Chelsea midfielder Jorginho got his name misspelled on his shirt during the UEFA Super Cup final between Chelsea and Liverpool. But he is not the first footballer to have his name misspelt.
If you watched the UEFA Super Cup final between Chelsea and Liverpool, you might have noticed that Chelsea suffered a major gaffe after spelling Jorginho’s name wrong on the back of his shirt. Chelsea’s kitman misspelled the name of team’s number 5 kit featuring”Jorghino” instead of “Jorginho”. The Italian midfielder has been embracing his role under Frank Lampard but Blues fans could be forgiven for thinking he was a new signing. The 27-year-old lined up for the first All-English Super Cup clash with the Reds with his name wrongly spelt as “Jorghino” on his jersey. However the huge blunder didn’t seem to make any difference to the former Napoli man’s performance as he scored a penalty in extra-time… and against in the shootout as Chelsea lost 5-4 on spot-kicks in Istanbul. But Jorginho is not the first footballer to have his name misspelt. As you will see, it’s far from a rare occurance. Manchester United’s kitman for example previously made a blatant error on one of their squad member’s shirts. In 1997, David Beckham, a name we are all reasonably familiar with, took to the pitch for the Charity Shield against Chelsea as “Beckam”.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer suffered a tragic “k and s the wrong way round” fate in 2002. During the 2003 Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid, John O’Shea played as “S’hea”.
Take Sunderland midfielder James McClean and spot the minor mistake.
Sometimes unfortunate letters are left out entirely. Take poor former Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano.
Ultimately one of the biggest mistake was made on Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s shirt. And knowing his temper we wonder how he accepted to play with such a misspelled name on the back.
Everton managed to print ‘Deufoleu’ on the back of one of their replica shirts at team official shop for the club’s new signing from Barcelona.
Manchester United kitman turned Falcao player’s kit with “Flacao” and Di Maria became “Damaria”
And last but absolutely not least…Steven Gerrard in MLS played against San Josè with his name misspelled as “Gerrrad”
In 2006 former goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak had “Zuszczak” on his back for a Carling Cup tie with Crewe. While Kuszczak is admittedly a fairly challenging name to spell, anyone that’s ever written (or ironed-on) under pressure will tell you it’s often the subtle spellings that are the hardest to get right.
Your other common or garden spelling mistake is the transposing of letters. Victims have included occasional footballer David “Betnley” Bentley in his Blackburn days.
Or Roque Santa Cruz that became “Satna Cruz”.
Crystal Palace event went so far as to misspell their own name on their shirt for the 2004/05 season.
Manchester United midfielder Anderson came on as a second-half substitute during a 1-0 defeat at Goodison Park. As he waited to be allowed on, a fan spotted that the ‘R’ and ‘S’ on his shirt were the wrong way around.
Arnoutovic supposed to be Arnautovic…
But misspelled shirts also bring luck. American striker Chris Wondolowski scored a first-half hat-trick as the U.S. waltzed to a 6-1 victory over Belize in both teams’ CONCACAF Gold Cup. But for all the glory Wondo gathered for his performance, the name on the back of his shirt suggested someone else was doing all the work.
…and straight from the Italian Serie A, Juventus’s goalkeeper Szczesny, on his first appearance in a friendly with the Old Lady, appeared wearing the Number 23 jersey…with Szczesney’s name on the back.