30 years of squad numbers: stories of AS Roma since 1995 and shirt number top ten

Outside the football world, much was changing. Italy’s government was headed by technocrat Lamberto Dini, pending new elections. 883 had won that year’s Festivalbar singing competition with their song “Tieni il tempo”. Italian and American masterpieces were coming out at the cinema that would go on to make 1995 an extraordinary year in film history.

At the start of the new season, the clubs also had a new matter to address, namely fixed shirt numbers, along with the player’s surname on the back of each shirt. Although it was not something completely new in the football world (it had already been done during the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States), it was indeed something new for Serie A, as it marked the end of the iconic and traditional 1 to 11.

First season: 1995/96

Different clubs adopted different criteria to assign the numbers to keep all their players happy. Atalanta, for example, chose to follow alphabetical order, with the only exception being their goalkeeper Fabrizio Ferron. Roma opted for a more traditional system and came up with something very similar to previous years. Team captain Giuseppe Giannini got his number 10, stating Just try and take it off me!” during pre-season. Argentinian goalscorer Abel Balbo kept his number 9 and Daniel Fonseca, the team’s second striker, kept his number 11. A young Francesco Totti chose to wear number 20, which will be one of the three constant numbers in his career.

(AS Roma/Giuseppe Calzuola)

That year the team, coached by Carlo Mazzone, returned to Europe after two years of absence, playing in the UEFA Cup. Speaking of European competitions, UEFA had not ratified the change to squad numbers yet, so the players competed in these matches with the shirt numbers going from 1 to 11. Roma played its first match of the Serie A season in Genoa against Sampdoria, which was coached by Sven-Goran Eriksson.

That first match was by no means an easy one, as Sampdoria had strengthened by signing two excellent midfielders: Clarence Seedorf and Christian Karembeu. The French player scored the opener for Sampdoria with a header in the first half. Roma responded immediately, with Marco Branca scoring the equaliser two minutes later. The former Inter forward scored Roma’s first goal of the season and did so while wearing number 22. The match ended 1-1. Roma would go on to finish fifth that season and qualify again for the UEFA Cup.

Montella and Batistuta vying for number 9

Squad numbers were initially seen with a bit of scepticism by most players, however over time they became a trademark for each player. Some would associate it with their name and harness it from a marketing point of view (for example Cristiano Ronaldo’s CR7), while others would keep the same number for most of their career.

In the summer of 2000, for example, Roma signed Gabriel Batistuta from Fiorentina. His number 9 at Fiorentina had become iconic, as he was one of the most prolific goalscorers in the world at the time (if not the best). At Roma, however, Vincenzo Montella already wore the number 9 shirt. The Neapolitan centre-forward had no intention of giving up his number. A controversy ensued, but it did not last long.

(AS Roma/Grazia Neri)

Totti, who in the meantime had become the team’s number 10, decided to step in. As a true captain, he offered his prestigious number 10 to one of the two and said, “I’ll get my number 20 back, since it brought me luck.”

It was not necessary. Batistuta happily accepted to wear number 18 (a bit like Inter’s Ivan Zamorano who chose the same number and gave up number 9 to Luis Nazario Ronaldo, adding a “plus” between 1 and 8) and stated: “I didn’t come here to choose a number. I came to win the league title.” And that is exactly what he would go on to do.

10 and 16: the longest-serving numbers

Over the past 30 years, Roma has had two footballers who climbed the rankings, recorded impressive statistics and set records, thus becoming the players with the most appearances since 1927. They are Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi, two true symbols of the club. 786 matches for Francesco (he is also the Roma player who scored the most goals, 307) and 616 for Daniele. These are extraordinary numbers, something that is not normally seen in contemporary football and that will probably be very difficult – if not impossible – to get close to in the years to come.

They were two captains and symbols of the team who devoted their entire careers to Roma. Speaking of numbers, everyone now associates Totti with his number 10 and since the day of his farewell to football (28 May 2017), no one has yet chosen to wear that number. However, he did not always wear that number. During the 1995/96 season, as was said earlier, he chose number 20, while in the following season he opted for number 17. In 1997, he chose number 10 and wore it for twenty years.

Daniele De Rossi’s experience was very similar. At the start of his career, he wore number 27, specifically between 2001 and 2004. During the 2004/05 season, he switched to number 4. From 2005 to 2019 he always wore number 16 (chosen as it was the date of birth of his daughter Gaia). 10 and 16 have therefore become the most worn numbers in competitive matches since 1995: 683 matches for number 10 and 540 for number 16.

Top ten since 1995

Behind Totti and De Rossi, in third place on this list of top ten numbers worn since 1995 we have Simone Perrotta’s number 20, worn 327 times by the midfielder who joined Roma from Chievo in 2004. He always wore number 20 at Roma, for a total of nine seasons until 2013.

The same happened with Bryan Cristante, in fourth position with his number 4: 318 matches between 2018 and today. In fifth place there is Damiano Tommasi with number 17 (317 matches). The current mayor of Verona started playing for Roma in 1996 and chose number 18. In 1997 he switched to number 17 and wore it until 2006.

Then in sixth place there is Lorenzo Pellegrini with 315 matches. He has always worn number 7, except for the only match he played for Roma before returning in 2017. This exception was on his debut, in 2015 in Cesena with number 52.

(AS Roma)

In seventh place there is Stephan El Shaarawy with number 92 and 302 appearances. He did not always wear that number, which is his year of birth. When he first joined the team, in January 2016, he chose number 22 for a few months. While wearing that number, he scored a goal with a backheel on his debut against Frosinone, as well as one with a perfectly timed header in the derby that Roma won 4-1.

In eighth position there is Marco Delvecchio with his number 24 and 300 matches. He never switched to another number and scored many goals against Lazio while wearing his number 24.

In ninth place there is Rodrigo Taddei, who always wore number 11 from 2005 to 2014. He collected a total of 296 appearances. Finally, in tenth place – with the prospect of gaining some positions –is Gianluca Mancini with number 23 and 274 matches.

One more fun fact: who is the Roma number 9 with the most appearances since 1995? Edin Dzeko, 260.