Soccer players have been wearing numbers on their jerseys for more than a century now. Dating back to 1911, numbers have helped fans figure out which players are on the field, and in many cases, which position those players play.
From the beginning of the time when jersey numbers were assigned to players, No. 3 has been the domain of the left back, and even today, a first-choice left back will get the No. 3 jersey to help fans know that’s the case.
But it doesn’t always work like that. Some players donning the No. 3 aren’t left backs at all, and some aren’t even on the back line. Here’s an accounting of some of the best players to ever wear No. 3.
Here is a list of well-known players who have worn the No. 3 jersey:
- Roberto Carlos (Brazil/Real Madrid)
- Paolo Maldini (Italy/AC Milan)
- Ashley Cole (England/Arsenal, Chelsea)
- Pepe (Portugal/Real Madrid)
- Diego Godin (Uruguay/Atletico Madrid)
- Gerard Pique (Spain/Barcelona)
- Asamoah Gyan (Ghana/Udinese, Rennes, Sunderland)
Table of Contents
The best left backs wearing No. 3
Roberto Carlos
Staring both his pro career and international career in 1992 at age 19, Roberto Carlos is regarded as one of the best-ever left backs in world football, as well as one of Brazil’s best-ever players.
For Brazil, Roberto Carlos was an iron man, playing in 125 matches to be among the top three capped Brazilians. He was part of the World Cup-winning squad in 2002 to highlight three appearances at the global tournament, and he was even in contention for a fourth appearance in 2010.
He was also a star at Real Madrid where he played the majority of his pro career; the official club website declared him “lord and master of the left wing,” and singled out (among other attributed) “his tremendous power,” remarking that “his shots reached a speed of 140 km/h.”
He was with Los Blancos from 1996 to 2007, though he featured for eight different teams in his career, including a handful of matches for India’s Delhi Dynamos in the 2015-16 season.
Paolo Maldini
Maldini was a legend for both Italy and AC Milan over a long and illustrious career that saw him just miss out on best player in the world honors. Maldini finished second to George Weah in 1995 FIFA balloting for World Player of the Year, and was picked third twice for the Ballon D’Or, in 1994 and 2003 — also making the all-time, all-star Ballon D’Or Dream Team in 2020.
Though Maldini never won a World Cup — with his career nestled just between the country’s 1982 and 2006 wins — he did feature in four World Cups with the Azzurri, including the 1990 team that won third place and the 1994 team that got to the final.
While Maldini did wear a couple of other numbers for both club and country, AC Milan retired No. 3 in Maldini’s honor, as the left back helped the Rossoneri to five Champions League and seven Serie A titles in his quarter-century there. With 647 appearances for AC Milan, he’s among the most-capped players in team and league history.
Ashley Cole
Cole’s career spans 20 years, and he rates among the best left backs of his generation if not all time. He started his pro career in 1999 with Arsenal, playing during the Invincibles season of 2003-04 when the Gunners became the first team in more than a century to win the first division going undefeated the whole season.
Cole then moved to Chelsea in 2006, getting 229 of his more than 500 club caps with the Blues through 2014. From there, Cole moved to Roma and then the LA Galaxy before closing his career with Derby County.
Cole’s Three Lions career included three World Cup appearances from 2002 to 2010, including a stellar World Cup where he was honored as England’s Player of the Year.
Other greats who wear No. 3
Pepe
A Portugal legend through and through, Pepe is a generationally-accomplished center back who has anchored the European powers through four straight World Cup appearances between 2010 and 2022.
In that most recent World Cup, the 39-year-old Pepe scored in a 6-1 win over Switzerland (in which everyone seemed to score), becoming the second-oldest player to score in World Cup competition.
Currently playing with Porto — the club team where he launched his career into the stratosphere from 2004 to 2007 — Pepe’s heyday was with Real Madrid between 2007 and 2017, where he made well over 200 appearances and anchored some of the best-ever Los Blancos squads.
Diego Godin
Another legendary defender who played his prime years in La Liga, Godin was the centerpiece center back for the Uruguay national team, getting more than 160 caps since 2005, including four straight World Cup appearances between 2010 and 2022.
In his first trip to the World Cup tournament, his team controversially got the semifinals — via an incident involving the next player on our list — before losing the third-place match.
The defender is perhaps best known for the Atletico Madrid decade of his pro career, running from 2010 to 2019 and including two Champions League finals appearances — losing both times to his team’s Real Madrid nemesis.
He is currently back playing professionally in South America after playing 15 years in Europe, with Argentine side Velez Sarsfield, having first left Atleti for Inter Milan in 2019.
Gerard Pique
While much of the world may know him as Shakira’s husband, the center back has long been a staple for both the Spanish national team and for Barcelona. While he started his career at Manchester United, he’s been a mainstay for the Spanish greats for more than a decade, logging close to 400 appearances and winning numerous titles over that time.
He’s also been a centurion for Spain, capturing more than 100 caps and starting all seven matches in that nation’s triumphant 2010 World Cup run.
As Marca noted in an article, he’s worn No. 3 from his academy days, assigned that number as the center back in a three-man back line.
Asamoah Gyan
The rare forward to wear the No. 3 jersey, Gyan is one of the most celebrated of African players. He’s scored the most goals of any African player in World Cup history with six goals, and holds the all-time goal scoring record for African powers Ghana.
In his time with the national team, he led the Black Stars to three straight World Cups spanning from 2006 to 2014, including the 2010 team who came agonizingly close to being the first African team to get to the semifinals — a plateau that Morocco was eventually able to reach in 2022.
Gyan’s perhaps best remembered for the match where his team got that close — the infamous quarterfinal match in which Gyan’s shot was palmed out of goal by Uruguay’s Luis Suarez in the dying throes of extra time.
Gyan missed the subsequent penalty, and while he converted his kick in the subsequent PK sequence to end the match, Ghana came up on the short end of that.
He played professionally from 2003 to 2021, with European stops in Udinese, Rennes and Sunderland.
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