Number (sports)

The numbers were used to help the spectators identify the players on the field, as well as to help the referee keep track of fouls and other infractions.

[6] North America saw its first football match with squad numbers on 30 March 1924, when St. Louis Vesper Buick and Fall River F.C.

(winners of St. Louis and American soccer leagues, respectively) played the National Challenge Cup, although only the local team wore numbered shirts.

[7] In England, Arsenal coach Herbert Chapman brought the idea of numbered shirts,[8] worn for the first time when his team played Sheffield Wednesday in 1928.

The goalkeeper would generally wear number 1, then defenders, midfield players and forwards in ascending order.

[16] In 1993, England's Football Association switched to persistent squad numbers, abandoning the mandatory use of 1–11 for the starting line-up.

[19] Prestigious numbers are handed on to highly touted draftees or young up-and-coming players who are shown to have promise and may share certain traits with the previous wearer, such as position or playing style.

In contrast, some sons of famous players prefer to take on other numbers in the hopes of forging their own identity, and to reduce the burden of having to fulfill high expectations.

[22] Examples include stars Kenley Jansen (74), Aaron Judge (99), Luis Robert (88), Josh Hader (71), Nick Anderson (70), Seth Lugo (67), Jose Abreu (79), and Hyun-Jin Ryu (99).

4) in 2018 became the first pitcher wearing a single-digit number to appear in the All-Star Game and the first to win the Cy Young Award.

[30] Eddie Gaedel, the midget at the centre of an infamous stunt by Bill Veeck's St. Louis Browns, is the only known major league player to have worn a fraction (1⁄8, which he had borrowed from the Browns' batboy) as his jersey number during his only major league plate appearance.

[citation needed] In 2020, Yankees pitcher Miguel Yajure became the first player to appear in an MLB game wearing No.

During spring training in 2023, the Yankees' clubhouse director Lou Cucuzza suggested that teams should no longer be required to issue uniform numbers for non-player personnel.

[35][36] The rule about "0" and "00" no longer applies in the NBA but previously, in 2000, Utah Jazz center Greg Ostertag changed from "00" to "39" so Olden Polynice could wear No.

Miles and Brooks), the 2017–18 Cleveland Cavaliers (Kevin Love and Chris Andersen), the 2018–19 Portland Trail Blazers (Damian Lillard and Enes Kanter), the 2019–20 Portland Trail Blazers (Lillard and Carmelo Anthony), the 2020–21 Portland Trail Blazers (Lillard and Anthony), the 2021–22 Golden State Warriors (Jonathan Kuminga and Gary Payton II), the 2022–23 Golden State Warriors (Kuminga and Donte DiVincenzo), the 2022–23 Indiana Pacers (Tyrese Haliburton and Bennedict Mathurin), and the 2023–24 Indiana Pacers (Haliburton and Mathurin).

The restriction was lifted following the implementation of video replay systems in basketball which allowed the table officials to quickly identify players on the court independently from the referees.

[40] One major national organization, USA Basketball, however, continues to abide to the pre-2018 FIBA numbering rules, preferring to hew to tradition.

He made his debut in the very first Test Match, against Australia, on 15 March 1877, and was first in alphabetical order on England's team.

These numbers can be found on a player's Test uniform, but it is always in discreet small type on the front, and never displayed prominently.

An informal tradition had arisen by that point that was similar to the modern system; when the All-America Football Conference, which used a radically different numbering scheme, merged with the NFL in 1950, the resulting confusion forced the merged league to impose a mandatory system of assignment of jersey numbers in 1952.

The only rule is that members of the offensive line (centers, guards, and tackles) that play in ineligible positions (those that may not receive forward passes) must wear numbers from 50 to 79.

During a 2010 game against Bowling Green, Michigan mistakenly sent Martavious Odoms (wide receiver) and Courtney Avery (defensive back), both of whom wore #9, onto the field as part of a punt-return unit, and incurred the penalty.

[67] To start the 1977–78 season, the NHL placed into effect a rule that also required sweaters to display the names of the players wearing them, but Toronto Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard initially refused to abide by it, fearing that he would not be able to sell programs at his team's games.

The league threatened further sanctions, and despite playing more than one game with their "unreadable" sweaters, Ballard's Maple Leafs finally complied in earnest by making the blue jerseys' letters white.

[69] Over time, the number 1 became rare among NHL goaltenders, with only four rostered goalies using it as of the end of the 2023–24 NHL season: Lukáš Dostál of the Anaheim Ducks, Jeremy Swayman of the Boston Bruins, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen of the Buffalo Sabres, and Devin Cooley of the San Jose Sharks.

During the CART era, car numbers 1–12 were assigned based on the previous season's final points standings.

In rugby league each of the thirteen positions on the field traditionally has an assigned shirt number, for example fullback is "1".

When included in the starting line-up, a player's rugby shirt number usually determines their position.

For example, the Boston Celtics retired the squad number 1 in honor of the team's original owner Walter A.

For example, in the Indian Premier League (IPL) of India, recently the club Royal Challengers Bangalore retired the jerseys of two great players, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle.

Squad number, as depicted on an association football jersey
First use of numbers in South America: Scottish club Third Lanark and Argentine "Zona Norte" combined entering to the pitch with numbered jerseys, 10 June 1923
Arsenal wearing numbered shirts in a friendly vs. FC Vienna in 1933. Numbered shirts had first appeared in England in 1928 when Arsenal played Sheffield Wednesday. Their use would not be ruled until 1939.
Nick Malceski executing a drop punt in 2006. In Australian rules football, squad numbers are not relevant to the player's position on the ground, although some clubs assign number 1 to captains.
Players of the Cleveland Indians wearing uniforms with numbers on their left sleeves in 1916. The Indians were the first team to introduce numbered uniforms in the MLB.
Although the NBA does not allow players to change numbers midseason, Andre Iguodala switched from number 4 to number 9 when Chris Webber arrived to the Sixers in 2005.
English cricketer Ben Stokes wearing 55 in a One Day International match v New Zealand, 2015. Players may choose their own numbers.
Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary , a fan of the Indian cricket team, travels to all Indian home games with his body painted as the Indian flag , along with the number of his idol Sachin Tendulkar [ 42 ]
Quarterbacks, like Peyton Manning , generally possess a number from 1 to 19 per rules at most levels of American football.
Unlike American football, Canadian football has long allowed the use of the number 0, even at the professional level; it is often worn by defensive backs, like Rico Murray .
Goaltender Jacques Plante 's No. 1 jersey exhibited at the Hockey Hall of Fame . Over time, the number 1 became less common among players in that position.
Jeff Burton 's car wearing No. 31 (2013)
Jody Scheckter running with No. 3 in 1976
Jules Bianchi 's No. 17 has not been re-issued after he died in 2015 from an accident at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.
Start of a motocross race; a racer with 3-digit number is leading.
A World of Outlaws sprint car race; a pair of cars have numbers with a trailing letter.
Fly-half Dan Carter wearing number 10, usually given to players in that position
Number 21 on the road bicycle of Ellen van Dijk at the Ronde van Drenthe
Los Angeles Lakers retired numbers displayed at the Staples Center (now known as Crypto.com Arena ) in 2013