[Suggestion] Ability to assign 1-11 shirt numbers when playing in game/league with no squad numbers

[youngs15]

Currently, if you're in a match where your players wear numbers 1-11 (whether that's a friendly or in a league that doesn't require squad numbers), the assignment of those 1-11 numbers are fixed based on position.

For nostalgic shirt number enthusiasts (there are lots of us!), it would be fantastic if you could select which of your starting line-up wears which 1-11 shirt. This would reflect the control managers have over shirt numbers in real life.

You may want your right-back to wear #4. Or you may want your versatile star player to wear #10 no matter which position he plays in. Currently, this isn't possible.

This could be a simple tab in the team tactics page (where you can drag and drop numbers around on the pitch layout) or in the pre-match build up screens (where the players could be listed by number, and you can drag and drop them in the order you wish without changing their positions). This could even be a feature the player turns off/on in Preferences. The default is the system in place now, but if you want that control, turn the option on and you can now assign shirt numbers yourself (like a manager would in real life). You could add an even greater dose of immersion by removing the names from the backs of the shirts in the 3D match engine (as 99% of teams who wear 1-11 won't have player names on the back), but perhaps this is me being greedy.

[Kyle Brown]

I'm a shirt number enthusiast myself, so I do sympathise!

However, do those managers really go through the effort of individually picking the numbers? I'm guessing here, but I'd presume the kit-man has more of a say than the manager in these situations, but more often than not it would be the typical number formation: 1, 2-5-6-3, 7-4-8-11, 9-11.

On 19/10/2021 at 14:07, youngs15 said:

This would reflect the control managers have over shirt numbers in real life

Do you have any examples of this? Would be happy to log something regarding it, but I'll need to be able to back it up!  

[youngs15]

On 21/10/2021 at 10:19, Kyle Brown said:

However, do those managers really go through the effort of individually picking the numbers? I'm guessing here, but I'd presume the kit-man has more of a say than the manager in these situations

Based on my albeit limited experience of amateur football, peaking at county league youth level, the manager would always read out the starting XI along with the numbers so they could sit in the correct place in the dressing room (e.g. "#1 Stuart, #2 Adam", etc.). It is them (or possibly the assistant?) who would need to fill out the teamsheet (which includes shirt numbers) to hand to the referee. I've emailed my local team, Burgess Hill Town FC, who play in tier 8. They advise..."The manager, so Jay(!), picks the starting XI and the numbers accordingly" (see attached email).

On 21/10/2021 at 10:19, Kyle Brown said:

but more often than not it would be the typical number formation: 1, 2-5-6-3, 7-4-8-11, 9-11

This really depends on where in the world you are. Using the left-back position as an example, they will typically wear #6 in Brazil, #5 in the Netherlands and Portugal, #4 in Hungary, etc. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squad_number_(association_football)

This also applies to the sub goalkeeper: they will typically wear #16 in France (as the rules enforce this), #18 in the USA, #20 in Australia, etc. In most nations, the sub goalkeeper will wear #12. I'm only aware of England and Spain where #13 is the traditional number (as a pedant for numbers, this makes it frustrating in the game that I'm not allowed to assign any subs the #13 shirt when I'm in a match with no squad numbers!). Source: https://museumofjerseys.com/2021/04/29/liverpool-by-the-numbers-1992-93/

On 21/10/2021 at 10:19, Kyle Brown said:

Do you have any examples of this? Would be happy to log something regarding it, but I'll need to be able to back it up!

Apart from the above info from Burgess Hill Town, and my own experiences playing back in the late 00's, the only example I could find was from this story from Leeds United in the 80's, where manger Eddie Gray decided on who would wear the #8 shirt: https://museumofjerseys.com/2021/10/08/leeds-united-strikers-love-8-relationship/

Hope this helps. I'm trying to source more examples to back this up and will update if I get anything else. Or let me know if there's anything else that would help. 

Re Question on matchday responsibilities.msg

[Kyle Brown]

Appreciate this response is now 3 months late, but thank you for all that information. I'll collate it together and see if I can turn it into a FR.