Maldini, Zidane, Ronaldo, Pele: The most iconic player to wear every shirt number

Numbers can become synonymous with the footballing legends that wear them.

Very occasionally in football, it can reach a point where one man has put in so many impressive performances using one shirt number, and often at one club, that they become a pair in the hearts and minds of fans.

It’s why we see clubs retiring shirt numbers when legends move on or call time on their career – it’s a matter of respect and appreciation.

We’ve seen it with players like Paolo Maldini at AC Milan, Diego Maradona at Napoli, and erm, Jude Bellingham at Birmingham… yikes!

But which player/number duo is the most iconic?

Well, FourFourTwo have had the crazy idea of listing which player they believe is the best match for each number and you can check it out below – all numbers are between 1-99, although don’t worry they haven’t used every selection possible!

Number 1: Lev YashinNumber 2: Cafu Number 3: Paolo MaldiniNumber 4: Pep Guardiola Number 5: Zinedine Zidane

Numbers one and four could easily be up for debate here, however the remaining selections in this category have their numbers on lockdown for eternity.

As mentioned earlier, Maldini’s number three shirt has been retired by AC Milan and the only other person that could ever wear it must bare the iconic second name – something which isn’t entirely out of the question given his son is amidst the Rossoneri ranks right now.

Meanwhile, Zidane’s number five shirt at Real Madrid left such an iconic image in its wake that Kylian Mbappe was planning on brandishing it as an ode of respect to his compatriot should his summer move to Spain have transpired.

Number 6: Bobby Moore Number 7: Cristiano Ronaldo Number 8: Andres Iniesta Number 9: Ronaldo Number 10: Pele

France football wouldn’t