The touching reason players are wearing the number 34
- Published
Players are paying tribute to a former team-mate whose career was cut short
Dutch defender Philippe Sandler made his debut for Manchester City in their 7-0 FA Cup win against Rotherham last Sunday, wearing the number 34 shirt as a tribute to a former team-mate, Abdelhak 'Appie' Nouri.
Sandler and Nouri, both 21, played together at the Ajax youth academy, before Nouri collapsed in a pre-season friendly against Werder Bremen in July 2017. Soon after he was diagnosed with permanent brain damage, and unable to play again.
When Manchester City secured Sandler last summer, he reportedly requested, external the number 34 shirt as a tribute to his friend.
Former Dutch international, and former head of academy at Ajax, Wim Jonk described, external Appie as an “an incredible player,” saying that, “if you ever saw an Ajax game, everybody was talking about Appie because his skills were so different to all the others".
Sandler is not the only player to have paid tribute to Nouri. Justin Kluivert (Roma), Amin Younes (Napoli), and Kevin Diks (Fiorentina) have also made the same gesture by adopting the number 34.
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Kluivert also dedicated, external the goal he scored on his Champions League debut to his former Ajax team-mate.
Shirt numbers have always had significance.
Back in the old days, when players wore numbers 1 to 11, shirts numbers denoted a player's position or style of play. Certain clubs have legendary numbers that bestow a certain gravitas. For example, wearers of Manchester United's number 7 shirt (Eric Cantona, David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo) have always been given a special talismanic status.
Legendary players can make numbers their own too. Bobby Moore (6 at West Ham), Maradona (10 at Napoli), and Paolo Maldini (3 at AC Milan) have all had their shirt numbers retired, external by their clubs. Players have been known to fall out over who gets to wear what, and there have been some creative responses to avoid any shirt-based beef.
In the age of squad numbers and social media usernames, a shirt number can take on an extra importance. These days it is not only a footballer's key identifier on the pitch, but can go on to form part of their brand or even influence the way we talk about them. CR7, for example, has become a shorthand for Cristiano Ronaldo, helping to differentiate him from the Brazilian Ronaldo - R9, of course.
A shirt number is certainly one of the ways players today define their identity and legacy, so it's especially touching to see these young footballers sharing a bit of space in their careers with their friend, whose own chances of making it big were cut short. Well in lads.
