Jersey name and number size guide

Sizes by sport

Rules for professional competitions are stricter than what local leagues ask for. Always check your league's own rules if it has any.

Placement

• Name: centred, about 8 to 10 cm below the collar seam on adult sizes, curved or straight.
• Back number: centred below the name with a 2 to 4 cm gap.
• Front number: centred on the chest, or on the left chest opposite the crest.
• Shorts number: front left leg, a few centimetres above the hem.
• Sleeve number: on hockey and some cricket kits, centred on the upper sleeve.

Scaling across sizes

A number that looks right on M looks huge on a size 26 kids shirt and small on 3XL. Use one base size for M and scale it per size. A common approach, and the one AJILE's presets use, is about 85% of the M size for small sizes and 115% for large ones, with kids sizes going lower in steps.

Long names

Keep the letter height fixed and shrink only names that would overflow the name area. Shrinking every name to fit the longest one makes short names look lost. Check the hardest case, the longest name on the smallest size, with the name width calculator.

AJILE does this check for every player: it keeps the template size and only reduces a name once it would pass about 90% of the name area for that size.

Name and number size per jersey size (Tamil). Full course: /ajile/modules/

Contrast and outlines

Size is only half of readability. A 28 cm number in mid-grey on a navy shirt is harder to read from the stands than a 22 cm white number. On striped, hooped or full-sublimation designs, add an outline or a solid box behind the number in a colour that contrasts with every part of the pattern behind it. A 3 to 6 mm outline is common on adult kits; scale it down with the number for kids.

Curved or straight names

Football and basketball names are often arched slightly, cricket names are usually straight. If you arch names, set the arc on the base size and let it scale with the text; very long names on small sizes look better straight. Check a long name and a short name side by side, because the same arc can look very different on four letters and fourteen.

Number spacing and two-digit numbers

Two-digit numbers need tighter letter spacing than you would use for text, or they drift apart on the back. Test 11 (two thin digits) and 88 (two wide ones). If 88 does not fit the number area at your chosen height, either widen the area or reduce the height for all two-digit numbers on that size so the squad looks consistent.

A worked example

A club orders 20 football shirts from kids 28 to adult XL. Base size M: name 6.5 cm, back number 28 cm, front number 12 cm, shorts number 12 cm. The longest name is SUBRAMANIAN (11 letters). In a sports block font that is about 46 cm wide at 6.5 cm. With a 30 cm name area and a 90% margin, about 27 cm is usable, so the name has to shrink to roughly 60% on size M and further on smaller sizes. Short names such as RAJ keep 6.5 cm. Kids 28 scales everything to about 75%: name 4.9 cm, back number 21 cm. The name width calculator gives these numbers for your own names.

Questions