What would you have got on the again of your shirt in the event you performed within the Premier League? It’s a query that needs to be thought-about.
After Wolverhampton Wanderers scored a slick counter-attacking purpose in opposition to Newcastle United earlier this month, scorer Mario Lemina celebrated with varied dance strikes.
Your eyes may need been drawn to his shirt. As a substitute of claiming ‘LEMINA 5’, it reads ‘MARIO JR. 5’.
This isn’t unusual. We’ve got seen nicknames and first names earlier than. Javier Hernandez was ‘Chicharito’. Virgil van Dijk opted for his first title. In La Liga, Vinicius Jr is down as Vini Jr.
However what are the Premier League’s guidelines surrounding this, who approves names and what are among the tales behind these?
When did names first seem on shirts?
Names first appeared on Premier League shirts within the 1993-94 season, the second season of the revamped English prime flight.
Premier League shirts with numbers and no names, as they had been within the 1992-93 season (Anton Need/Allsport by way of Getty Pictures)
This was additionally the primary time beginning line-ups didn’t should be numbered one to 11 and as an alternative might comply with constant squad numbers from sport to sport. Earlier than that, gamers ran out in a quantity that corresponded to their place — and there was no title on the again of shirts.
So what are the Premier League’s guidelines in the case of names on shirts?
The Premier League’s Rule M.7 states {that a} participant’s quantity needs to be beneath their surname or one other title that has been permitted in writing by the Premier League board.
Names exterior of surnames can be utilized when a participant needs a reputation they’ve worn for a former membership’s first staff or at nationwide degree. Gamers may go together with one other title if they’ve private causes as to why they don’t wish to put on their surname.
Within the case of double-barrelled names — akin to Taylor Harwood-Bellis — or a surname with a number of names, the participant decides whether or not they wish to embody their full title or select both to go on the shirt.
No particular characters can be utilized, as all names have to be written utilizing the Latin alphabet. This implies no ‘@’ X or Instagram handles are permitted.
A participant’s title, nickname and shirt quantity are all included in “Participant Picture” rights, from which they might revenue exterior of their traditional wage. Suppose ‘CR7’.
GO DEEPER
Can somebody clarify soccer picture rights please…?
Examples and their causes…
For Lemina, he needed ‘Mario Jr.’ to pay tribute to his late father, additionally named Mario Lemina. The change befell after his brother, Noha, joined the membership on mortgage in 2024.
Wolves head of equipment and tools Sam Perrin advised the membership’s media: “After we signed his brother Noha, Mario requested in regards to the shirt state of affairs and whether or not his brother might take the title ‘LEMINA’, which he’s had at each different membership.
“He then additionally requested about altering his title and requested ‘MARIO JR.’ so he might honour his dad.
“We spoke to the Premier League, who ran it previous their board, and we defined the circumstances – we’re an enormous household membership and we defined why we needed to do it. They understood the explanation and it acquired cleared. Now each week on the pitch Mario can symbolize his father.”
Lemina used to put on a shirt along with his full surname on (Nathan Stirk/Getty Pictures)
Typically, within the case of siblings, and or these with the identical surname on the identical staff, one participant wears the surname whereas the opposite wears their first title preliminary in entrance of the surname. For instance, Andre Ayew donned ‘A. AYEW 19’ when he signed for Swansea in 2018 to play alongside brother Jordan.
Bobby Decordova-Reid, who joined Leicester Metropolis on a free switch in the summertime from Fulham, legally modified his surname from Reid to Decordova-Reid when he was at Cardiff Metropolis. This was to pay tribute to his mom’s final title.
For everybody asking in regards to the title change on the again of my shirt😂… Decordova is my mums surname and needed symbolize her after the laborious work she’s carried out for me 👌🏾❤️
— Bobby Decordova-Reid (@bobbyreid93) August 18, 2018
Different excessive profile instances embody Van Dijk and Dele Alli, who each opted for first names on the again of their shirts for private causes referring to relationships with their fathers.
Mexico’s all-time prime scorer Hernandez had some of the well-known nicknames — ‘Chicharito’. He wore the moniker on his shirt throughout his years at Manchester United (2010-2015) and West Ham (2017-19). The title means ‘little pea’ in Spanish and refers to his father, Javier Hernandez Gutierrez, who had little inexperienced eyes.
After becoming a member of Metropolis in 2011, Sergio Aguero was permitted to put on ‘Kun Aguero’, an ode to Japanese anime collection ‘Kum-Kum’ which he used to look at and was mentioned to have seemed like the primary character. His approval got here underneath the truth that he wore it beforehand at Atletico Madrid.
And former Aston Villa and Egypt winger Trezeguet — whose precise title is Mahmoud Ahmed Ibrahim Hassan — earned his nickname after being in comparison with the legendary French striker David by his former youth coach.
A more moderen instance comes from Germany this season the place Borussia Dortmund’s Jamie Gittens adjusted his shirt title. The England Beneath-21 and former Manchester Metropolis winger advised the Dortmund web site his father had steered he shorten his title from Bynoe-Gittens. “Each are my father’s names, however he mentioned he thinks it’s higher if I’m simply known as Gittens as a result of it’s shorter. Most individuals know him as Gittens, so sooner or later, I’ll solely put on Gittens,” he mentioned. Following within the footsteps of fellow Englishmen Jude Bellingham and Jadon Sancho on the membership, Gittens scored twice in Dortmund’s Champions League opener in opposition to Membership Bruges final week.
(High pictures: Getty Pictures)
