Who wore number 57 in football?

As squads around the world are bigger, and as players move more frequently, such higher numbers are being used more and more. Here are the few players who’ve used the number.

Salvatore Sirigu

Salvatore Sirigu is an Italian professional footballer who is known as a goalkeeper for Serie A club Genoa and the Italy national team.

Sirigu began his career with Venezia, and then Palermo. In 2011, he moved to Paris Saint-Germain. Twice voted the Ligue 1 Goalkeeper of the Year, his honours at the club include four consecutive league titles and all four domestic competitions in both the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons. After spending the 2016–17 season on loan to Sevilla and Osasuna, he was signed by Torino in 2017.

A former Italy youth international, Sirigu made his Italy senior debut in 2010, and was selected for UEFA Euro 2012 (finishing in second place), the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup (finishing in third place), the 2014 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2016, and UEFA Euro 2020, winning the latter tournament.

Regarded as one of the best Italian goalkeepers of his generation, Sirigu was considered in the 2010s as the possible ‘heir-apparent’ of Gianluigi Buffon as Italy’s first-choice goalkeeper, due to his consistency, physical strength, composure, strong mentality, explosive reflexes, and shot-stopping ability between the posts. Although he was frequently compared to Zenga in his youth, his former manager at Cremonese, Emiliano Mondonico, compared him to Dino Zoff because of his calm character under pressure. Former Italy goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi has also praised Sirigu for his goalkeeping technique and ability to come off his line quickly to collect the ball. Sirigu is also known for his professionalism and leadership qualities, as well as his ability to motivate his teammates, and is therefore considered to be an influential dressing room personality, which makes him a popular figure with his teams’ fans.

Marco Sportiello

Marco Sportiello is an Italian professional footballer who is known as a goalkeeper for Serie A club Atalanta.

Nathan Ake

Nathan Benjamin Aké is a Dutch professional footballer who is known as a defender for Premier League club Manchester City and the Netherlands national team. Although he is predominantly characterized as a centre-back, he has also been deployed as a left-back.

Aké has been praised for his versatility, good passing range, reading the game quite well, being able to play at both full-back, centre-back and in defensive midfield, which has been attributed to a good work ethic, professionalism and gifted technique. His calmness on the ball and appearance have led to comparisons to former Dutch legend and Chelsea player Ruud Gullit.

Rodrigo Gomes

Rodrigo Martins Gomes is a Portuguese professional footballer who is known as a forward for S.C. Braga.

Stephen Welsh

Stephen Welsh is a Scottish professional footballer who is known as a centre-back for Scottish Premiership club Celtic.

Aleksandr Selikhov

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Selikhov is a Russian football goalkeeper known for playing for FC Spartak Moscow.