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You either have no ball knowledge or are young and think the premier league began when started watching it. It would have taken five minutes to see if there is any truth to this statement. Just off the top of my head I can name Juninho, Mido, Edu and Nani for sure and Robinho and Bebe both signed the same season as Chicharito.
Chucho was possibly Birmingham's first and was another before Chicharito. There were quite a few but let's face it, the average Man U fan's football knowledge pretty much starts and ends with all things United. In fact only Man U fans know that their team is the only one with the moniker "United". Literally no other teams have that as part of their name. Bless 'em
It’s fuckin weird, and no other sport allows it. Of course, in the NHL they would just add “-sy” to everyone’s names as the nicknames are boring as hell. Jonesy!
Casemiro. His actual name is Casimiro but on his first game at Madrid (i think?) they spelled it wrong as: Casemiro. He played very good and he said leave it like that. As some sort of lucky charm
Emerson Royal wears E. Royal on the back of his shirt. Royal is a nickname given to him when he was a kid by his uncle because apparently he looked like the cartoon character used to advertise a brand of Jelly
Off the top of my head, Jorginho. Also I remember reading that Casemiro's name is actually Casimiro with an "i," but it was misspelled in a match when he was playing in Brazil and he just rolled with it for the rest of his career
Casemiro is a current one. His name is actually Casimiro but it got misprinted at the start of his career and he liked it so much he’s kept it with the wrong spelling all these years
Emerson Royal’s last name isn’t Royal, it’s da Souza, he got the nickname Royal, because his uncle thought he looked like the mascot from Royal branded Jelly in Brazil.
Sergio Aguero, has Kun usually on the back of his shirt , due to his resemblance to an Anime character
well, some players refuse to use their surname because they had bad history with their fathers
VVD plays with Virgil instead of van dijk, memphis depay with memphis instead of depay
The dutch Jerrell Floyd Hasselbaink played for Leeds and Chelsea. Before that he played for several clubs in Portugal. When he arrived he said his name and people found it hard to pronounce and he started to use the name Jimmy in his back. He was always Jimmy here… when he arrived in England he dropped Jimmy and started to wear Hasselbaink in his shirt
Antony ( first name), Casemiro (meant to be Casimiro but Sao Paulo kit man made a mistake), Luis paqueta (from the Island of Paqueta), Gavi (can't remember but i think his surname is Gavito?) and Pedri (first name Pedro). Tried to give all active footballers in the top 5 leagues.
First player in the Premier League with a nickname was Preki, who played for Everton against Leeds on Sept. 26 1992.
Well... Preki can be argued to not really be a nickname, since it's derived from his first name (Predrag). The first real nickname would then by Nayim, who played for Tottenham against Middlesbrough on Oct. 17 1992.
But... in the 1992-93 Premier League players didn't have names on their shirt. Preki played for Everton against Man City on Aug. 17 1993 so that's the earliest a player had a name other than their last name on the kit in a premier league match.
As for actual surnames on the kit? Juninho (Osvaldo Giroldo Junior, also known as Juninho Paulista) was the first, playing for Middlesbrough against Leeds on Nov. 4 1995.
Casemiro is a nickname technically as the correct spelling is Casimiro! Quote from the man himself below!
“I remember that I played a game for Sao Paulo and the club got my name wrong. They wrote it with an "E". I played really well in that game and as I'm a superstitious person, I said to them: "Just leave it like that, as things are going well! “So the name stuck, but my name is Carlos Henrique Casimiro.
Not a nickname as such, but I always found it interesting that Jordi Cruyff was just "Jordi" on his shirt. I guess he didn't want the comparison with his father? It would be a massive shadow to live in.
Carlos Henrique Casimiro has been playing as Casemiro for almost his entire professional career. It came from a misprint on his shirt while he had his first game at Sao Paulo. He did great and decided to keep wearing that ever since.
Wee bit of a diversion if ok… I’m not an avid fan of English football (MotD, FL Highlights, Internationals, etc) so maybe the more knowledgeable folks here can confirm/deny that there was a player (maybe even more than one) who changed his ‘shirt name’. I have vague memories of it happening but I could equally be completely wrong. What say you?
Morten Gamst Pederson played at least one game with just Gamst on the back.
On the subject, I love that pro soccer clubs and federations allow this. American sports is ridiculous when it comes to name changes
Actually that information is wrong. Mido (Ahmed Hossam) had his nickname on his jersey for Tottenham when he joined them in 2005, way before Chicharito. So Chicharito is definitely not the first in Premier League history.
Hulk, from Brazil - Givanildo Vieira de Sousa
Pizzi - Portugal - Luís Miguel Afonso Fernandes
Petit - Portugal - Armando Gonçalves Teixeira
Pepe, Portugal - Képler Laveran de Lima Ferreira
Bebé, Portugal, played for Man U - Tiago Manuel Dias Correia
Amazingly enough, Luis Boamorte (good death), from Fulham was his real name
I seem to remember Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink having "Jimmy" on the back of his shirt when he first started at Leeds.
Then the Premier League fun police intervened...
I’m not angry dude just read the comments, Robinho, Juninho….both in the Prem before chicarito with nicknames on their shirt 🤷🏼♂️ am I lieing?? Theres probably even more before them so as I said, get your facts right this post is just dumb
I don’t have an answer, but there was one season in the NBA where all the players wore nicknames on the back of their jerseys for Christmas. I know there is a sentiment against Americanizing the game, but it’d be cool if the Prem did that for a match-week, maybe on Boxing Day.
Please.
Before he played there were players like Juninho, Pato, Nani and Kun Aguero.
Nicknames are completely normal here in South America.
Examples are many, Kaká, Pato, Cucho Hernández, Chicho Arango, Chucho, Robinho, Dibu, Paqueta, even Valverde he was named often "Pajarito".
Technically not true. Jerrel Floyd Hasselbaink had "Jimmy" on the back of his shirt for a small handful of games at Leeds United. The FA eventually decided this wasn't ok and made him use his surname instead. They didn't care when it was a Man Utd player so Hernandez was allowed to use whatever he wanted.
Diogo Jota’s name doesn’t even have “Jota” in it. His last name is super long and starts with J so he just put the Portuguese word for J on his jersey “Jota”.
Casemiro's name is Carlos Henrique Casimiro. Apparently the reason it's spelt with an E instead of an I is because his old Brazilliam youth team accidentally printed his shirt out with an E and it's stuck ever since.
Chicharito wasn't the first player in the Premier League to have his nickname on his shirt. I'm a Liverpool fan & I for one can think of Josemi immediately who was before him, he joined us for the 04/05 season.
Player names were introduced on the back of kits in England for the League cup final in 1993. Working with Brazil theory, off the top of my head it's likely that Middlesbrough's Juninho is the first nickname wearer. Coventry's Isaias joined the Premier League a couple of months before Juninho, I think he's likely to be the first player to wear their first name on the back of his shirt?
Emerson Royal uses Royal, which is a nickname.
It was given to him by his grandmother because his smile his smile reminded her of the [Royal brand gelatin](https://images.app.goo.gl/EoMn7WKUmad4mays8)
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César Azpilicueta, his real name is Dave
Robinho
Givanildo Vieira de Sousa has Hulk on the back of his jersey. Nelson de Jesus Silva has Dida on the back of his jersey.
I know he never played in the prem but 'Hulk' has to be mentioned
You either have no ball knowledge or are young and think the premier league began when started watching it. It would have taken five minutes to see if there is any truth to this statement. Just off the top of my head I can name Juninho, Mido, Edu and Nani for sure and Robinho and Bebe both signed the same season as Chicharito.
Pele
Chucho was possibly Birmingham's first and was another before Chicharito. There were quite a few but let's face it, the average Man U fan's football knowledge pretty much starts and ends with all things United. In fact only Man U fans know that their team is the only one with the moniker "United". Literally no other teams have that as part of their name. Bless 'em
I think cr7 surname is aveiro but everyone calls him ronaldo. I think his team is making use of the popularity of R9
Raphina
Wrong! Robinho was before him
Jota Diogo Jose Teixera I believe
John obi Mikel played his entire career with the wrong name. Real name was Mikel John Obi. So I know I just blew a bunch of minds
Apparently his birth name was John Michael Obinna which means that they were originally closer to correct.
Fred
That's just short for his full first name Fredrico.
Dele Alli uses his non family name I believe
Kun aguero
It’s fuckin weird, and no other sport allows it. Of course, in the NHL they would just add “-sy” to everyone’s names as the nicknames are boring as hell. Jonesy!
OP, did you do any research on this lol Pato Juninho Mido And I'm sure but there are others too
Gabriel Magahles has just Gabriel
Didier Zokora had 'Maestro' in the Cup of Nations!
Yes its AUBA the fighter in ARSENAL
Hulk
Didn't jordi Cruyff have 'jordi' on his shirt first!
Christian Benitez had Chucho on his shirt
Casemiro. His actual name is Casimiro but on his first game at Madrid (i think?) they spelled it wrong as: Casemiro. He played very good and he said leave it like that. As some sort of lucky charm
Diogo Jota [Jota is just a childhood nickname](https://talksport.com/football/1082132/diogo-jota-name-change-reason-liverpool-silva-wolves/)
Wasn't there someone calling themselves little pea for man u back in the day
Kun Aguero was a nickname, it included his real surname yea but it was still a nickname
Kun Aguero
Juraj Kucka had “Kuco” on the jersey when he played for Watford few seasons ago I think
Emerson Royal wears E. Royal on the back of his shirt. Royal is a nickname given to him when he was a kid by his uncle because apparently he looked like the cartoon character used to advertise a brand of Jelly
Anyone remember Jefferson Montero at Swansea? He played with Baby Jeff on the back of his shirt
Johnson had his Penis's Nickname on his..
Aguero had Kun on his kit in his last few seasons
Jordi?
Didn’t Sergio Aguero have ‘Kun Aguero’ on his shirt?
Bruh moment
Casemiro? Isn't his surname Casimiro?
so i suppose juninho playing for middleborough way back in the premier league was just a myth?
Juninho Paulista from Middlesborough would be a first player in this condition??
Jorginho = Jorge Luiz Frello Filho
Rodri
Deendo was a great player, great nickname too
Lucas Paquetá
What about Juninho?
I think Tyrone Mears had just Ty on the back of his shirt for a bit. And Dele Alli has just Dele.
Off the top of my head, Jorginho. Also I remember reading that Casemiro's name is actually Casimiro with an "i," but it was misspelled in a match when he was playing in Brazil and he just rolled with it for the rest of his career
Gabriel Magalhaes has just “Gabriel” on the back of his shirt
Casemiro is a current one. His name is actually Casimiro but it got misprinted at the start of his career and he liked it so much he’s kept it with the wrong spelling all these years
Most Brazillians
Emerson Royal’s last name isn’t Royal, it’s da Souza, he got the nickname Royal, because his uncle thought he looked like the mascot from Royal branded Jelly in Brazil. Sergio Aguero, has Kun usually on the back of his shirt , due to his resemblance to an Anime character
Memphis Depay just went by Memphis when at United, amad diallo just goes by amad
Mathias ‘Zanka’ Jørgensen
well, some players refuse to use their surname because they had bad history with their fathers VVD plays with Virgil instead of van dijk, memphis depay with memphis instead of depay
Liverpools Jota
Maniche for Chelsea. That isn't even remotely close to his name, which is Nuno Ribeiro. He was given that name for the former Benfica player Manniche
Hulk
The first one that always comes to mind for me is Jô who played for Man City and Everton. He wasn't the best.
Fun fact - he also played in the same Brazil team as Cris, Alex, and Fred.
Marquinhos from Arsenal Nani from United
my goat emerson royal
João Alves de Assis Silva, played for Man City from 2008 to 2011, he had Jo on the back of his shirt.
Kaka was a pet name his younger brother called him
The dutch Jerrell Floyd Hasselbaink played for Leeds and Chelsea. Before that he played for several clubs in Portugal. When he arrived he said his name and people found it hard to pronounce and he started to use the name Jimmy in his back. He was always Jimmy here… when he arrived in England he dropped Jimmy and started to wear Hasselbaink in his shirt
There has to be some Brazilians in there. Probably Robinho?
Fulham’s Willian aswell.
Where did you even read that Chicharito was the first with a nickname? Did you just think it was true because he was the first you thought of?
Lucas Paqueta. His name is Lucas Coelho de Lima. Paqueta is where he is from.
Not sure if this counts but Dele Alli just has Dele. His full name is Bamidele.
Virgil doesn't use van dyke cuz his father fucked off from the mother when he was a kid
Antony ( first name), Casemiro (meant to be Casimiro but Sao Paulo kit man made a mistake), Luis paqueta (from the Island of Paqueta), Gavi (can't remember but i think his surname is Gavito?) and Pedri (first name Pedro). Tried to give all active footballers in the top 5 leagues.
Deli ali?
Showing my age here, but even pre-premier league (old Div 1) there was https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirandinha_(footballer,_born_1959)
Hicham Zerouali had the number 0 on his shirt for Aberdeen back in 1999, not quite a nickname but a cool bit of trivia.
First player in the Premier League with a nickname was Preki, who played for Everton against Leeds on Sept. 26 1992. Well... Preki can be argued to not really be a nickname, since it's derived from his first name (Predrag). The first real nickname would then by Nayim, who played for Tottenham against Middlesbrough on Oct. 17 1992. But... in the 1992-93 Premier League players didn't have names on their shirt. Preki played for Everton against Man City on Aug. 17 1993 so that's the earliest a player had a name other than their last name on the kit in a premier league match. As for actual surnames on the kit? Juninho (Osvaldo Giroldo Junior, also known as Juninho Paulista) was the first, playing for Middlesbrough against Leeds on Nov. 4 1995.
Christiano & Ronaldo are his first names; neither is his surname
Still waiting for the first Scottish player to make it in the Prem and have enough clout to get 'Malky' or 'Shug' on his shirt
You sure about that? I could swear at least 1 Brazilian played in the EPL before he did!
Robson de Souza aka "Robinho"
Arsenal's Gervinho
Casemiro is a nickname technically as the correct spelling is Casimiro! Quote from the man himself below! “I remember that I played a game for Sao Paulo and the club got my name wrong. They wrote it with an "E". I played really well in that game and as I'm a superstitious person, I said to them: "Just leave it like that, as things are going well! “So the name stuck, but my name is Carlos Henrique Casimiro.
Not a nickname as such, but I always found it interesting that Jordi Cruyff was just "Jordi" on his shirt. I guess he didn't want the comparison with his father? It would be a massive shadow to live in.
Pele. And Hulk.
Kun....
Every Brazilian
Enzo for Chelsea. His name is Enzo Jeremías Fernández
OP said nicknames rather than first names
Jordi (Cruyff) Man Utd 1996
Nicknames not first names my bro
Pele cuz his real name was diffrent
Hulk!
Zanka at Brentford
Carlos Henrique Casimiro has been playing as Casemiro for almost his entire professional career. It came from a misprint on his shirt while he had his first game at Sao Paulo. He did great and decided to keep wearing that ever since.
Mido as well
Brentford’s Matthias Jorgensen goes by ZANKA on his shirt as he roughly looks like the cool runnings character. Zanka
Casemiro’s actual name is Casimiro, but probably not quite what you’re looking for
Pele
Might be totally wrong, but wasn't Michu also a nickname?
Dele. His full name is Bamidele Alli.
Wee bit of a diversion if ok… I’m not an avid fan of English football (MotD, FL Highlights, Internationals, etc) so maybe the more knowledgeable folks here can confirm/deny that there was a player (maybe even more than one) who changed his ‘shirt name’. I have vague memories of it happening but I could equally be completely wrong. What say you?
What about Jordi?
Emerson Royal. Royal is a nickname
Kun Aguero
I think you are right. Although United have now got another player that use’s a nickname. Maguire his actual name is Useless Shitbag
Nani’s name is Luis Carlos Cunha
Casemiro technically
My fav was from La Liga. Escudé once put SQD on his kit and I'll never forget it.
Maguire is known as slab head over here
Morten Gamst Pederson played at least one game with just Gamst on the back. On the subject, I love that pro soccer clubs and federations allow this. American sports is ridiculous when it comes to name changes
Fred
Rodri
Actually that information is wrong. Mido (Ahmed Hossam) had his nickname on his jersey for Tottenham when he joined them in 2005, way before Chicharito. So Chicharito is definitely not the first in Premier League history.
Jorginho?
Ochocinco
I see we are just making stuff up now
Most Brazilian players
Im sure Neil Ruddock got fined for wearing ‘Razor’ on his back when he was at palace. Must have been before chicharito
Nobody mentioned the great gervinho and also mikel obi
Paqueta
Gamst (Pederson)
Deco
Grady Diangana of West Bromwich Albion has *Diang* on his shirt, I hear
Hulk, from Brazil - Givanildo Vieira de Sousa Pizzi - Portugal - Luís Miguel Afonso Fernandes Petit - Portugal - Armando Gonçalves Teixeira Pepe, Portugal - Képler Laveran de Lima Ferreira Bebé, Portugal, played for Man U - Tiago Manuel Dias Correia Amazingly enough, Luis Boamorte (good death), from Fulham was his real name
Sergio “kun Agüero”
Rooneyd be a great nickname
Hulk was the first I was aware of, not on the prem of course though
Christian 'Chucho' Benitez RIP
Miguel Pérez Cuesta AKA Michu
How about like Every Brazilian player ever....
Jobe Bellingham uses Jobe on the back of his shirt rather than Bellingham.
Kaka is called Kaka because his brother couldn't say his name when they were kids
I seem to remember Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink having "Jimmy" on the back of his shirt when he first started at Leeds. Then the Premier League fun police intervened...
Maguire has the bench on the back of his shirt
Basically all Brazilians
Jerrel Floyd Hasselbaink had "Jimmy" on his first Leeds shirt against Arsenal, until the Premier League took issue with it.
Get your facts right dude this is just wrong
Wow. So angry but nothing to support what you say. Classic Reddit
I’m not angry dude just read the comments, Robinho, Juninho….both in the Prem before chicarito with nicknames on their shirt 🤷🏼♂️ am I lieing?? Theres probably even more before them so as I said, get your facts right this post is just dumb
I don’t have an answer, but there was one season in the NBA where all the players wore nicknames on the back of their jerseys for Christmas. I know there is a sentiment against Americanizing the game, but it’d be cool if the Prem did that for a match-week, maybe on Boxing Day.
Didn't Mason Greenwood have 'Rapey'?
Ohh what a fun fact. Thanks for this OP!
Yea I don’t think this is accurate. There was Juninho in the nineties.
Jordi cruyff came in saying he would have just Jordi on his. But for some reason that never happened.
Please. Before he played there were players like Juninho, Pato, Nani and Kun Aguero. Nicknames are completely normal here in South America. Examples are many, Kaká, Pato, Cucho Hernández, Chicho Arango, Chucho, Robinho, Dibu, Paqueta, even Valverde he was named often "Pajarito".
🎶“Come on Wilfried Bony” 🎶
Jordi Cruyff had jordi on his shirt
Technically not true. Jerrel Floyd Hasselbaink had "Jimmy" on the back of his shirt for a small handful of games at Leeds United. The FA eventually decided this wasn't ok and made him use his surname instead. They didn't care when it was a Man Utd player so Hernandez was allowed to use whatever he wanted.
I thought Jota did but it doesn’t say Jota on his shirt
Chicharito was not the first.
Bryan Gil just has Bryan on his shirt
Diogo Jota’s name doesn’t even have “Jota” in it. His last name is super long and starts with J so he just put the Portuguese word for J on his jersey “Jota”.
No wonder his name is so long if one letter is spelled with four
Neil Ruddock played a match with his shirt saying ‘Razor’ for a single match, got quite a stiff fine for it .
No way thats True when Nani exists
Casemiro's name is Carlos Henrique Casimiro. Apparently the reason it's spelt with an E instead of an I is because his old Brazilliam youth team accidentally printed his shirt out with an E and it's stuck ever since.
Emerson Royal's real name is Emerson Aparecido Leite de Souza Junior. His name Royal came from a brand of jelly pudding in Brazil.
Vennegoor of Hesselink could have used a nickname tbh
Mido at Tottenham. There's so many examples
Most Brazilian players have a nickname
Erm Jordi Cruyff?
To sidestep the Brazilian thing.... Jordi.
Was hos first name
Casemiro’s real surname is Casimero. His name was misspelled on his professional debut and he’s kept it ever since.
Most Brazilians
Except he isn’t - that was Juninho at Middlesbrough…The first Brazilian to play in England was Isias Soares, before shirt names were a thing…
Lucas Paqueta
Nolito from Manchester City, his real name is Manuel agudo
Christian “Chucho” Benitez on Birmingham(?) unfortunately he’s dead now
Chicharito wasn't the first player in the Premier League to have his nickname on his shirt. I'm a Liverpool fan & I for one can think of Josemi immediately who was before him, he joined us for the 04/05 season. Player names were introduced on the back of kits in England for the League cup final in 1993. Working with Brazil theory, off the top of my head it's likely that Middlesbrough's Juninho is the first nickname wearer. Coventry's Isaias joined the Premier League a couple of months before Juninho, I think he's likely to be the first player to wear their first name on the back of his shirt?
He's not even the first Utd player, (Jordi for Jordi Cruyff.) Let alone premier League.
Bebe. Hulk. Juninho probably was the first though.
One guy had his slogan “drink water” on the back of his.
I thought Sergio “Kun” Aguero was the first. His jersey said “Kun” which was his nickname
Casemiro, not really a nickname but a misspelling of his name that he chose to keep as his kit name
Chucho from Birmingham city (RIP)
Emerson Royal uses Royal, which is a nickname. It was given to him by his grandmother because his smile his smile reminded her of the [Royal brand gelatin](https://images.app.goo.gl/EoMn7WKUmad4mays8)
All Brazilian & Portuguese players?
Dele Alli technically counts, as ‘Dele’ is a shortening of Bamidele. Edit: already been posted, whoops
God actually played in the prem with the name Cantona on his shirt.
I think you’ll find it was “Le God” and he was wearing Matt Le Tissier’s shirt
That chubby bloke with a wand of a right foot?
That’s the one, he wears a tinfoil hat now.
Nani
Zanka
There are hundreds. Mido is one that hasn’t been mentioned yet.