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#3 Gianluigi Buffon | #88 at Parma, #77 at Parma and Juventus
Footballers choosing strange numbers has always been a source of amusement, but in some cases such as Gigi Buffon's, it was a matter of huge controversy. Coming through the ranks at Parma, he had already won the numbers 12, 28, and then one.
After the 1999/00 season, the Italian legend switched from Parma's number one shirt to wearing 88, which was met with widespread criticism. 88 was often associated with Neo-Nazis at the time, leading to much controversy and accusations regarding Buffon's political stance. Enraged by these accusations, Buffon famously called for a press conference to clarify why he chose the number 88 shirt. He explained;
"I have chosen 88 because it reminds me of four balls and in Italy we all know what it means to have balls: strength and determination. And this season I will have to have balls to get back my place in the Italy team."
He was ultimately forced to change his number and eventually donned number 77 as he was born in the year 1977, and his change sparked the trend of players' shirts representing their birth years in Italy. Incidentially, Buffon still wears 77 to this day during his second spell with Juventus after turning down Wojciech Szczesny's offer of wearing his famous number one shirt again.
#2 Ronaldinho | #80, AC Milan
Ronaldinho had already established himself as one of the best players in world football after his spell at Barcelona, during which he helped the Blaugrana win their first LaLiga title of the century and ended their 14-year-wait for the UCL. After an all-conquering five years at the Nou Camp, the 2005 Ballon d'Or winner moved to AC Milan in 2008 after Pep Guardiola's appointment at the club.
While he donned the number ten shirt for six successive campaigns before his San Siro stint, Ronaldinho could not get his hands on the iconic number once again due to long-serving club legend Clarence Seeforf. The Brazilian then opted for shirt number 80, signifying the year of his birth, 1980. Ronaldinho played 95 times for the Rossoneri with this shirt number, scoring 26 and setting up a further 26.
AC Milan also signed Mathieu Flamini from Arsenal and Andriy Shevchenko from Chelsea in the same window as Ronaldinho who took up 84 and 76 respectively for the same reason as they were born in 1984 and 1976.
#1 Trent Alexander-Arnold | #66, Liverpool
173 senior appearances. Two UCL finals. One Premier League. And one iconic shirt number.
Among the players currently active at the highest level of football, not many have a stranger shirt number than Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold. The Reds' academy product broke onto the scene and and quickly established himself as one of the best right-backs in world football. While many academy players generally have higher numbers before moving onto conventional first-team numbers, Alexander-Arnold has chosen to keep wearing the shirt number 66.
It was later revealed that there was no real significance regarding the number at all as it was Lee Radcliffe, Liverpool's kit management coordinator, who assigned the shirt to the Englishman when he broke into the first team. He explained;
"When we get any young lads that come down from the academy, we always deliberately try to give them a high-ish number. We don't like to give them a low number in case they sort of think they've made it straight away, if you know what I mean."
"When you see him now lifting trophies and celebrating with No.66 on the back, it's a weird feeling and I can't really describe it. It's weird to see such a high number and for someone to be happy with it!"
Radcliffe also revealed that the 22-year-old never asked for a change in shirt number, saying that he had developed an attachment to the number 66.
Also read: 5 Players who you didn't know played with Cristiano Ronaldo
