According to The Athletic, Yamal will not wear the No. 10 jersey for Spain; it will belong to teammate Olmo.

Pelé, Diego Maradona, Zinedine Zidane, Messi, and Roberto Baggio have all delivered superstar-level performances at the FIFA World Cup.

What do they have in common? They all wore the No. 10 jersey at the time.

Historically, this number typically belongs to the most creative player on the team, usually an attacking midfielder, and sometimes even a forward. It is also part of a player’s personal brand, an honor reserved for a special type of player.

Spain is one of the favorites to win this summer’s North American tournament, and there is no bigger name in the squad than Yamal. But he will not wear the No. 10 for Spain; instead, he will wear No. 19, the same number he wore in the summer of 2024 when he helped Spain win the European Championship in Germany.

So, why can’t the 18-year-old, who wears this legendary number at Barcelona—a number most easily associated with the club’s all-time leading goal scorer and appearance record holder Messi—enjoy the same treatment with the Spanish national team?

Spain’s No. 10 this summer will be Olmo, who is also one of Yamal’s teammates at Barcelona.

Olmo wears No. 20 at Barcelona, but for the national team, a simple factor puts him ahead of the young player when deciding numbers: seniority.

Spain’s system for assigning squad numbers dictates that the player with the most national team appearances gets priority in choosing from available numbers.

Yamal has made 25 appearances for the national team since his debut in 2023; Olmo has 50 national team appearances and was already wearing the No. 10 before Yamal joined the Spanish squad.

Yamal has proven capable of handling the challenge of wearing the No. 10 at Barcelona. When Messi left the club in a painful manner in the summer of 2021, it left Barcelona with several issues to resolve, one of which was who would inherit the No. 10 and bear the pressure of the legacy left by the Argentinian.

Ansu Fati, one of the brightest talents to emerge from Barcelona’s La Masia academy in recent years, did not succeed. After Messi’s departure, he inherited the No. 10 but suffered multiple injuries and could not meet expectations.

Barcelona sources believe that giving the number to Fati was a mistake because it placed too much pressure on the young player. Like all quoted sources in this article, they requested anonymity to protect their relationships.

But Yamal’s situation is different. He took over Fati’s No. 10 last summer and hasn’t looked back since. Last season, he achieved his career-best statistics, scoring 24 goals and providing 17 assists in 45 games.

Not wearing the Spanish No. 10 has also not affected Yamal’s progress with the national team.

This is not seen as a problem, but rather as part of the young player’s development. Everyone in the Spanish squad understands the rules, and sources close to Yamal and the team insist that Yamal holds no resentment towards Olmo.

It can also be argued that, besides international recognition, there are commercial factors for jersey numbers that should not be overlooked. Giving Yamal the No. 10 would certainly boost sales of the Spanish team’s jerseys and bring a more significant commercial impact from the star player.

However, respect among teammates, especially for more senior players, is a key tenet for Spain’s coach Luis de la Fuente and the foundation of the culture he is building for this Spanish team.

No individual is important enough to be above this team spirit, not even Yamal. The young player is considered the most important attacking player for Spain and is highly respected in the locker room, but breaking the seniority policy to take a teammate’s number is simply not allowed in this team.

Gavi should also be mentioned. The 21-year-old player has primarily played as a central midfielder for Barcelona this season, even playing as a defensive midfielder, but he will wear No. 9 for Spain, a number more commonly associated with central forwards.

There’s a story behind this too. When Gavi made his Spain debut in 2021, No. 9 was the last available number when he chose.

That year, he made his debut in the Nations League semi-final win against Italy, with an impressive performance, and Gavi has stuck with that number ever since. Whenever the national team’s No. 9 is available, he always chooses it.

Spain’s starting forward Oyarzabal actually began his career as a winger, but he has always chosen No. 21 and decided to keep this number throughout his national team career.

Another forward included in Luis de la Fuente’s FIFA World Cup squad, Celta player Borja Iglesias, has 8 national team appearances, fewer than Gavi’s 30, so he cannot get the No. 9.