After it was revealed that Mesut Ozil will wear the No. 67 jersey at his new club, here are some other footballers who wore unusual shirt numbers, including Ronaldinho, Mario Balotelli and an Orlando Pirates player.
Click through the gallery above to see 14 players who wore unusual shirt numbers!
Ozil used to wear the No. 11 at Arsenal, but opted for a new number at Fenerbahce, having been unveiled as their new No. 67 on Wednesday afternoon.
According to Kicker, 67 is the postal district number for Zonguldak, a region of the Black Sea where Ozil’s grandparents are from.
However, the 32-year-old is not the only player to have chosen a strange shirt number, other than the conventional 1 to 11 that is often based on the position a footballer features in.
Chilean striker Ivan Zamorano famously wanted to wear the No. 9 shirt at Inter Milan, but when the club signed Brazilian superstar Ronaldo Nazario, he had to vacate the jersey.
Zamorano then opted for the No. 18 shirt, but added a small "+" in the middle of the one and the eight so that, mathematically and in his own mind at least, he was still a No. 9.
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Ronaldinho reportedly wanted to wear the No. 10 shirt when he joined AC Milan, but it was held by Clarence Seedorf at the time. With Milan having a policy of not switching of squad numbers, Ronaldinho picked No. 80 instead, in reference to his year of birth.
This trend was later continued by Andriy Shevchenko, who opted for No. 76, and Mathieu Flamini, who picked the No. 84 shirt, upon their arrivals at the Rossoneri.
African players are also known for choosing some unique shirt numbers, with Buccaneers winger Thembinkosi Lorch wearing the No. 3 shirt – traditionally worn by defenders – despite playing in an attacking position.
Before Lorch, Ghana's Asamoah Gyan was also famous for donning the same shirt number – you can see some more unusual shirt numbers by scrolling through the gallery above!
