Pure magic: Jamal Musiala and the evolution of the cult number 10

Jamal Musiala is back – now wearing number 10 for FC Bayern and the German national team. In a long history of special players, he represents a position that is designed to create unique moments and goals – precisely because it constantly reinvents freedom in football..

There are shirt numbers in football that are just digits on the team sheet. And there’s the 10: not a number, but a promise – of creativity, technical skill and magical moments. In July 2025, Jamal Musiala took over this squad number at FC Bayern – and is now fulfilling the number 10 role on the pitch since his comeback in January. People who don’t understand football might see that as simply an administrative change; for fans of the game, it’s a ceremonial act. Jamal is now ‘our’ 10. “It was always my dream to wear the 10 at FC Bayern,” the 22-year-old said in an interview. He knows the special history of his new shirt number, feels the new “pressure and responsibility”, but also speaks of an incentive, an “extra push”.

Musiala is not your classic playmaker like Michel Platini or Mesut Özil, who controls the play from deep. That’s exactly why this number suits him so well in 2026, because today the 10 symbolises players who recognise, create and occupy spaces; who combine speed, creativity and decision-making. In an era in which a lot of teams play without a traditional number 10, Musiala interprets the role in a highly modern way. He is not an architect of static play, but a designer in dynamic space. The number 10 hasn’t disappeared, it’s just changed its position, its body and its purpose.

From function to magic

The history of the number 10 begins not with glamour, but with bureaucracy. At the start of the 19th century, the newly introduced squad numbers were ordered according to positions: 1 to 11 followed a basic formation, from back to front, and the number 10 was given to the player who linked the midfield and the attack, creating chancess and regularly scoring themselves.

It was this simple formula that saw a 17-year-old Pelé allocated the number 10 at the 1958 World Cup – and he turned it into a symbol of genius and flair. Thanks to his dribbling, vision and attacking instinct, he racked up an incredible number of goal contributions. He largely has himself to thank for the fact that he remains the only footballer to become a world champion as a player three times. In 14 World Cup appearances, he registered a phenomenal 12 goals and nine assists.

Transformed by intensity

The 1970s and 1980s were the golden age of the classic playmaker. Platini, for example, combined goalscoring with brilliant passing: high technical quality, excellent vision, a mixture of determination and elegance. In the late 80s, the role of the 10 began to change. Diego Maradona was the archetypal 10 of this period: not a static orchestrator but a creative bundle of energy. His close ball control, the ability to sidestep as many as eight opponents and control the tempo in one-v-ones, made him a player who could decide games. Argentina’s 1986 World Cup win bears his signature. The solo goal in the quarter-finals against England, where he ran over 50 metres, remains a lesson in how an individual can wipe out an entire system. 

Lothar Matthäus also wore number 10, although not as a classic creative player. He was the tireless one-man midfield pivot: physically strong, with great presence, leadership qualities and tactical versatility. In Germany’s 1990 World Cup triumph, he was of course a major factor from a technical point of view as well – with 54 completed passes per game he was the side’s second-best distributor. At the same time, he averaged five tackles per match and protected the defence.

In the late 1990s, Zinédine Zidane merged elegance with adaptability. He operated in tight spaces, between the lines, with great ball control and passing quality. He was the bridge between the classic playmaker and modern game intelligence: technically brilliant, physically strong, tactically smart. Scoring goals was less of a focus for him, as reflected by the fact he set up more goals (174) than he scored (156) in his career.

Number 10 reinvented

With increasing intensity and pressing, the creativity shifted from the centre into agile spaces. Lionel Messi freed the number 10 from its firm place in the middle, dropping back, drifting out to the right wing, playing in the half-spaces, attacking from everywhere. Between 2007/08 and 2021/22, he scored at least 10 goals and set up at least 10 more in every league season. For Barcelona alone, he registered a whopping 672 goals and 303 assists in 778 competitive appearances – proof of how he expertly combined goal threat and playmaking.

Musiala is following in this tradition – but in his own way. If you ask him which 10s have inspired me, he first of all names our Mr Wembley, Arjen Robben – his “big childhood idol”, as he revealed to us. “When you see what the number 10 signifies, there's a huge responsibility to it,” says Musiala. Robben was not a number 10 in terms of his position, but a difference maker with signature moves. Musiala associates this combination of individual class and high demands with his new number, but also says confidently: “I was given the number because I’ve delivered and performed over the years.”

Musiala combines dynamism, creativity and goal threat

Anyone who watches him for Bayern quickly recognises that Musiala doesn’t get things moving through long, defence-splitting passes, but through dribbling, changes of pace and the constant breaking of lines. That’s shown in the stats as well. With 3.1 progressive passes per 90 minutes, he is below the average for comparable central attacking midfielders in Europe's top leagues. However, he’s at the top in other disciplines: 3.4 progressive runs, 6.6 successful dribbles – Musiala brings the ball into the danger zones himself. With one of his signature moves, for example: he drops between the lines, spins away from his man with the first touch and accelerates towards goal with close control.

Football pundits speak of so-called “box crashers” – players who cause problems with clever runs into the penalty area. Last season, Musiala’s number of touches in the box increased by 28 percent and his expected goals by 79 percent. In the 3-0 victory at home to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League round of 16 last year, for example. he was in the perfect place to tap in the second goal. Musiala remains the technician occupying space, and is also increasingly a goal-getter with killer instinct. It’s this mix that makes him so special in the 10 position.

Musiala’s mission: Inventing instead of remembering

What characterises Musiala is more than goal threat – it’s his influence on the structure of a game. His freedom of movement, whether it’s on the halfway line or the edge of the penalty area, gives his team structure and confuses opponents. Under Vincent Kompany, he floats between the lines, taking up positions in central midfield, attacking midfield and on the wings, moving both horizontally and vertically, which makes him difficult to control. This fluidity is crucial to Bayern’s system, as Kompany’s team often come up against man-to-man marking and low blocks. Musiala’s switches of position open up gaps in the opposition defence, pull players out of position and create spaces for teammates.

Five FC Bayern legends explain what it meant to them to wear the number 10 shirt:

Comparisons with historic number 10s are obvious with this shirt number – but at the same time, they don't do Musiala justice. What sets him apart is not copying, but creating. “I play the way I play,” he says. “I'm not going to change my style because of the number 10.” And that's a good thing.

The fact that FC Bayern and Germany are now handing him the number 10 shirt is more than a sign of trust: it’s a statement. Musiala is not supposed to just be the next number 10 – he should carry the 10 into a new era. Because he recognises spaces before they arise. Because he exploits windows of opportunity when they open even just a crack. And because he can make the difference with every move he makes.

Just as Pelé gave the 10 its meaning, just as Maradona made it legendary and just as Messi gave it freedom, Musiala represents the here and now in the constant evolution of the beautiful game. He’s a 10 who doesn’t dwell on the past but reinvents the game yet again.

The whole articles appears in the February edition of FC Bayern Members’ Magazine ‘51’: