Chelsea confirm 2025-26 squad numbers, including a cursed choice by João Pedro

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 08: Chelsea players wear number 9 on their training shirts in tribute to former player Gianluca Vialli during the Emirates FA Cup Third Round match between Manchester City and Chelsea at Etihad Stadium on January 8, 2023 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images) | Getty Images

The new season is just a few days away now, and ahead of that official first kick, Chelsea have confirmed the shirt numbers that the players will wear. And there are a couple surprising changes in that list beyond just the usual revisions due to various comings and goings in the squad.

And the one that stands out by far the most among this is João Pedro’s decision to switch to the No.9 shirt, the Cursed No.9 shirt.

Don’t believe in curses? Neither did Fernando Torres. Or Álvaro Morata. Or Romelu Lukaku. Or Radamel Falcao, Gonzalo Higuaín, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mateja Kežman, Franco Di Santo, Tony Cascarino, or Chris Sutton. Hernán Crespo was spared the worst of it, but it could’ve gone so much better for him. Same goes for Tammy Abraham. And it couldn’t have gone much worse for Liam Delap, who I’m sure is glad to be rid of it now.

Since Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink scored 23 league goals in 2001-02 (29 in all competitions), no No.9 shirt has come close. Tammy Abraham managed 15 as the high water mark in 2019-20. Fernando Torres did score 22 in all competitions in 2012-13, but it took him 64(!) appearances and a lengthy Europa League campaign to do so. He had 8 in the league that year.

Why JP? WHY?!?!

The other notable change sees Wesley Fofana take up Marc Cucurella’s old No.3 shirt. Fofana’s old No.29 has gone to new arrival Pep Chavarría. Dário Essugo and Tosin Adarabioyo have also picked new numbers.

Anyway, here is the full list, with changes from last year highlighted in bold. Some of this may yet change of course since we still have over ten days left in the transfer window. Mind you, we can only register 25 players.

1. Robert Sánchez
2. Marco Palestra (last worn by Axel Disasi)
3. Wesley Fofana (switched from No.29; was Marc Cucurella’s)
4. Valentín Barco (was Tosin’s)
5. Maxence Lacroix (was Benoît Badiashile’s)
6. Levi Colwill
7. Pedro Neto
8. Enzo Fernández
9. João Pedro (switched from No.20; was Liam Delap’s)
10. Cole Palmer
11. Jamie Gittens
12. Liam Delap (switched from No.9; was Filip Jörgensen’s)
13. **vacant** (last seen on Marcus Bettinelli two seasons ago)
14. Jordan Henderson (was Dário Essugo’s)
15. Nicolas Jackson
16. Dário Essugo (switched from No.14; last seen on Lesley Ugochukwu; vacant last two years)
17. Morgan Rogers (was Andrey Santos’s)
18. Danny Welbeck (last seen on Christopher Nkunku; vacant last year)
19. Mamadou Sarr
20. **vacant** (was João Pedro’s)
21. Jorrel Hato
22. Emmanuel Emegha (last seen on Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall; vacant last season)
23. Geovany Quenda (was Trevoh Chalobah’s)
24. Reece James
25. Moisés Caicedo
26. **vacant** (last seen on Colwill a couple years ago; re-retired?)
27. Malo Gusto
28. Teddy Sharman-Lowe (last seen on Đorđe Petrović; vacant last year)
29. Pep Chavarría (was Wesley Fofana’s)
30. Aarón Anselmino
31. Reggie Watson (last seen on Cesare Casadei a couple years ago; vacant last year)
32. Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli (was Tyrique George’s)
33. Mykhailo Mudryk (last seen on Kiano Dyer two seasons ago; unassigned last year)
34. Josh Acheampong
35. **vacant** (was Ted Curd’s)
36. **vacant** (last seen on Deivid Washington)
37. Tayo Subolaye (last assigned to Omari Kellyman two years ago)
38. Tosin Adarabioyo (was Marc Guiu’s)
39. Mike Penders
40. **vacant**(was Facundo Buonanotte’s)
41. Estêvão
42. **vacant**
43. **vacant**
44. Gaga Slonina
45. Roméo Lavia