The Real Reason Number 10 Became Soccer's Most Sacred Shirt

It started as a positional accident. It became the heaviest shirt in the sport.

<p>Every squad at this World Cup has a number 10, and every fan checks who's wearing it. No other number carries that ritual.</p>

<p>The mystique began as bureaucracy. In old positional numbering, 10 landed on the inside-left forward — the slot where creative playmakers happened to operate.</p>

<p>Generation after generation, the most magical players kept inheriting that shirt, until the number itself became shorthand for genius. The role made the number; then the number made the role.</p>

<p>Now coaches talk about 'a true 10' as a species of player. Somewhere along the way, two digits became a job description — and a burden.</p>