Numbering in Football and Cultural Aspects
Shirt numbering in football is a phenomena quite recent in football. The first time that numbers were worn in players jerseys were in the FA Cup final of 1933, between Manchester City and Everton. Just to make clear how much time it took to happen, the first FA Cup was played in the season 1871–72. It took over 61 years so the first game would be played with numbered jerseys.
But in this final, there was quite something peculiar: one of the the teams worn the jerseys 1–11 and the other side played 12–22. Everton played 1–11 and Manchester City played 12–22. The match ended 3–0 for the toffee side, but that is not the core of the discussion.
After this final, the FA ordered for teams to use numbered jerseys in every match, which became common. Then there’s the discussion: who wears which number?
For that, we have to think in the old fashioned 2–3–5 formation used at that time. In practice:
- Centrebacks — 2 and 3
- Halfbacks — 4, 5 and 6
- Wingers — 7 and11
- Inside Forwards — 8 and 10
- Striker — 9
For some reason which my knowledge fails me, the general tendency was to ennumerate the jerseys from right to left — especially because we’re in a culture of writing and reading from left to right, but whatever — , starting from the back and ending in the attack. But how the numeration of jerseys will vary? That comes with the tactical changes that develops in each football culture.
Just so we stay in England, where it started, when WM became a trend, the central halfback (nº5) gone to defence and became a centreback. The othere two centrebacks, the number 2 and 3 were playing a bit wider, becoming the fullbacks.
Later, when the WM were underused and teams started playing with a back four, the left halfback (nº6) also became a centreback. So, in traditional numbering of a back four in England usually is 2–5–6–3.
In the end, we’re left with something quite like this:
But that didn’t happened the same way in every nation, culture or even club. In Brazil, we can se distinct movements. The first changing moment in Brazil, when the WM is introduced, is that it is the left halfback who drops onto the defensive line, becoming the left fullback, while the centreback nº2 becomes the opposite fullback.
In the Maracanazzo, for instance, the defensive line was 2–3–6, while the halfbacks were the number 4 and 5.
In a second movement, when the back four is introduced, who dropped to the back line was the halfback nº4 — which leads until today some people calling a more man marking-combative centreback a Quarto Zagueiro/Fourth Defender — . There comes the most common numbering system of the back four in Brazil: 2–3–4–6 or 2–4–3–6.
But that didn’t happened quite homogeneously in every brazilian team. For instance, Santos plays with a back four which was built in a different manner. Some clubs may have different numbering in jerseys, for instance, in Santos the fullbacks are usually number 3 and 4, while the centrebacks are numbered 2 and 6. But why is that? Well… the movement in Santos was a bit distinct from most of Brazil.
At Santos, when the WM arrived, who dropped to the defence was the number 4, the right halfback, which became a fullback. The number 3, became the opposite fullback. When the back four was adopted, another different movement. Who moved outwards? Not the number 6. The 3 remained a fullback and the number six — the left halfback — became the central defender. So, at Santos, the numbering of jerseys in a back four usually is 4–2–6–3. As I said, cultural and social conditions made it that way.
This sort of movement is more usual on the defensive lines, because most of tactical developments were base on the withdrawal of attacking players to more defensive players — thus Inverting the Pyramid — . The number 8, which at first was a right inside forward, became a halfback, to compensate the other halfback dropping onto defensive line.
There are other cases, which some numbers garnered way too much importance and made numbering changes upfront. At Botafogo, for instance, the number 7 is the most important, because of their greatest player, Garrincha, a right winger, even more than number 10 — which is usually a number quasi-caballistic to the “best player” or more “talented”.
At their 1995 Brazilian championship title, Botafogo played a back four with traditional numbering, but upfront something changed:
Túlio, key goalscorer was given the number 7 — worn by Garrincha, while Beto wore the number 10 — even though the true playmaker in that team was Sergio Manoel, who wore the number 11. Beto was more of an fast paced attacking midfielder.
Having said it all just to make a point: even the numbering of jerseys are a reflection of a historic and cultural context within football and are subject of constant changing and reinterpretation. As an annex, I’ll do two more cases of different numbering: the argentinian and the uruguayan.
Argentina: happens something quite similar that happened with Santos. First the number 4 becomes the fullback in a WM and then the number 6 drops to defence, becoming a centreback.
Uruguayan case:
First the number 4 drops as a full back, just as in Argentina. But when it becomes a back four in defence, the number 6 drops as… a new full back. So the usual numbering system is 4–2–3–6.
Well, that’s it. Each place developed and develops (do not fall for the rant of it’s all too standardized) its styles, player corporified techniques and even their numbering. And it is something to respect. It will change from place to place (as far as I remember, as an example, the more defensive halfback would be the number 6, for when they talk about using 2 defensive midfielders they mention a Doppelsechs/double-six).
And that is it. The most useless and curious text you will read today. Hope you enjoyed the ride.
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