The History of Football Shirts: Numbers, Names and Sponsors

Every printed name, number and sponsor on a modern football shirt had to start somewhere. All three arrived surprisingly recently, and one of them was pioneered not by a giant club, but by a small Southern League side from Northamptonshire.

1928: Numbers Arrive

Shirt numbers made their English debut in 1928, in a match between Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday. At the 1933 FA Cup Final, Everton wore numbers 1 to 11 and Manchester City wore 12 to 22 — numbering hadn't yet settled into the position-based system fans would recognise today. Names on the back came much later still, arriving properly only in the 1990s once printing technology made it practical to personalise a full squad's shirts individually rather than pre-printing a fixed set.

1976: The First Sponsor's Name

On 24 January 1976, Kettering Town became the first English club to play with a sponsor's name on its shirts, wearing "Kettering Tyres" against Bath City in a deal worth a few thousand pounds, negotiated by player-manager Derek Dougan. The Football Association immediately objected and ordered the lettering removed; Dougan tried abbreviating it to "Kettering T", claiming the T stood for "Town", but the FA wasn't fooled. Facing a fine, Kettering backed down — but the club, backed by Bolton Wanderers and Derby County, lobbied hard, and in June 1977 the FA lifted its ban on shirt sponsorship altogether.

Liverpool Gets the Credit, Kettering Did the Work

Liverpool's 1979 deal with Hitachi is often remembered as the first major shirt sponsorship in English football — and it was certainly the first top-flight deal that stuck. But it followed Kettering's path by three years, a classic case of a small club doing the difficult, unglamorous work of changing the rules, and a bigger one getting the headline.

Where This Shows Up in What We Print

Squad numbers, surnames and sponsor logos are exactly what modern DTF printing makes easy — every shirt in a squad can carry a different name and number at no extra cost, the same idea Kettering Town fought the FA for, just with far better printing technology behind it. See our sports team kit printing page for club and squad kit.

Frequently asked questions

When did football shirts first have numbers?

1928, in a match between Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday, though numbering didn't settle into today's position-based system straight away.

Which club had the first shirt sponsor?

Kettering Town, wearing "Kettering Tyres" against Bath City on 24 January 1976 — three years before Liverpool's better-known Hitachi deal.

When did shirt sponsorship become officially permitted?

June 1977, when the Football Association lifted its ban following lobbying by Kettering Town and other clubs.