Legacy of La Liga’s number 8 shirt
The number 8 shirt has been worn by some of the all-time greats of Spanish football, with this year’s crop looking to leave their own mark on the game.
The number 8 is most commonly worn by midfielders and, in 2020/21, all the occupants of this shirt number in LaLiga can be classified as midfielders with the exception of Villarreal centre-back Juan Foyth and Levante centre-back Óscar Duarte.
The list is full of stars, including World Cup winners Real Betis, Nabil Fekir and Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos, who lifted international football’s top honour with France in 2018 and Germany in 2014, respectively.
At Atlético de Madrid, Saúl Ñíguez has worn the number 8 jersey since 2016 and, given that he has a contract which commits him to the capital city club until 2026, he’ll surely wear that kit for many more years to come. The Spaniard is a classically versatile box-to-box midfielder, similar to other number 8s such as Joan Jordán at Sevilla or Pape Diop at Eibar.
Several of the number 8s are young players who have their careers all ahead of them, as is the case with the likes of Celta’s Fran Beltrán, Valencia’s Carlos Soler and Real Valladolid’s Kike Pérez.
They’re all already good enough to feature in Spain’s top division, but there’s even more potential to be unlocked in the years to come.
Ten LaLiga legends who wore the number 8
Luis Aragonés (Atlético de Madrid), Andrés Iniesta (FC Barcelona), Hristo Stoichkov (FC Barcelona), Míchel (Real Madrid), Miguel Muñoz (Real Madrid), Santi Cazorla (Villarreal CF), Jon Errasti (SD Eibar), Juan Román Riquelme (Villarreal CF), Julen Guerrero (Athletic Club), Rubén Baraja (Valencia CF).
Luis Aragones, one of the most important figures in Spanish football history, wore the number 8 and made it his own as a player for Atletico de Madrid before embarking on an even more successful coaching career not only at Atleti but with the Spanish national team – winning the 2008 European Championships.
An equally iconic number for the Spanish national team as for LaLiga, it was another number who produced La Roja’s biggest ever triumph.
That man was Andrés Iniesta, who actually wore the No.6 for Spain when he scored the winner in the 2010 World Cup final but cemented his legend at Barcelona wearing the club’s number 8 shirt for over a decade.
At certain clubs, certain numbers have more history than others and the number 8 has been a particularly special one at Villarreal where it has been worn by Juan Román Riquelme and Santi Cazorla. They’ve been two of the greatest playmakers of the 21st century, a century that got going with Rubén Baraja wearing number 8 at Valencia and Julen Guerrero doing so at Athletic Club.