{"id":393623,"date":"2025-09-03T04:13:24","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T04:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/393623\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T04:13:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T04:13:24","slug":"little-known-rule-blocks-gianluigi-donnarumma-from-taking-no-99-as-new-man-city-squad-number-confirmed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/393623\/","title":{"rendered":"Little-known rule blocks Gianluigi Donnarumma from taking no. 99 as new Man City squad number confirmed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gianluigi Donnarumma will wear the no.25 shirt at Manchester City.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The goalkeeper completed a Deadline Day transfer<\/a> to the Premier League giants after spending four seasons at Paris Saint-Germain<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"EAST<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Donnarumma has officially left PSG for CityCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Donnarumma<\/a> looks set to become the new go-to option in between the sticks for Pep Guardiola following Ederson’s move to Fenerbahce.<\/p>\n

City<\/a> announced on Tuesday that he will don no. 25 on the back of his shirt as the previous holder Manuel Akanji left for Inter Milan on loan.<\/p>\n

Fernandinho, Joe Hart, Emmanuel Adebayor and Wayne Bridge have also worn the number for the club.<\/p>\n

The news comes after reports that Donnarumma would take no. 99, which is what he wore during his spell at AC Milan.<\/p>\n

MORE ON THE PREMIER LEAGUE<\/p>\n

However, a little-known rule has prevents him from doing so in the Premier League<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Why can’t Donnarumma wear no. 99 at City?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Premier League chose to change their shirt number regulations in order to curb the scale of numbers than can be worn.<\/p>\n

Players are primarily allowed to wear anything between 1 and 99.<\/p>\n

Consistency and the avoidance of confusion were factors involved in the decision amid player and number increases in modern football.<\/p>\n

For example, Renato Sanches was impacted by the rule change when he signed for Swansea City on loan from Bayern Munich in 2017.<\/p>\n

Sanches wanted the no. 85 shirt for the 2017\/18 campaign with the Swans, but ended up wearing the no. 35.<\/p>\n

\"Donnarumma<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Donnarumma will be the 11th player to wear no. 25 at CityCredit: @ManCity X\"Sanches<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Sanches couldn’t choose a high number during his Premier League stintCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

However, Premier League regulations are now more restrictive and look to steer players towards more conventional number choices.<\/p>\n

This includes numbers for specific positions on the pitch such as no.1 for goalkeepers, and defenders wearing between no.2 and no.5.<\/p>\n

One of piece of reasoning for the prevention of higher numbers links to footballing tradition.<\/p>\n

Throughout its history, the sport has generally stuck to numbers that correspond with play positions.<\/p>\n

The traditional perspectives regarding formations and player roles could be broken if the modern game diverted away.<\/p>\n

As well as this, numbers that are lower in the 1 to 99 range tend to be easier for fans, match officials and commentators to recognise.<\/p>\n

\"Trent<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Trent Alexander-Arnold is an exception to the rule and is the only player to have worn no. 66 for LiverpoolCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the commercial side of football comes into play.<\/p>\n

Club strategies for merchandise and branding lean towards the use of more traditional numbers to help with their marketing and sales.<\/p>\n

In the grand scheme of things, a player wouldn’t necessarily be doing anything wrong by wearing a higher number on their kits.<\/p>\n

But the preference of using traditional numbers helps the Premier League to amplify its professionalism and clarity.<\/p>\n

Sometimes there are exceptions, such as Trent Alexander-Arnold and the no. 66 he wore for Liverpool.<\/p>\n

However, academy players at clubs are mostly excused from the rule.<\/p>\n

Noel Gallagher says Man City don’t need Gianluigi Donnarumma but names position where they must recruit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gianluigi Donnarumma will wear the no.25 shirt at Manchester City. The goalkeeper completed a Deadline Day transfer to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[30591,13,886,12,101,47195,119139,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-393623","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-gianluigi-donnarumma","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-manchester-city","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-premier-league","13":"tag-rule","14":"tag-shirt-number","15":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115138422871072349","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}