Victor Munoz Takes Iconic No.23 Shirt at Liverpool
Victor Munoz has been handed one of Anfield’s most evocative shirt numbers for his first season in red.
The World Cup-winning midfielder, signed from Osasuna in June, will wear No.23 for Liverpool, a number that carries serious weight on the Kop and deep roots in the club’s modern history.
Munoz reported back to the AXA Training Centre earlier this week, fresh from lifting the World Cup and joining a very small, very exclusive group. Only six players have become world champions while on Liverpool’s books, and none since fellow Spaniards Pepe Reina and Fernando Torres did it in 2010. Munoz walks straight into that lineage.
His number had been one of the lingering questions of the summer. With fellow new arrival Jeremy Jacquet already taking No.5, Liverpool kept Munoz’s choice under wraps while he was still on international duty. On Wednesday, Andoni Iraola’s side ended the wait: No.23 it is.
For Liverpool supporters, that’s not just another squad number. It is a thread that runs through multiple eras.
Recent History
Luis Diaz was the last to wear it, during the 2022/23 season, before he stepped into the No.7 shirt the following campaign. In doing so, the Colombian joined a tiny group of Premier League-era Reds to claim that iconic digit, but his time in 23 helped keep the number in circulation at the top end of the pitch.
Before Diaz, the 23 belonged to one man for what felt like a footballing lifetime. Jamie Carragher made it his own, pulling on that shirt for his entire 16-year Liverpool career. From teenage debutant to Champions League winner and defensive leader, Carragher and the No.23 became inseparable in the minds of supporters.
Historical Significance
Go back further and the story starts with another academy product. Robbie Fowler was the first to give the number prominence, wearing it for three seasons as he emerged as one of Europe’s deadliest finishers. His goals in 23 lit up Anfield before he switched to the No.9 shirt ahead of the 1996/97 campaign, once Ian Rush had stepped away from the Anfield front line.
Between those eras, the number briefly passed through midfield and attack. Emre Can took on 23 during his spell at the club, adding a versatile, driving presence in the centre of the pitch. Xherdan Shaqiri followed, bringing flashes of creativity and big-game moments under the same number.
Now it’s Munoz’s turn.
A fresh world champion. A new Spanish influence in a shirt steeped in Liverpool stories. The number is familiar. The chapter about to be written in it is anything but.
