User:Jaydec/Sandbox2

Arsenal Football Club have used persistent squad numbers since 1993, and team numbers since 1928.

Arsenal were founded as Dial Square in 1886 by workers at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, but were renamed Royal Arsenal shortly afterwards. They renamed themselves again to Woolwich Arsenal after turning professional in 1891. The club made their debut in the FA Cup in 1889 and joined The Football League in 1893. They were renamed Arsenal in 1914, a year after their move across London to Arsenal Stadium, Highbury. They currently play at The Emirates Stadium in Holloway.

History
The first time numbers were used in association football was 25 August 1928, when Arsenal and Chelsea played in numbered shirts. Numbers were traditionally assigned based on a player's position on the field, with the starting 11 players wearing 1-11, (starting numerically with the goalkeeper wearing number 1), and the substitutes wearing higher numbers.

In 1993 The Football Association (FA) switched to persistent squad numbers, abandoning the mandatory use of 1–11 for the starting line-up. The first league event to feature this was the 1993 Football League Cup Final between Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday in April, and then again in the 1993 FA Cup Final at the tail end of the 1992/93 season. Persistent squad numbering became standard in the Premier League at the start of the 1993/94 season in August, along with names printed above the numbers. Most European top leagues adopted the system over the next five years. During this time English clubs continued to use the mandatory 1–11 for European matches.

Style
Initially, all clubs were supplied with name and number sets by their kit supplier. In the 1992/93 and 1993/94 seasons, Arsenal wore Adidas, and wore numbers with the early nineties "Adidas Equipment" logo. The font for both letters and numbers were identical to all other Premier League clubs that wore Adidas.

Starting in the 1994/95 season Arsenal wore Nike and, for three seasons 1994/95, 1995/96 and 1996/97, wore numbers that sometimes featured the Nike swoosh, and sometimes did not. Again, the font was identical to all other Premier League clubs that wore Nike.

Before the start of the 1997/98 season, the Premier League introduced a standard font. These names and numbers were designed by Chris Kay and featured the Premier League's lion logo within the number. Matches not bound by the FA, such as pre-season friendlies or European matches, used the same Chris Kay numbers without the Premier League logo.

In 2007, in an effort to combat counterfeit replica kits the Premier League refreshed their standard font with a new Chris Kay design and introduced it, along with a new Premier League logo, for the 2007/08 season.

Starting in the 2005/06 season Arsenal abandoned the standard Chris Kay font for European matches and began experimenting with different styles. These included numbers with the Arsenal crest during 2007/08, and lowercase letters with numbers incorporating the Champions League logo, similar to that used by Chelsea, during 2008/09