unique interpretation of the libero role”. Nobody did it better; nobody ever will, which is essentially why, quite rightly, Bayern retired their No 5 shirt in December 2024.

Iconography trumps tactics on this one. In modern football, a No 6 is a deep-lying midfielder, but in the 20th century it was indelibly associated with a specific genre of centre-back: captains, leaders, legends. The list is headed by Bobby Moore, Tony Adams and the don; Baresi, a manager on the field for Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello during Milan’s golden age, his shirt retired by the club in 1997. Baresi died this year; if you have any doubts that he is the definitive No 6, just look at the pictures from his funeral in August of this year.

This probably should have been given to Garrincha, who wore No 7 when he single-footedly won the 1962 World Cup for Brazil, but you can’t argue with a trademark. Never mind the trifling matter of almost 1,000 career goals, CR7 is a brand that includes fragrances, underwear, footwear, lifestyle hotels, a fitness app … even bottled water. It all started in 2003, when Sir Alex Ferguson encouraged the teenager from Portugal to embrace one of the most iconic shirts in football – Manchester United No 7s include George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham. On a global scale, Ronaldo, now retired from international duty, is the most famous of the lot.

Desailly embraced the No 8 shirt when he was repurposed as a central midfielder at Milan then wore it when he played centre-half for the France team that won France 98 and Euro 2000. Desailly won the lot as a No 8, with the enduring memory of him in that number coming from the 1994 Champions League final, as the then 25-year-old rampaged through Barcelona to score the final goal. Xavi, for Spain, Andrés Iniesta, for Barcelona, and Socrates were strong shouts, all more traditional No 8s, but Desailly got the nod.

A choice that was painfully obvious, romantic and a bit dispiriting. Let’s start with the good stuff: Ronaldo 1.0 was the greatest young player we’ve ever seen, blessed like nobody before or since with the holy trinity of power, speed and skill. The dispiriting bit is that his Nike Mercurial R9 boots, unveiled in the buildup to France 98, catalysed an age of naked commercialism that football has never escaped. (Paradoxically, Ronaldo was wearing No 10 for Inter at the time, though that would soon change.) Let’s just remember the good stuff – R9, the first PlayStation footballer, and the platonic ideal of a distinctly Brazilian brilliance.

“No matter what happens and no matter who is in charge, the No 10 shirt will always be mine.” We’re not going to argue with Maradona, even if Lionel Messi, Pelé or Ferenc Puskas were the most compelling alternatives. To Maradona, the No 10 was a way of life, part of a uniquely Argentinian identity – that of the pibe, the creative genius from a poor background blessed with celestial skill and the vicious defiance of an alley cat. He even had the No 10 tattooed on his back. Close your eyes and you can probably see the font.

“I remember the first time I saw him,” said Sir Alex Ferguson. “He was 13 and just floated over the ground like a cocker spaniel chasing a piece of silver paper in the wind.” Giggs wore a lot of different numbers at the start of his career – 2, 4, 5, 7, 10 – but from the moment the Premier League introduced squad numbers in 1993, he was Manchester United’s No 11, even when he changed position in his dotage. There were other 24-carat contenders, including the Brazilian collective of Garrincha, Rivellino, Eder, Romario, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho, but none can match Giggs’s longevity or medal collection.

After an injury-ruined season with Milan, Van Basten started Euro 88 on the bench, both literally and numerically. He came in for the second game against England, scored a hat-trick and never looked back. A Hitchcockian late winner against the hosts, West Germany, was followed by an entirely preposterous volley in the final against USSR. From then on he was the Netherlands’ No 9. But the legend of No 12 endured, particularly when Thierry Henry was playing for France: he chose No 12 because of Van Basten. Were it not for the Dutchman, another Frenchman, the great Alain Giresse, would have been our choice.

The German sense of humour has always been underrated: they, more than any other country, have embraced the No 13 shirt. It’s been worn at major tournaments by Rudi Völler, Karl-Heinz Riedle, Michael Ballack, Thomas Müller – and Gerd Müller. He picked it for the 1970 and 1974 World Cups, and a triumphant Euro 72, as a nod to his childhood hero, Max Morlock, who scored in the 1954 World Cup final win over Hungary. Muller played 13 World Cup games and almost finished with 13 goals. The alternative ending was better: his 14th, in the 1974 final against the Netherlands, won the World Cup.

Cruyff’s first encounter with No 14 came by chance. Ajax’s Gerrie Muhren couldn’t find his usual No 7 shirt, so Cruyff gave him the No 9 and pulled the first spare shirt out of the bag. Ajax won, Cruyff kept wearing No 14 and embraced every connection: for example, he’d married his wife, Danny, on 2 December 1968 and pointed out that 2+12 and 6+8 both equal 14. The Cruyff Foundation later set up Schoolyard14, the key principle of which is the 14 Rules of Johan Cruyff. If he were a young footballer in 2026, Cruyff would be the first to have a symbol instead of a number.

This was the toughest of the teens, with nobody demanding selection. We plumped for a man who, as far as we can tell, spent only five games in the No 15 shirt. Falcão, an imperious box-to-box playmaker, missed all Brazil’s World Cup qualifiers for Spain 82 – Roma didn’t have to release him, so they didn’t – and as a result was not among Nos 1-11. But he played all five games at the tournament in the No 15 shirt and won the Silver Ball, which makes him officially the best player in the greatest attacking team many of us have ever seen.

Sham! Yes, it’s somewhat awkward having a certain era of Manchester City players on this list given “events” a few weeks ago, but, equally, it’s impossible to ignore them entirely given their achievements on the pitch, and that’s very much the case when it comes to Rodri, a man who completed football by the age of 30. He’s won the World Cup, the Euros, the Ballon d’Or, the Golden Ball, the Treble … the lot. When he moved to Barcelona in the summer, Rodri asked Fermin López if he could take the No 16 shirt that has served him so well. We assume it was a short conversation.

It’s all because of Wilfried Bony, you know. Bony was wearing No 14, the number Kevin De Bruyne wore at Wolfsburg, when De Bruyne moved to Manchester City in 2015. He picked No 17 instead. It’s apt there’s a “7” in there somewhere, such was De Bruyne’s devastating impact in the inside-right channel during his decade at the Etihad. His creative genius made him an irresistible choice, despite the appeal of Emmanuel Petit, Frank Rijkaard, Vitinha and even a young Cristiano Ronaldo. For a fair chunk of his time in England, De Bruyne was the best player in the best league in the world.

If you’re going to launch the toys, you might as well do it in style. When Ronaldo took the No 9 shirt at Inter in the summer of 1998 – the Brazilian had joined the club 12 months earlier and initially wore No 10 – the incumbent had an idea. Ivan Zamorano had worn No 9 for Chile, Sevilla, Real Madrid and Inter and took enormous pride in the symbolism of the shirt. So he switched to No 18 and had a plus sign stitched into the shirt: 1+8. Long before Lionel Messi, this was a different kind of false nine.

The Golden Ball winner at Italia 90 wore No 19. But enough about Toto Schillaci. Gascoigne’s unfettered, painfully innocent brilliance drove Bobby Robson’s team to the semi-finals of a tournament they were expected to stink out, and ultimately changed the game in his country. In 2009, England and West Germany met in a charity-match repeat of the 1990 semi-final. England wore Nos 1-11 – except Gascoigne, who had No 19 on his back. Robson, who died five days later, attended the match in a wheelchair. On the way home, he had one pressing question for his son: “How did Gascoigne play?”

Paolo Rossi, Clarence Seedorf and Ole Gunnar Solskjær are among those who have worn No 20 with great distinction but no one is, and probably ever will be, as synonymous with it as Jota. It was referenced in the song Liverpool fans sung about him with great lustre when he was alive and with great poignancy after he died, with the club’s retirement of the number and building of a ‘Forever 20’ memorial outside Anfield further tying the late Portuguese striker to the digits. Gone far too soon, Jota will never be forgotten.

The Italian was always a mature vintage, a smooth midfielder who could spot a pass from any angle. He could have played many of his games with a glass of wine in his hand and when he had his own vineyard, 21 Brut Rose was produced by Pratum Coller in honour of the great man’s squad number. No 21 adorned Pirloi’s back at Inter, Milan, Juventus and New York City, as he collected six Serie A titles and a couple of Champions League winner’s medals, not to mention a World Cup with Italy in 2006.

The 2007-08 Ballon d’Or was an inevitability for the magical Brazilian, who spent the year running riot with his third-choice of two little ducks. The attacking midfielder wanted No 8 or No 10 when he arrived in Milan but Gennaro Gattuso and Rui Costa were already in possession of those respective when he joined from São Paulo and the youngster was not going to mess with two legends. His time at Real Madrid, after a €67m move, was far less successful and Kaká returned to Milan after four years, taking back No 22 in the process.

With Raul wearing No 7, Beckham needed a plan upon joining Real Madrid in July 2003. He turned to Michael Jordan for inspiration, asking for his iconic digits as he became a galáctico. When Beckham moved to LA Galaxy four years later, he stuck with No 23. “The connection with Jordan and how important the No 23 was, I just felt it was the right thing to do,” Beckham said. Sol Campbell was another strong contender for No 23 given he wore it at Tottenham and Arsenal, as was Marc-Vivien Foé, whose No 23 shirt was retired by Manchester City after his shock death in June 2003.

“I really hope to stay in the heart of this city so that one day, Napoli also retire the No 24,” Insigne said. The Naples-born forward spent 16 years with his boyhood club, which is certainly a good way to ingratiate himself with the fans, some of whom wanted him to take Maradona’s iconic No 10. “Maradona’s 10? I’m very superstitious, plus I wear 24 because it’s my wife’s birthday and it’s brought me luck,” Insigne said.

It says something about a player’s association with a number that his blessing is required before it can be passed on to someone else. And so it was in August 2023 that Zola gave Moisés Caicedo the go ahead to be Chelsea’s No 25, with no else deemed worthy of taking that status from the Italian for two whole decades. A bit much? Not really given the brilliance of Zola’s performances across seven seasons at the club. There was the skill, the goals, and that sense of joy that made him popular far beyond the boundaries of west London. Quite simply, everybody loved to watch Franco play.

Many academy graduates are desperate to rid themselves of their first squad number once they have settled into the first team but the Chelsea centre-back stuck with what he was given for 18 years. One of the reasons Terry did so was because he saw supporters getting it printed on their own shirts and did not want them to buy another. What a nice captain, leader, legend, and indeed why fix something that isn’t broke? When a mural of Terry and Antonio Conte was painted on to Stamford Bridge, the “26” was far more prominent than his face, which really does say something.

It was at Sampdoria where the No 27 became imprinted on Quagliarella’s back, and in tribute to his former teammate Niccolo Galli, who died in a road accident aged 17. “I have no doubt that had he lived, he would have been captain of Arsenal and of Italy,” Arsène Wenger said of Galli, who he managed in north London before his passing in February 2001. Quagliarella continued to honour Galli throughout his career, taking in moves to Udinese, Napoli and Juventus, every time ensuring he got the number he wanted. At Juve he spent two seasons with No 18, but the forward’s cherished number was with him for two Serie A titles.

History shows that No 28 is often discarded by those seeking fame and fortune – Cristiano Ronaldo had it at Sporting as a kid, Steven Gerrard likewise at Liverpool – but Touré wore it for four seasons at Arsenal, a period that saw him become an Invincible. That perhaps explains why, after a three-season dalliance with No 5, he reverted to what he knew upon joining Manchester City in July 2009, going on to win another Premier League title with this most random of numbers on his back. Quite clearly it meant a lot to him, and justifiably so.

“I have had it now for many years,” Havertz said of the number he’s worn at Bayer Leverkusen, Chelsea and Arsenal. “When I became a professional, I took it because it has some history with my brother – we used to take it always when we played video games together. Since then I just took it, and for me it’s the perfect number. I love to wear it in a red shirt again.” It’s as good a reason as any, to be honest, and given Havertz’s success in No 29, why he gets the nod over some other contenders, including Monaco-era Kylian Mbappé.

Sometimes it only takes a goal to etch a player into a club’s history, and when that goal is genuinely seismic, the number he wore at the time also takes on a grand status. And so it is that Grønkjær is our No 30 given that’s what the Danish winger had on when he scored Chelsea’s winner against Liverpool on the final day of the 2002-03 season. Chelsea subsequently secured Champions League football over Gérard Houllier’s side, which convinced Roman Abramovich to buy the club that summer and change Chelsea’s fortunes, as well as the landscape of modern football, for ever.

Upon signing for Manchester United in July 2015, Schweinsteiger was given the No 23 shirt. He quickly changed to No 31 and, really, that was no surprise given that was the number he wore throughout his golden 13-year spell at Bayern Munich, coming through the ranks to win eight Bundesliga titles and the Champions League. The midfielder kept it during his two years at United and also wore it during his two years at Chicago Fire. Quite simply Schweinsteiger is No 31 (albeit he mainly wore No 7 for Germany) and no one else comes close to challenging him on that.

This feels like a number that should have generated a lot of candidates but ultimately there weren’t many, and certainly no one as notable as Tevez. From the shock, awe and controversy of his three years at West Ham, to the rampaging success of his two-year spell at Manchester United, to the wild, wonderful and also controversial nature of his four years at Manchester City, Tevez well and truly made No 32 his own, going on to also wear it at Shanghai Shenhua and upon his return to Boca Juniors. With apologies to Joël Matip, but it wasn’t even close in the end.

This was an immediate lock-in given Cech’s reasons for taking this number upon joining Arsenal from Chelsea in 2015. He was 33 at the time, had played 333 games in the Premier League and – wait for it – 33 is number of vertebrae in the human spine. “Hope to be a part of the spine of the team,” Cech posted on social media on 11 July 2015. Seriously, what a guy. Speaking of Arsenal, Riccardo Calafiori was also in contention given he wore No 33 at Basel and Bologna before nabbing it upon his arrival at the Emirates two years ago.