Great Britain
In 1993, The Football Association switched to persistent squad numbers, abandoning the mandatory use of 1–11 for the starting line-up. The first league event to feature this was the 1993 Football League Cup Final between Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday, and it became standard in the FA Premier League the following season, along with names printed above the numbers.
Most European top leagues adopted the system over the next five years.
The Football League introduced squad numbers in 1999, and the Football Conference followed suit three years later.
Players may now wear any number (as long as it is unique within their squad) between 1 and 99. To date, the highest number worn by a player in the Premier League is 62, by Manchester City's Abdul Razak. It has been suggested the Swindon Town defender Brian Kilcline wore 62 during 1993-94, but he actually wore 31.
Nico Yennaris wore 64 for Arsenal in the League Cup on 26 September 2012, in a match against Coventry City.
In the Football League, the number 55 has been worn by Ade Akinbiyi, for Crystal Palace, and Dominik Werling, for Barnsley.
When Sunderland signed Cameroon striker Patrick Mboma on loan in 2002, he wanted the number 70, to indicate his birth year of 1970. But the Premier League refused, and he wore 7 instead.
Players are not generally allowed to change their number during a season, although a player may change number if he changes clubs mid-season. Players may change squad numbers between seasons.
A move from a high number to a low one may be an indication that the player is likely to be a regular starter for the coming season. An example of this being Celtic's Scott McDonald, who, after the departure of former no.7 Maciej Żurawski, was given the squad number 7, a change down from 27. Some players keep the number they start their career at a club with, such as Liverpool's Jamie Carragher, who has worn the number 23 since becoming part of the first-team squad. On occasion players have moved numbers to accommodate a new player, for example Chelsea FC midfielder Yossi Benayoun handed new signing Juan Mata the number 10 shirt, and changed to the number 30, which doubles his lucky number 15.d. Upon signing for Everton in 2007, Yakubu refused the prestigious number 9 shirt and asked to be assigned number 22, setting this number as a goal-scoring target for his first season, a feat he fell one goal short of achieving.
Read more about this topic: Squad Number (association Football), In Club Football
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