Many people like to adorn their team jersey with the name and number of their favourite player. The cost of buying a football strip can be quite expensive with the shirts costing around £50, and adding printing costs an additional £12.95 when you shop with Soccer Box.
A great alternative is to buy the previous seasons kits that are often on special offer, such as the Henry 12 France 09-10 home football shirt.
For only £39.99 you can purchase your official France 09-10 home football shirt with Henry 12 printing included. This great looking shirt is designed in the team's traditional navy blue colour with an elaborate red and white pattern on the front.
The French national crest and Adidas logo also adorn the front. The lettering is official, with the name printed in an arc as seen on the player shirts, and a small number 12 on the front.
As early as 1928 teams began appearing wearing kits featuring numbers on the reverse, at this time individual players were not assigned a specific squad number.
In 1954 for the first televised World Cup a new rule was initiated whereby each player had to have a squad number for the entire competition. The personalised shirts were worn during matches to assist the television commentators to identify individual players.
Since this time personalised shirts have become more popular with clubs. A specific system is generally used to determine a players number based on the position they play. The goalkeeper is the number 1, defenders are generally 2 or 3, midfielders come next with attacking players given 9, 10 or 11.
This rule hasn't been strictly adhered to recently, with growing numbers of players in the squad and some numbers awarded to star players such as Messi 10 in the Barcelona team Kit.
In England the football league system was restructured in 1992 with the introduction of the Premier League. Due to wider television coverage it became necessary for all teams to wear player names and numbers on their jerseys.
From 1996 standard Premier League lettering was introduced. This fuelled a surge in fans buying personalised shirts as the standard lettering was easier for suppliers to stock, and therefore more widely available.
Recently released statistics listing the most requested personalised shirts show that Robin Van Persie printed on a Manchester United shirt is the most popular Premier League request.
Printing is also popular on La Liga kits such as Barcelona and Real Madrid, as well as national team jerseys such as France, Germany, Spain and Brazil.
Getting your loved one a personalised shirt for their birthday or Christmas is a popular idea. Some kits are suitable for personalising with any name or number, for example Premier League shirts, this is popular for children who often like to have their own name.
Due to the specialised nature of printing some shirts can only have the names of popular players added for example the France home shirt.
What do you think of personalised football shirts?
Do you prefer to have your own name or that of your favourite player?
Whichever team you support order all your personalised shirts online at Soccer Box.
