On promotion to the first team squad he was switched to number 15 before inheriting his preferred number 4 following the departure of Patrick Vieira. For example, Cesc Fàbregas was first assigned the number 57 on arrival at Arsenal in 2003. It is common for players to change numbers within a club as their career progresses. In addition to '1' being commonly assigned to the starting goalkeeper, it is also common for defenders to wear numbers in the lower single digits, for strikers to wear '7' or '9' or '11', and for a team's central playmaker to wear '10'. Most European top leagues adopted the system over the next five years. The persistent number system became standard in the FA Premier League in the 1993–94 season, with names printed above the numbers.

In 1993, England's Football Association switched to persistent squad numbers, abandoning the mandatory use of 1–11 for the starting line-up. The rule is still active for competitions organised by the body. That change was first applied in the 1990 World Cup. After some teams such as Argentina fielded non-goalkeeper players with number 1 (in the 19 World Cups), FIFA ruled that number 1 had to be assigned to a goalkeeper exclusively. The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the first FIFA competition to see squad numbers for each players, but persistent numbers would not be issued until the 1954 World Cup, where each man in a country's 22-man squad wore a specific number from 1 to 22 for the duration of the tournament. The goalkeeper would generally wear number 1, then defenders, midfield players and forwards in ascending order. Numbers were traditionally assigned based on a player's position or reputation on the field, with the starting 11 players wearing 1 to 11, and the substitutes wearing higher numbers. Nevertheless, it was not until the 1939–40 season when the Football League ruled that squads had to wear numbers for each player. Similar numbering criteria were used in the 1933 FA Cup Final between Everton and Manchester City. Arsenal wore shirts from 1 to 11 while their rivals' numbered from 12 to 22. In England, Arsenal coach Herbert Chapman brought the idea of numbered shirts, worn for the first time when his team played Sheffield Wednesday in 1928. Numbered shirts had first appeared in England in 1928 when Arsenal played Sheffield Wednesday. Arsenal wearing numbered shirts in a friendly vs. Louis and American soccer leagues, respectively) played the National Challenge Cup, although only the local team wore numbered shirts. North America saw its first football match with squad numbers on 30 March 1924, when St. a local combined team ('Zona Norte') on 10 June. It was during the Scottish team Third Lanark's tour to South America of 1923, they played a friendly match vs. In South America, Argentina was the first country with numbered shirts. One year later, numbering in football was mandated in New South Wales. In association football, the first record of numbered jerseys date back to 1911, with Australian teams Sydney Leichhardt and HMS Powerful being the first to use squad numbers on their backs.

Main article: Squad number (association football) 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

New Zealand rugby match played on 17 July 1897, in Brisbane, Australia, as reported in the Brisbane Courier. Player numbers were used in a Queensland vs. The International Federation of Football History and Statistics, an organization of association football historians, traces the origin of numbers to a 1911 association football match in Sydney, although photographic evidence exists of numbers being used in Australia as early as May 1903 in a Fitzroy v Collingwood Australian rules football match. It is used to identify the player to officials, other players, official scorers, and spectators in some sports, it is also indicative of the player's position. Sometimes it is also displayed on the front and/or sleeves, or on the player's shorts or headgear. The number is typically displayed on the rear of the jersey, often accompanied by the surname. In team sports, the number, often referred to as the uniform number, squad number, jersey number, shirt number, sweater number, or similar (with such naming differences varying by sport and region) is the number worn on a player's uniform, to identify and distinguish each player (and sometimes others, such as coaches and officials) from others wearing the same or similar uniforms. Squad number, as depicted on an association football jersey

Soccer jersey numbers by position