These shirts were originally made from cotton and quite heavy, but today football shirts are made from polyester and nylon as both fabrics are lighter in weight.

Previously the shirts even had buttoned collars, but nowadays the shirts are button-less and sometimes even collarless.

In Europe football shirts are worn for soccer matches and a soccer shirt is known as a football shirt!

A Number on the Back

On August 28th 1938 numbers on the back of football shirts also known to some as "football kits" became fashionable. Arsenal and Chelsea both used numbered shirts in their league games. In 1939 the Football League Management Committee introduced numbering on player's shirts. Since it is difficult to associate a number with a position in the game, only the goalkeeper wears number 1. In 1965 substitutes for the outfield started to wear the numbers 12 and 14, and the reserve goalkeeper always wears the number 13.

Replica Kits

In 1954 the FIFA World Cup required teams to wear a squad numbering system, so the players on a nation's squad all used the same shirt numbers for all the tournaments. Sales of these replica kits grew although now that there was squad numbering on the back of the player's shirts, the numbers were not as meaningful as before.

Players Names on the Shirts

On April18th 1993, The League Cup saw the names of each player now being printed on the back of their shirts, and from 1993-1994 Premiership squad numbers and names were also printed on the shirts. The names of the players and the numbers of the players on the football shirts were first introduced at the U.S.A. World Cup Final Tournament in 1994.

Uniform Numbering

In the NFL the numbering on the uniforms are usually as follows:

The numbers 1-9 are for quarterbacks, kickers and punters The numbers 10-19 are for quarterbacks, kickers, punters and wide receivers The numbers 20-49 are for running backs and defensive backs The numbers 50-59 are centers and linebackers The numbers 60-79 are offensive and defensive linemen The numbers 80-89 are wide receivers and tight ends The numbers 90-99 are defensive linemen and linebackers

The NCAA and high school rules for football shirt numbering states that only the position of "offensive linemen" must use the numbers in the range from 50-79. However the NCAA recommends that running backs and quarterbacks have numbers that are below 50 and that wide receivers have numbers that are above 79.