Quirky Reasons, Home Regions, Tributes, Superstitions... Mousa Tamari, Lucas Chevalier, Arthur Theate, and 16 other players from Ligue 1 Uber Eats explain how they chose their numbers.
#9 Mousa Tamari (Montpellier Hérault SC): "When you arrive at a new club, it's rare that the number 9 is available, so when I saw that it was, I went for it! But there's no particular reason, it's not because I was a fan of a player who wore the number 9 or anything like that."
#93 Arouna Sangante (Havre AC): "Since last season, I have had the opportunity to represent the 93, which is the department where I grew up. I was born in Senegal but, since I arrived in France at the age of 3, I have always lived in Saint-Denis, until I joined the Havre training center of course."
#30 Lucas Chevalier (LOSC): "I have always worn the number 30, even during my loan spell at Valenciennes. In fact, I was assigned this number when I joined the pro group at 17. I liked the number 30 a lot because I was born on November 6th and my brother on September 24th. And when you add 6 and 24, it makes 30!"
#9 Thijs Dallinga (Toulouse FC): "All forwards want the number 9! I had number 27 in my first season at Toulouse FC and it went well for me, but when Rhys Healey left and the number 9 became available, I was happy to take it!"
#5 Arthur Theate (Stade Rennais FC): "The 5 was my dad's number. I take it whenever I can, and it will be like that for my entire career!"
#19 Laurent Abergel (FC Lorient): "I really liked the number 6 because it was the number I had when we got promoted with Lorient. And it's also the number associated with my position. But it was important to me to get number 19 because I lost someone very close, who was born on March 19th... Since then, I've always had this number, I'm attached to it, and I want to keep it until the end of my career. Seeing 'Abergel, 19,' is part of me."
#26 Melvin Bard (OGC Nice): "I chose this number because it's my brother's birthday. I had it at OL and I was also able to take it when I arrived at Nice!"
#19 Youssouf Fofana (AS Monaco): "I chose the number 19 because I'm from the Orgues de Flandre neighborhood in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. So it's a little nod to my district!"
#22 Oumar Diakité (Stade de Reims): "It's the first number I wore when I joined the pro group of ASEC Mimosas, my training club, in Abidjan. I'm very attached to it. I couldn't wear it at FC Liefering because it was taken, but at Reims, it was available and I chose it right away."
#7 Arnaud Nordin (Montpellier Hérault SC): "With the 9 and the 10, the 7 is one of the numbers that all forwards want. I often had it with the French youth teams, and I also had it at the Tokyo Olympics, so I chose this number when I arrived in Montpellier."
#14 Daler Kuziaev (Havre AC): "I always had the number 14, whether at Zenit, Terek Grozny, or even before. It's my dad's favorite number, he was a big fan of Johan Cruyff. He loved it so much that he asked me to take the 14, and I always obey my dad (laughs)!"
#17 Gabriel Suazo (Toulouse FC): "It's the number I started with as a pro, at Colo Colo. I also had it in the Chilean youth teams. I've never changed numbers since because it's been rather lucky for me, as I was captain of Colo Colo and champion of Chile with the number 17. When I arrived in Toulouse in January 2023, it wasn't available (Stijn Spierings had it) but I was able to get it back in the summer!"
#13 Saïdou Sow (RC Strasbourg Alsace): "Usually, I have the number 4 because I was born on July 4th, but I couldn't take it when I arrived at Racing because Karol Fila had it. So I settled for the 13, which is my mother's birthday. When I told her the news, she was so happy!"
#36 Ablie Jallow (FC Metz): "There's no particular story. It's the number I was given at Seraing, in Belgium, and since I had two good seasons there, I took it back at FC Metz!"
#19 Amine Gouiri (Stade Rennais FC): "I had the number 19 at OL and I took it back at Rennes because it has the 9 in it, the number for forwards!" (Amine Gouiri took the number 10 during the season, following Jérémy Doku's departure.)
#40 Benjamin Lecomte (Montpellier Hérault SC): "The 40 is the number I had when I started playing regularly in Ligue 1 Uber Eats, with FC Lorient in 2014/2015. I've kept it since then. I've thought about changing it, but I've gotten used to 40, and it's become a bit of a good luck charm!"
#16 Philipp Köhn (AS Monaco): "The number doesn't matter to me, what matters is playing! I had number 18 at Salzburg, and here I took number 16, which is one of the traditional numbers for goalkeepers!"
#19 Frank Magri (Toulouse FC): "I would have liked to take number 11 like at Bastia, but it wasn't available. The same goes for other interesting numbers like 9, 7, or 10, which were all taken, so I settled for 19."
#25 Florent Mollet (FC Nantes): "The number I like is 8, but it's often already taken when I arrive at clubs because it's very popular. So I don't ask too many questions when choosing, I take the number that speaks to me the most among those that are left. Last year, at Schalke, I wore 20 for no particular reason. Previously, at Créteil and Metz, I wore 19. That's because I was born on November 19th. Here, when I joined the club, 8 and 19 were taken, and numbers above 30 didn't interest me, so I chose 25 even though I don't have any particular attachment to this number!"
#93 Arouna Sangante (Havre AC): "Since last season, I have had the opportunity to represent the 93, which is the department where I grew up. I was born in Senegal but, since I arrived in France at the age of 3, I have always lived in Saint-Denis, until I joined the Havre training center of course."
#30 Lucas Chevalier (LOSC): "I have always worn the number 30, even during my loan spell at Valenciennes. In fact, I was assigned this number when I joined the pro group at 17. I liked the number 30 a lot because I was born on November 6th and my brother on September 24th. And when you add 6 and 24, it makes 30!"
#9 Thijs Dallinga (Toulouse FC): "All forwards want the number 9! I had number 27 in my first season at Toulouse FC and it went well for me, but when Rhys Healey left and the number 9 became available, I was happy to take it!"
#5 Arthur Theate (Stade Rennais FC): "The 5 was my dad's number. I take it whenever I can, and it will be like that for my entire career!"
#19 Laurent Abergel (FC Lorient): "I really liked the number 6 because it was the number I had when we got promoted with Lorient. And it's also the number associated with my position. But it was important to me to get number 19 because I lost someone very close, who was born on March 19th... Since then, I've always had this number, I'm attached to it, and I want to keep it until the end of my career. Seeing 'Abergel, 19,' is part of me."
#26 Melvin Bard (OGC Nice): "I chose this number because it's my brother's birthday. I had it at OL and I was also able to take it when I arrived at Nice!"
#19 Youssouf Fofana (AS Monaco): "I chose the number 19 because I'm from the Orgues de Flandre neighborhood in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. So it's a little nod to my district!"
#22 Oumar Diakité (Stade de Reims): "It's the first number I wore when I joined the pro group of ASEC Mimosas, my training club, in Abidjan. I'm very attached to it. I couldn't wear it at FC Liefering because it was taken, but at Reims, it was available and I chose it right away."
#7 Arnaud Nordin (Montpellier Hérault SC): "With the 9 and the 10, the 7 is one of the numbers that all forwards want. I often had it with the French youth teams, and I also had it at the Tokyo Olympics, so I chose this number when I arrived in Montpellier."
#14 Daler Kuziaev (Havre AC): "I always had the number 14, whether at Zenit, Terek Grozny, or even before. It's my dad's favorite number, he was a big fan of Johan Cruyff. He loved it so much that he asked me to take the 14, and I always obey my dad (laughs)!"
#17 Gabriel Suazo (Toulouse FC): "It's the number I started with as a pro, at Colo Colo. I also had it in the Chilean youth teams. I've never changed numbers since because it's been rather lucky for me, as I was captain of Colo Colo and champion of Chile with the number 17. When I arrived in Toulouse in January 2023, it wasn't available (Stijn Spierings had it) but I was able to get it back in the summer!"
#13 Saïdou Sow (RC Strasbourg Alsace): "Usually, I have the number 4 because I was born on July 4th, but I couldn't take it when I arrived at Racing because Karol Fila had it. So I settled for the 13, which is my mother's birthday. When I told her the news, she was so happy!"
#36 Ablie Jallow (FC Metz): "There's no particular story. It's the number I was given at Seraing, in Belgium, and since I had two good seasons there, I took it back at FC Metz!"
#19 Amine Gouiri (Stade Rennais FC): "I had the number 19 at OL and I took it back at Rennes because it has the 9 in it, the number for forwards!" (Amine Gouiri took the number 10 during the season, following Jérémy Doku's departure.)
#40 Benjamin Lecomte (Montpellier Hérault SC): "The 40 is the number I had when I started playing regularly in Ligue 1 Uber Eats, with FC Lorient in 2014/2015. I've kept it since then. I've thought about changing it, but I've gotten used to 40, and it's become a bit of a good luck charm!"
#16 Philipp Köhn (AS Monaco): "The number doesn't matter to me, what matters is playing! I had number 18 at Salzburg, and here I took number 16, which is one of the traditional numbers for goalkeepers!"
#19 Frank Magri (Toulouse FC): "I would have liked to take number 11 like at Bastia, but it wasn't available. The same goes for other interesting numbers like 9, 7, or 10, which were all taken, so I settled for 19."
#25 Florent Mollet (FC Nantes): "The number I like is 8, but it's often already taken when I arrive at clubs because it's very popular. So I don't ask too many questions when choosing, I take the number that speaks to me the most among those that are left. Last year, at Schalke, I wore 20 for no particular reason. Previously, at Créteil and Metz, I wore 19. That's because I was born on November 19th. Here, when I joined the club, 8 and 19 were taken, and numbers above 30 didn't interest me, so I chose 25 even though I don't have any particular attachment to this number!"
