Football's Most Bizarre Shirt Numbers

Zahi Sahli by Senior Analyst Written on December 23, 2008
Zamorano_18_feature

Everyone wants to wear the "unique" numbers. In the world of football, the number 10 is usually given to the team's star.

But footballers seem to give a lot of attention to their shirt numbers that they overlook the fact that the stardom of a number is linked to the man wearing the shirt.

Football legends like Diego Maradona and Pele wore the No. 10 shirt. In his peak, then-world's best player Ronaldinho wore 10 on his back before giving his number to Barcelona's current star Lionel Messi.

Before Alessandro Del Piero, Roberto Baggio wore the shirt No. 10 at Juventus.

But some have taken bizarre shirt numbers over the years:

0

Worn by Aberbeen striker Hicham Zerouali after Dons fans realised the humour potential of his surname's first four letters. Zerouali sadly died in a car crash in 2004, prompting the club to "retire" the number.

 

1

Worn by Argentina midfielder Osvaldo Ardiles at the 1982 World Cup. Squad numbers were allocated by alphabetical order - the only exception was Diego Maradona - 12th alphabetically but given the number 10 shirt. 

The number 1 shirt is also worn by Greek midfielder Pantelis Kafes who currently plays at AEK. 

 

1+8

Worn by Internazionale striker Ivan Zamorano (in the picture) from 1997 to 2000. In his first season the Chilean wore 9, which was then given to new signing Ronaldo. Zamorano took 18. However, he inserted a plus sign between the digits.

 

9

Worn by Mexican goalkeeper Jorge Campos, who started his career as a striker.

 

69

Worn by cheeky French left-back Bixente Lizarazu at Bayern Munich. Lizarazu claimed it was merely his lucky number since it is his year of birth, weight in kilogrammes and height (1.69m)!

 

99

Worn by Ronaldo (the Brazilian) at Milan. Also used by Portugal goalkeeper Vitor Baia and Cristiano Lucarelli.

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http://bleacherreport.com/articles/96382-rumors-realities-christmas-edition

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written on December 23, 2008 Humor

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