Though soccer players have been wearing numbers on their backs for more than a century now, some of the numbers are more obvious than others. No. 1 is traditionally the domain of a goalkeeper, with very few outfield players ever taking that number. Numbers 2 through 5 are identified with back line players, and No. 6 is so identified with defensive midfielders that the position’s often called a “6.”
But what about No. 11? Sometimes a winger and sometimes a center forward, No. 11 has been worn by some of the biggest legends in soccer history who haven’t gravitated toward big numbers like 7, 9 or 10.
Certainly, a lot of wing players and wide forwards wear No. 11. But one of the top players we’ve identified here was a midfielder in a very long career.
Here is a list of the best players who have worn the No. 11 jersey:
- Romario
- Didier Drogba
- Ryan Giggs
- Mohamed Salah
- Miroslav Klose
Table of Contents
The best players to wear No. 11
Romario
Legendary Brazilians are a good bet for these best-of lists, and Romario’s considered among the best players of all time. He’s either third or fourth on the all-time goal list when you count both club and country goals, depending on where you look.
Goal has him ahead of Pele in third, only behind Cristiano Ronaldo and the little-known but prolific Josef Bican, an Austrian striker whose career spanned the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s.
His international career is impressive on its own — a World Cup win in 1994, and 70 appearances for the Selecao between 1987 and 2005. But he only played 66 minutes in a single match in the 1990 edition of the tournament, missed the ‘98 edition with injury, and was also passed over for the 2002 edition, and given how prolific he was in his club career, he could have been so much better.
As Bleacher Report put it, “At his best, Romario was virtually unplayable. He caused his fair share of problems off the field, but when he had a ball at his feet there were few who could move with such speed and agility. In front of goal, he remained lethal even into the deep autumn of his career.”
He started at Vasco de Gama in 1985 where he’d eventually manage, had an amazing five-year tour with PSV Eindhoven where he scored 165 goals in 167 matches, and then moved to Barcelona in 1993 to play with the likes of Johan Cruyff.
In his first of two seasons there, he scored 30 goals in 33 matches to help the all-star team win La Liga. He continued on a globetrotting career through 2009, making his way to Qatar, Australia and the U.S. before calling it a career.
Didier Drogba
Perhaps the greatest player ever for African football giant Ivory Coast, Drogba had an iconic “Drogba Legend” banner unveiled for him frequently at Chelsea home matches. That was fitting, given that some of his greatest soccer ever played was as Stamford Bridge — though the banner (or one just like it) found its way to Montreal, where Drogba surprisingly turned up late in his career.
Drogba is still the highest-scoring player in Ivorian international play, getting 65 goals in 105 matches. Drogba appeared for Ivory Coast in three World Cups, leading the nation to its first-ever World Cup in 2006, playing with a broken arm in the 2010 edition, and retired from international play right after the 2014 tournament.
Even though he started his career in Le Mans in 1998, he soon found his way to Chelsea in 2004 after a solid season with Marseilles.
Forbes named him the best African player ever to play in the elite Premier League and chronicled how that came to an end.
“After eight years with Chelsea where he scored 157 goals in 341 appearances and helped them win 10 titles including their 2012 Champions League trophy, the Ivory Coast striker signed in June 2012 with Shanghai Shenhua of the Chinese Super League, which has been dogged by scandal and match-fixing. The two-and-a-half-year deal to pay him up to $300,000 a week turned into a six-month stint.”
Forbes
Drogba would return to Chelsea in 2014 after playing two years in Turkey for Galatasaray, then moved to MLS’s Montreal Impact in 2015 and 2016, before finishing his career in an even more unusual place: With USL’s Phoenix Rising, becoming the world’s first player-owner when he bought a minority stake in the second-division team.
Ryan Giggs
First, it must be said that Giggs facing a second trial next June for assault charges against his ex-girlfriend — charges that led to him being sacked as Wales manager and currently being sidelined from soccer.
Giggs did, over his playing career, emerge as a fan favorite at Manchester United, playing a staggering 672 matches over 24 seasons, playing 22 of those in the No. 11 jersey.
The left midfielder started his career as an 18-year-old straight out of a youth system he joined on his 14th birthday in 1987, and ended it as a player-manager who eventually slid into an assistant manager role once a more permanent managerial replacement (Louis van Gaal) was found.
He also has 64 caps for Wales between 1991 and 2007, and even made four appearances for the Great Britain Olympic team in 2012, when the U.K.’s four nations banded together to play.
Mohamed Salah
Though Mohamed Salah’s career appears to have some years remaining, he’s already put together incredible numbers, scoring 250 goals in 535 club appearances — doing so by age 30. As one of Africa’s best-ever players already, he’s central to Egypt’s World Cup appearance in 2018 — the first one it had been to since 1990.
After starting his career in Egypt in 2010, the forward moved to Basel in 2012, catching Chelsea’s attention prior to the 2014-15 season.
Though he spent two seasons with the Blues officially, Salah moved to Fiorentina on a 2015 loan and then to Roma for the 2015-16 season. Roma liked him so much, they made the loan permanent for an additional year.
But for many, Salah really achieved greatness once he became a Red in 2017. Thanks to teammate Roberto Firmino vacating No. 11 for No. 9, Salah was able to slide into his now-familiar jersey number, and the two teamed with Sadio Mane to become one of the most formidable attacking trios in the Premier League.
With Liverpool, Salah is approaching 200 appearances and 125 goals, with three Premier League Golden Boots to his credit.
Miroslav Klose
You couldn’t have a list of the best No. 11s without a record-setter like Klose. The Polish-born striker excelled for Germany in his international career, playing from 2001 to 2014.
Even with the number of great German goalscorers over the years, Klose is at the top of the all-time list, getting 71 in 137 appearances, capped off by a two-goal performance in the 2014 World Cup that ended up being his swan song.
His first goal in the tournament was his 15th World Cup goal, tying Brazilian all-timer Ronaldo for the World Cup record, and then his 16th, in the 7-1 drubbing of Brazil in the semifinals, left him alone in the tournament record books.
Though he couldn’t add to that in the final, his team did triumph in a match that he started, going nearly the whole first 90.
Though he didn’t score at quite the same clip for his club teams, he was certainly no slouch, scoring 212 goals in 529 matches in nearly 20 years, with Werder Bremen, Bayern Munich and Lazio his last three stops.
