Upon the unveiling of their new home and away shirts for the 2025–26 campaign, Liverpool have also announced the squad numbers for their glut of summer recruits.
The headline news is that Florian Wirtz will don the No. 7 shirt during his debut season for the Reds following his blockbuster £116 million ($153.5 million) move from Bayer Leverkusen. The German has never worn the number previously during his senior career but the switch sees him join a pantheon of Liverpool legends.
Tracking the exact number of players to have donned the famous No. 7 jersey at Anfield is immensely difficult. While shirt numbers were formally introduced into English football in 1928, players only adopted regular squad numbers worn throughout an entire season in 1993. Up until that change, an individual shirt number would be donned interchangeably by players at a club based on position—in the case of the No.7, usually worn by the right winger.
Pinning down Liverpool’s first ever No. 7 is similarly tricky, but an array of club icons still carried its weight before the introduction of official squad numbers. Billy Liddell was one of the first greats to own the jersey, although he also readily wore the No. 9 and No. 11 across more than 14 years with the club. He still sits fifth in Liverpool’s list of all-time goalscorers.
Ian Callaghan, who remains Liverpool’s record appearance-maker with 857 matches for the Reds, also regularly wore the No. 7 shirt, including on his debut in April 1960 and for much of the next decade. However, the arrival of Kevin Keegan changed things for Callaghan.
The two-time Ballon d’Or winner and former England manager signed for the Reds in 1971 and quickly inherited the No. 7 jersey. He enjoyed incredible success in the shirt, winning three league titles, two FA Cups and the European Cup.
Kenny Dalglish is not only Liverpool’s best ever No. 7, but arguably their greatest ever player. He replaced Keegan in the team and quickly made the shirt famous, establishing himself as an all-time club legend and the most popular player in Liverpool’s history—he’s still tied for that honour with Steven Gerrard.
When squad numbers were first introduced at the beginning of the Premier League era, Nigel Clough took on the No.7 shirt, but it wasn’t until 2010 that the shirt rediscovered some of its magic. Luis Suárez lit up Merseyside during four years in the jersey, producing consistently astonishing and awe-inspiring performances that almost secured Liverpool a surprise Premier League title under Brendan Rodgers.
James Milner continued Suárez’s legacy, although with a polar opposite play style, while Luis Díaz swapped from No. 23 to No. 7 upon the Englishman’s departure. Wirtz now carries its pressures after Díaz’s move to Bayern Munich.
Liverpool No. 7 Shirt History—Since 1993
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as History of Liverpool’s No.7 Shirt: Florian Wirtz Joins Club Legends.