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He came into the spotlight the minute Sir Alex Ferguson handed him the famous No.7 jersey of Manchester United, one of the only few clubs where the No.7 jersey has more prominence over the No.10. He made it his own as he surpassed the previous owners of the jersey in a 6-year stint then moved to Real Madrid where he continued the legacy of the No.7 jersey handed over to him by Real Madrid legend Raul when he left for Schalke, thrashing all the records held by his predecessor in a 9-year stay with the 13-time Champions League winners. Now the legend from Madeira will look to continue his No7 legacy as well as start a No7 aura at Juventus, where the No 21 and No 10 jersey are considered the holy grail.
Before the Angelo Di Livio wore the No7 jersey for Juventus, the jersey number was assigned to the player according to the position he played in, with Antonio Conte, Didier Deschamps, Giancarlo Marocchi, Marco Tardelli all wearing the No7 during their respective Juventus career. Here we will see the players who were given the No7 jersey at the start of the season before being assigned a jersey number according to their position.
Without further ado let's take a look at the 5 famous owner's of the No7 jersey at Juventus.
#1 Franco Causio (1973/74 to 1980/81)
The Juventus legend and one of the first players ever to keep hold of the No7 jersey, Franco Causio was born on the 1st of February 1949 in Leece, Italy. "The Baron" as he was known started his footballing jersey at the native club Leece, debuting for them in the 1964/65 season in the Seria C before earning a move to Sambenedettese, in the same division, the very next season. The stint in Seria C didn't last long as the big boys of Italian football at that time, Juventus came calling for the young Italian.
The Baron, as he was called, made his debut for Juventus on the 21st of January 1968 in a match against Mantova FC before being loaned out for 2 seasons, first to Reggina, where he scored 5 goals in 30 appearances, and then to Palermo, where he scored 3 times in 22 appearances. The returning Baron, fit and looking for a better challenge started to his return journey slowly, making 20 appearances in the first season, mostly from the bench. The second season saw the exciting winger cementing onto a first-team place amid a strong midfield setup.
One of the best ever wingers ever to play the game for Juventus as well as Italy, Franco Causio was blessed with immense potential and versatility that enabled him to play in a wide range of positions on the midfield. Predominantly a right winger, Franco could also be utilized as an attacking midfielder, central midfielder, offensive playmaker and even also as a left winger due to his variety of attributes that include lightning-quick pace, technical ability, outstanding ball control, excellent dribbling and an ability to put accurate crosses from the flanks.
Nicknamed the Baron due to his stylish moves on the pitch as well as his rather well-educated up-bringing, Causio made 304 league appearances for the Old Lady of Turin scoring 49 goals before leaving at the end of the 1980/81 season to Udinese. The Trophies won by the Baron at Juventus include 6 Seria A titles, 1 Coppa Italia and 1 UEFA Cup (The first European trophy for Juventus).
#2 Paolo Di Canio
The West Ham legend and former manager Paolo Di Canio was once the proud owner of the No.7 jersey of the Juventus. The Italian was born 9th of July 1968 in the capital city of Rome and came through the Le Aquile youth system before signing his first professional contract in 1985 and making his debut for Lazio in 1988, enjoying the 1986/87 season on loan at Ternana.
The young Italian moved to Turin in 1990 after Lazio were forced to cash in on the upcoming bright new talent, due to cash constraints. The forward enjoyed a rather controversial 3-years at the Stadio Delle Alpi ( former stadium of the record Seria A winners), with the appearances coming mostly from the bench due to the presence Roberto Baggio in the Juventus ranks.
The very controversial but highly talented Italian was known for his creativity, technical ability, skill, dribbling as well as his emotional aspects such as tenacity, aggression and temperamental character on the pitch. Usually employed as a deep-lying forward Di Canio was also known to play as a winger and an attacking midfielder.
Nicknamed "Palloca" the Italian made 111 appearances but only scored 7 times for the Old Lady of Turin, winning the UEFA Cup in the 1992/93 season, before switching sides to join Napoli in the 1993/94. With over 600 first team appearances and almost 150 goals, Di Canio retired from football in 2008 after a 23-year professional career that saw him donning the colours of Lazio, Juventus, Napoli, AC Milan, Celtic, Sheffield Wednesday, West Ham, Charlton Athletic and Cisco Roma.
#3 Angelo Di Livio
The first player to wear the No.7 jersey for Juventus irrespective of the position he played in, Angelo Di Livio was born on 26th of July 1966 in the Italian capital city of Rome and started his journey through the youth system of Rome before joining Reggiana during the 1985-86 season after failing to make into the first team in his only season with AS Roma.
The midfielder once again was on the move as he joined Nocerina, joining the side during the 1986-87 season, and then Perugia, during the 1987-88 season, only to move on to Padova during the 1989/90 season after 2 seasons with Perugia. In Padova Italian midfielder finally found some stability as he made over 100 appearances in almost 4 years for the club before joining the Turin giants in the 1993/94 season.
It was in Turin that midfielder rose to prominence, featuring in a well-drilled team made up of the likes of Roberto Baggio, Vialli, Antonio Conte and later the likes Zinedine Zidane and Lilian Thuram. The versatility of the Italian was rightly exploited by the future Italian World Cup-winning manager Marcello Lippi as the Juventus no7 was deployed as a defensive midfielder, fullback, left midfielder and as a right midfielder, his main position.
A tireless winger the Italian was one of the most technically gifted and disciplined players to have played the game. Nicknamed the Il Solidatino or the little soldier by his more revered teammate Roberto Baggio, due to the way in which he followed the manager's orders. The Italian was a manager's player who thrived under disciplinarians like Marcelo Lippi and Giovani Trappatoni who was known for a variety of attributes like his pace, mentality, man-marking, crossing, strength, work-rate, consistency and his versatility.
The now 52-year old enjoyed 6 wonderful seasons with the Old Lady of Turin appearing in the No.7 jersey during the 1993/94 season before making the jersey his own from the 1996/97 season till his move after the 1999/2000 season, making 187 appearances and winning 3 Seria A, 2 Suppercoppa Italiana, 1 Coppa Italia, 1 Intercontinental Cup, 1 UEFA Super Cup and 1 UEFA Champions League before finally leaving for Fiorentina, enjoying another 6 years with the La Viola that saw him going down to Seria C in 2002, after Fiorentina was declared bankrupt, and then returning back to Seria A with the La Viola in the 2004/2005.
The versatile midfielder finally retired in 2005, having made 611 appearances and scoring 28 goals in a career spanning almost 21 years.
#4 Gianluca Pessotto
Juve legend Gianluca Pessotto was born on the 11th of August 1970 and started his footballing journey with 7-time Champions League winners AC Milan, but failed to earn a starting place in the strong AC Milan forcing the Italian giants to sell the then AS Varese in 1989.
After 2 impressive seasons with AS Varese, Pessotto joined 4 different in as many years joining Massese, Bologna, Verona and Torino in successive years before finally joining Torino's arch-rivals Juventus in 1995/96 season taking over the No.7 from Angelo Di Livio upon his move to Fiorentina in the 1999/2000 season.
One of the greatest fullbacks of his generation and one on the greatest ever fullbacks in Juventus history, Pessotto was a versatile defender capable of playing in the centre or either side of the defence and while also being deployed as a midfielder. The now 49-year old was a technically gifted player with immaculate defensive positioning and an excellent man-marker, not many attackers found it easy to beat the Italian.
II Professorino or the Little Professor as he was called by the fans due to his glasses and unprecedented seriousness and professionalism, he even earned a law degree while playing for Juventus, made almost 250 appearances winning 4 Seria A, 4 Supercoppa Italiana, 1 UEFA Super Cup, 1 UEFA Intertoto Cup and 1 UEFA Champions League before finally retiring at the end of the 2005/06 season.
The Italian undying love for the club was very evident from the fact that the defender even tried to take his own life when Juventus was stripped of their 2 Seria A due to the Calcipoli scandal.
#5 Juan Cuadrado
The last man to wear the No.7 jersey before Cristiano Ronaldo, Juan Cuadrado was born on the 26th of May 1988 in Necocli in Colombia beginning his football career in Atletico Uraba before joining Colombian giants Independiente Medellin, where he made his professional debut.
After a year with the Colombian outfit, Cuadrado took the usual route taken by every South American, flying off to Europe to ply his trade in the Seria A joining Udinese in 2009. The initial year at the Stadio Friuli was very hard as the winger was loaned out to Leece after 2-years with the club. It was at Leece that Fiorentina took notice of the blistering young Colombian, signing the then 24-year old from Udinese after some impressive performance for Leece.
After 3-years with La Viola, the Colombian winger joined Premier League giants Chelsea in 2015 only to see himself reduced to the bench in his 2-years with the club. in 2017 the winger was on the move again joining Italian giants Juventus permanently after appearing for the record Seria A champions for the past two seasons on loan from Chelsea, owning the No7 shirt for the last 2 seasons after the departure of Simeone Zaza.
A tactically intelligent player Cuadrado can be used as a winger or a wingback or even as a second striker and possess blistering pace while being excellent on one-on-one situations.
La Vespa as he is known to the Juve faithful has so far made 116 appearances and scored 13 times for the Bianconeri.
Notable names to be exempted includes former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte, World cup winner and winning manager Didier Deschamps, Simeone Zaza and Hasan Salihamidizic. The first 2 players being exempted on the reason involving the players being given the jersey number according to the position in which they were deployed in.
