Chelsea confirm 2023-24 squad numbers, including 17 new ones!

The first game of the 2023-24 Premier League is this weekend (!), and that means it’s time to confirm squad numbers for the season ahead. Technically, these may yet change before the registration lists are officially due (right after the transfer window slams shut at the end of the month), but barring any seismic shifts, these should be the shirt numbers that we will see.

Unlike previous seasons, Chelsea wisely went with clearly temporary numbers for all of our new signings, so this is the first time we see what numbers the likes of Nkunku, Jackson, Gusto, and all the others have chosen.

We also have several significant changes for players who had been here. Given all the departures of previous first-team regulars, there have been a lot of vacancies, including for the legendary No.8 shirt (hey Enzo!) and the coveted No.10 shirt (do us proud, Misha!). Thankfully, no one has picked up the (“cursed”) No.9 shirt, so hopefully we can just lock that away at the bottom of some casket to avoid its evil magic.

All in all, there have been 17 changes to shirt numbers, by my count. That’s a lot! Only 8 players have retained their numbers from last season.

Here’s the full rundown of the 2023-24 Chelsea shirt numbers, barring any further departures and arrivals. New numbers in bold, vacant numbers in italics.

1. Kepa Arrizabalaga
2. Axel Disasi (stood vacant; last seen on Antonio Rüdiger)
3. Marc Cucurella (stood vacant; last seen on Marcos Alonso; Cucu had been No.32)
4. **vacant** (was Benoît Badiashile’s)
5. Benoît Badiashile (was Jorginho’s, then Enzo’s after January; Badiashile had been No.4)
6. Thiago Silva
7. Raheem Sterling (was N’Golo Kanté’s; Sterling had been No.17)
8. Enzo Fernández (was Mateo Kovačić’s; Enzo had been No.5)
9. **vacant** (was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s)
10. Mykhailo Mudryk (was Christian Pulisic’s; Mudryk was No.15)
11. Noni Madueke (was João Félix’s; Noni was No.31)
12. **vacant** (was Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s)
13. Marcus Bettinelli
14. Trevoh Chalobah
15. Nicolas Jackson (was Mudryk’s)
16. Lesley Ugochukwu (was Édouard Mendy’s)
17. Carney Chukwuemeka (was Sterling’s; Chukwuemeka had been No.30)
18. Christopher Nkunku (was Armando Broja’s)
19. Armando Broja (was Mason Mount’s; Broja had been No.18)
20. Andrey Santos (was Denis Zakaria’s)
21. Ben Chilwell
22. **vacant** (was Hakim Ziyech’s)
23. Conor Gallagher
24. Reece James
25. **vacant** (effectively retired since 2003)
26. Levi Colwill (unretired last year for Kalidou Koulibaly)
27. Malo Gusto (was David Datro Fofana’s)
28. **vacant** (was César Azpilicueta’s)
29. Ian Maatsen (was Kai Havertz’s)
30. **vacant** (was Chukwuemeka’s)
31. Robert Sánchez (was Madueke’s)
32. **vacant** (was Cucurella’s)
33. Wesley Fofana

Four more players were assigned numbers, including Mason Burstow (No.37), Lewis Hall (No.67), and two more backup goalkeepers in Lucas Bergström (No.47) and Eddie Beach (No.50).

New numbers and shirts will be available to purchase presumably as soon as we confirm our shirt sponsorship deal.