Coxs Iconic Shirt Numbers: No 15-23 Rapinoe, Gascoigne, Pirlo and Beckham

Previously in this series, numbers 1-14 have been analysed in considerable depth because, for the majority of them, there’s a tactical history and a story to be told about positional development.

From here, however, things become a bit murkier: there are plenty of numbers which realistically have little significance at all. So, here’s a whistlestop tour of the remaining numbers you’ll find among a 23-player squad at an international tournament…

No 15

Perhaps most notable for being worn by Megan Rapinoe throughout her career with the US women’s national team, which seems likely to cause several imitations in the United States and perhaps in the women’s game across the world over the next few years.

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Otherwise, for such a low number 15 seems remarkably non-descript. It instinctively feels like the number of a midfielder, although even then, there are relatively few notable players who have committed to it throughout their careers.

Of Premier League clubs, it’s perhaps Arsenal where it feels most significant. The underrated Ray Parlour, a long-serving midfielder who had a habit of shining in FA Cup finals, wore that shirt throughout Arsene Wenger’s early period at the club, and later it was worn by Cesc Fabregas during his early starring performances, before he switched to his favoured No 4.

Manchester United fans will think of Nemanja Vidic starring in this number, while at Chelsea it was worn in the same season by both Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah, who had little impact at Stamford Bridge but are now both shining elsewhere in the Premier League.

But it’s largely a forgettable number; if handed the No 15 shirt, you wouldn’t feel like there was much to live up to, nor would you feel burdened at having to fit into a particular template.

No 16

In Premier League terms, the No 16 shirt is effectively owned by one man, and one man alone — Roy Keane.

There was no particular reason Keane took that shirt upon joining Manchester United from Nottingham Forest in 1993, but eventually he grew to like it. When Eric Cantona left the club in 1997, Keane says that Sir Alex Ferguson wanted him, rather than David Beckham, to take over from the Frenchman as their No 7, but Keane refused.

“I’d had No 16 since I’d signed for the club,” Keane explained in his autobiography. “I was comfortable with No 16. I think it might have kept me on my toes, being outside the 1-11, and I didn’t think I was a No 7. I said, ‘Give it to Becks.’ Becks got it, and it suited him.” Keane continued in No 16 until his departure in 2005-06.

The following summer, Ferguson signed Michael Carrick, effectively Keane’s replacement in the deep midfield role.

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“I said to him, ‘I’m giving you the No 16 jersey’, so he was delighted at that,” Ferguson claimed at the time. “I think that showed great courage because sometimes players are a bit superstitious about things like that, but he was keen, and said he would gladly take No 16.”

It seems Carrick wasn’t particularly bothered, however, as he recounted after his retirement. “I was sitting in the boss’s office, I think it was the first day I was there, and he said, ‘What squad number do you want?’ I said, ‘I’m not fussed, to be honest.’ He said, ‘What about No 16?’ So I said, ‘Yeah, no problem.’ And literally, that was the conversation. I really didn’t give a monkey’s, to be honest. It really didn’t bother me one bit.”

Yet Keane has inspired other midfielders to wear his old number — like Roma legend Daniele De Rossi, who started out wearing No 27, switched to No 4 for a single season, before moving again, to No 16. “Keane is my my all-time idol,” he said in 2016. “Besides Gaia (his daughter, born on June 16 in 2005), I wear 16 because of him. He’s the only person in the world I’ve asked for a photo, two years ago. I was too embarrassed with Maradona but I couldn’t resist with him.”

Perhaps less notably, Willo Flood also paid tribute to Keane by wearing No 16 at Celtic — four years after he’d previously lost an actual Keane No 16 shirt.

“Keane is my all-time hero — he’s probably the best player we’ve ever had in our country and probably the best we’ll ever have,” the Irishman said after being given Celtic’s No 16 in 2009. “I played against him in the Manchester derby and we drew 0-0. It was my second game at Old Trafford so I can say I played on the same pitch as a legend.

“I asked for his jersey and he said he would give it to me in the tunnel. He got the kitman of Manchester United to give it to me. It just went to show the mark of the man. I ended up giving it to my mate, but I don’t know why. We have regrets in life and that was my biggest! His ma put it in the wash the next day and forgot about it.”

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It feels like the number of a central midfielder — Sergio Aguero looked awkward in No 16 for his first four seasons at Manchester City, before eventually switching to the No 10 shirt he had favoured for both Independiente and Atletico Madrid. Sergio Busquets was another defensive midfielder who became associated with No 16 for both Barcelona and Spain, although he switched to No 5 after Carles Puyol’s retirement.

No 17

For no particular reason, No 17 is fundamentally cooler than the 15, 16 or 18 shirts — it being a prime number arguably helps — and it generally belongs to a technical player.

It’s currently worn by both De Bruyne for Manchester City and Antoine Griezmann at Barcelona. Historically, it was also favoured by Mario Mandzukic at various clubs, as well as at international level, while David Trezeguet’s long stint in that shirt for Juventus meant Aston Villa’s Trezeguet — actual name Mahmoud Ahmed Ibrahim Hassan, but effectively nicknamed after the Frenchman — decided to wear that shirt upon his arrival in the Midlands last summer.

The majority of these players have tended to wear lower numbers when available, however, so for true No 17s we need to look at Tim Cahill, who took the shirt at Everton because he wanted to be beside Thomas Gravesen and Wayne Rooney, who had No 16 and No 18 repectively, in the dressing room. Cahill kept that number with New York Red Bulls, Shanghai Shenhua, Hangzhou Greentown, Melbourne City and Jamshedpur, although wore No 4 throughout his illustrious career with Australia.

Emmanuel Petit also favoured No 17, wearing it during 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 glory, as well as with Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea. His successor in that number at Arsenal was Edu, as if only left-footed central midfielders could wear it. The No 17 shirt was retired by Helsingborg after Henrik Larsson’s retirement — he’d worn the number for them in two separate spells at either end of his career.

No 17 was Cristiano Ronaldo’s favoured number for Portugal while Luis Figo was still in his favoured No 7. Nani has done the same throughout his career, remaining in No 17 for Portugal because of Ronaldo, wearing it for Manchester United, Sporting Lisbon, Fenerbahce, Valencia and Orlando City, only getting his hands on No 7 during a season on loan at Lazio.

Not everyone likes No 17, though.

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In Italy, it’s often considered an unlucky number, and when Roberto Donadoni crucially missed in the Azzurri’s famous World Cup semi-final penalty shootout loss to Argentina in 1990, his shirt number was cited by some as the problem. This superstition has also caused havoc at clubs owned by Massimo Cellino. At Cagliari, he insisted on all seats with the number 17 being replaced with 16B, and with Leeds United, apparently took against goalkeeper Paddy Kenny when discovering his birthday was May 17. He refuses to allow any of his players to wear the No 17 shirt.

On the other hand, Newcastle United owner — for now — Mike Ashley considers 17 his lucky number, and in his early days at St James’ Park, turned up for matches in a replica of midfielder Alan Smith’s No 17 shirt.

No 18

It’s impossible to consider the No 18 shirt without — again — mentioning Ivan Zamorano, and his 1+8 trick at Inter Milan, having been displaced in his favoured shirt by the Brazilian Ronaldo. It was perhaps for similar reasons that Gabriel Batistuta, perhaps the ultimate No 9 of the modern era, took 18 when he arrived at Roma and found Vincenzo Montella refusing to give up the 9 shirt.

It’s become popular at Tottenham Hotspur, where it’s been worn by a string of centre-forwards including Jurgen Klinsmann, Jermain Defoe, (briefly) Harry Kane and Fernando Llorente. In fact, Spurs’ No 18 shirt is the second most-prolific number in Premier League history outside the traditional 1-11, only beaten — inevitably — by the Arsenal No 14.

No 18 was worn by Paul Scholes at Manchester United, which convinced their new star Bruno Fernandes to take that number when he signed in January (as well it being the date of his wife Ana’s birthday) while the Premier League’s record appearance maker Gareth Barry is a relatively rare player to have chosen the number at three separate clubs — Manchester City, Everton and now West Bromwich Albion.

In Northern Ireland, the shirt is retired by Derry City in honour of their all-time top goalscorer Mark Farren, who died of a brain tumour in 2016 at the age of just 33.

No 19

England fans instinctively think of Paul Gascoigne’s performances at World Cup 1990 when they see the No 19 shirt, although Gazza soon switched to his favoured No 8 shirt when it became available.

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There have sometimes been vague hopes that future World Cup No 19s might provide some level of magic for England. Joe Cole in 2002 was probably closest to a Gascoigne-type player and supposedly wore that number in his honour, while in 2006 and 2010, Aaron Lennon and Jermain Defoe had good impacts as supersub and back-up striker respectively, before Raheem Sterling performed well in the shirt at World Cup 2014. Two years ago, former Everton midfielder Ross Barkley seemed a decent fit for Gazza’s old number.

A rare player who favoured No 19 was Jose Antonio Reyes, who wore it for Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla and Extremadura — with the latter retiring the shirt after his death in a road accident last year.

World Cup 2014 was decided by a No 19 — Mario Gotze’s chest and volley in extra time bringing the only goal against Argentina — but it’s otherwise a fairly non-descript number.

Juventus centre-back Leonardo Bonucci has worn the shirt throughout his career with both them and Italy, as well as during that peculiar one-year stint at AC Milan. Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla have worn it for both Arsenal and their subsequent clubs West Ham United and Villarreal, while Dwight Yorke took it at Manchester United and later at Blackburn Rovers and Sunderland, but 1+9 has never proved anywhere near as popular as 1+8.

No 20

Unquestionably the number of a back-up striker, which can probably be traced back to Paolo Rossi’s exploits for Italy at the World Cup in 1982.

It wasn’t a coincidence that Rossi was wearing that number. During this period, Italy’s players were numbered according to position throughout the squad — in 1982, for example, while goalkeepers were given the traditional numbers of 1, 12 and 22, it was otherwise 2-8 for defenders, 9-14 for midfielders and 15-21 for attackers. It was the same process in 1986 and 1990, although by 1994 the approach had softened, with Roberto Baggio allowed to take No 10 despite playing up front, and Alessandro Del Piero enjoying the same honour four years later.

Italy only abandoned this system completely in 2002 and started to give, for example, No 7 to a midfielder and No 9 to a striker. But No 20 has nevertheless generally been worn by a forward, with Vincenzo Montella wearing it in 2002, and Giampaolo Pazzini in 2010.

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Its history as a striker’s number in Italy meant, for example, that Enrico Chiesa chose 20 for both Parma and Fiorentina, while Oliver Bierhoff wore it for Udinese, Milan and then Monaco, as well as selecting it for Germany at international tournaments, including when his two goals won the Euro 96 final. It’s also proved a significant number for Manchester United forwards, worn by both Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and later Robin van Persie, while Sam Kerr of Australia and Chelsea has come to define the number in the women’s game.

No 21

There’s no obvious reason why No 21 should be a good shirt number, and yet it unquestionably is.

It’s Zinedine Zidane dribbling forward at Juventus. It’s Nuno Gomes scoring crucial tournament goals for Portugal. It’s 38-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic, now back at Milan. It’s Juan Carlos Valeron dictating play for Deportivo La Coruna.

Valeron’s exploits in that No 21 were enough to inspire David Silva, a fellow native of Gran Canaria, to wear that shirt throughout his career. “Juan Carlos Valeron and his brother Miguel Angel, both played with my dad in Arguineguin,” Silva explained earlier this year. “Juan Carlos was always a role model to me. I knew him and he was an incredible person.”

When he arrived at Valencia, Silva noted that their No 21 shirt had been worn by Pablo Aimar, a similar player in style, and he wanted to continue the legacy of that number — to the extent that he ‘fixed’ the drawing of lots.

“Nineteen and 21 were the only squad numbers available,” Silva explained. “Me and Jaime Gavilan, both newcomers, held a raffle and in a moment when Gavilan was distracted, (the drawmaster and Silva’s friend) Curro Torres told me which one to pick. It was hidden in his hands and I picked the one with 21. We cheated a little bit there… and I’ve been wearing the 21 shirt ever since…”

Despite having the authority to drop down to a lower number, Silva has always been content with No 21. In fact, he’s one of those players you associate so much with a ‘higher’ number it’s almost difficult to imagine him in a 1-11 shirt. He’s closest to a No 10, but wouldn’t look right in it, and despite retreating into a deeper role under Pep Guardiola, surely isn’t a No 8 either.

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You can say the same of Andrea Pirlo, who has worn No 21 for Brescia, Inter, Milan, Juventus and New York City, as well as Italy whenever possible — seemingly because the 21st is his father’s birthday, his wedding anniversary and, in May 1995, the date of his Serie A debut for Brescia against Reggiana.

Pirlo was famously a No 10 until his early 20s, at which point he was redeployed in a deep-lying position. He sometimes reverted to No 10 on occasion for Italy, which looked better than him wearing No 6 or No 8, for example, but still wasn’t quite right. Like Silva, he’s come to look comfortable in No 21, and No 21 alone.

No 22

It isn’t a particularly cool number, and yet in recent years No 22 has attracted some big names.

Kaka wore it with some distinction for Milan, and then decided to abandon it after his second departure from the club in 2014 as a sign of respect to their fans.

“I won’t wear the number 22 any more,” he explained. “I wanted to leave this as a sign to the Milan fans. In Brazil (he was initially loaned to Sao Paulo) I will wear the No 8, then in America (joining Orlando City) the No 10.” Bojan Krkic wore Milan’s No 22 between Kaka’s two stints, because he arrived in town to sign for them from Roma on his 22nd birthday.

Others are more wedded to it. Diego Milito had a couple of fine seasons in No 22 for Real Zaragoza, so subsequently wore the same number for Genoa, Racing Club and most famously Inter, where he scored two goals in the Champions League final of 2010. Isco is another, having worn it for both Malaga and Real Madrid, as well as Spain.

There’s also an unusually prominent array of attacking talent currently wearing No 22 in the Premier League, including three current top scorers for their clubs: Teemu Pukki, Lys Mousset and Sebastien Haller. Only No 9 and No 10 have more top scorers in the division.

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You can’t help feeling that 22 makes most sense for a reserve right-back, however. Newcastle’s DeAndre Yedlin is an obvious example — he inherited that shirt from Daryl Janmaat, who took the same approach, and also wore 22 at Watford for a season before dropping down to the first-choice’s No 2. Brighton’s Martin Montoya has stuck with 22 even after his compatriot Bruno Saltor retired and left No 2 free, while Trent Alexander-Arnold chose it for World Cup 2018, the perfect balance between his Liverpool No 66 and the usual right-back shirt, No 2.

No 23

In the 20th century, the No 23 meant very little aside from, perhaps, at Liverpool, where two local lads, Robbie Fowler and then Jamie Carragher, took the shirt — Carragher stuck with it throughout his career, and his foundation is named after the number.

But No 23 became truly revered in the summer of 2003, when David Beckham joined Real Madrid. His favoured No 7 shirt was already taken by Raul, and none of the other traditional numbers were free either, so Beckham opted for No 23.

“I chose No 23 because of [US basketball superstar] Michael Jordan,” Beckham later explained. “It was available and I’d always been a huge fan of Michael Jordan and I’ve loved him as a player and a person, everything that he represented and did in his career. I was a huge fan.” It was, incidentally, the second time No 23 was notable that week — Manchester City had just announced the retirement of that number after the tragic death of their midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe while playing at the Confederations Cup in France.

Beckham’s brand is stronger than that of anyone else in football in recent years, and he made the No 23 shirt popular. He also wore No 23 for LA Galaxy, and when that shirt was unavailable at Milan and Paris Saint-Germain, he wore No 32 instead. There have notably been plenty of prominent No 23s since, some of whom have credit Beckham with the inspiration, as Tom Cleverley explained when at Beckham’s former club Manchester United.

“The manager offered me 22 or 23 before the start of season,” Cleverley said in 2011. “I picked up 23 because I prefer wearing odd numbers and also because David Beckham was my idol growing up, and he wore No 23 at Real Madrid and still does with LA Galaxy.” Beckham’s successors in the No 23 shirt at the Bernabeu were the elegant quartet of Wesley Sneijder, Rafael van der Vaart, Mesut Ozil and Isco — before he dropped down to No 22.

Christian Eriksen was another notable wearer of No 23 during his time at Tottenham, and almost immediately after he left for Inter in January, Tottenham announced that newcomer Steven Bergwijn would be wearing it in his place. This was immediately assumed to be Spurs indicating they’d moved on from the Dane, although Bergwijn supposedly just wanted what he considered an ‘iconic’ number in sport, because of Jordan, Beckham and present-day basketball great LeBron James.

Twenty years ago, the idea that ‘23’ was iconic in football would have seemed ludicrous, but just like Gerd Muller with 13 and Johan Cruyff with 14, one player can transform the feel of a number entirely.

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