Throughout the 2024/25 season, we're taking a look at some of the best players to have worn a range of squad numbers for West Ham United, since they were introduced for the start of the 1993/94 campaign.
Vote for your favourite No13 from the four chosen nominees below!
All West Ham No13s since 1993/94 | |
|---|---|
1993-1994 | 2006 |
1994 | 2007 |
1996-1997 | 2008-2011 |
1997-1998 | 2011 |
1998 | 2012-2013 |
1999-2000 | 2013-2019 |
2001-2002 | 2019-2020 |
2005-2006 | 2021-2023 |
Marc-Vivien Foé
DOB: 01.05.75 WHU: 1999-2000 Apps: 48 Goals: 2
It is 21-and-a-half years since former West Ham United favourite Marc-Vivien Foé tragically passed away at the age of just 28. The midfielder collapsed while playing for his country, Cameroon, against Colombia in the semi-finals of the FIFA Confederations Cup at the Stade de Gerland in Lyon, France, on 26 June 2003.
Born on 1 May 1975, Foé started out with local club Canon Yaoundé before moving to France and making his name with RC Lens, then arriving in east London in the same week as Paolo Di Canio for a record £4.2m fee and going on to represent the Club 48 times between January 1999 and May 2000.
A tall, athletic, strong and combative all-round midfield player, Foé helped Harry Redknapp’s Hammers finish fifth in the Premier League and win the UEFA Intertoto Cup in his first months in Claret and Blue, and was part of arguably the most exciting West Ham team since the 1980s.
The first of his two goals came in a UEFA Cup victory over NK Osijek in Croatia in September 1999, while the second was scored in a thrilling 4-3 Premier League win over Sheffield Wednesday at Upton Park two months later.
In 2000, after helping the Hammers finish ninth in the Premier League, Foé moved back to France, joining Lyon, who had qualified for the UEFA Champions League.
Luís Boa Morte
DOB: 04.08.77 WHU: 2007-2011 Apps: 109 Goals: 2
A popular and bubbly character, Luís Boa Morte moved to Arsenal at the age of 19, later making his name as a lightning-quick forward with Fulham. After joining West Ham United in January 2007 for a £5m fee, the Portugal international helped the Club stave off relegation in his first half-season in east London.
Not necessarily renowned for his goalscoring prowess, Boa Morte made a bright start to life in Claret and Blue when he set up two goals against former club Fulham on his West Ham debut on 13 January 2007, before scoring his first goal for the Hammers in an important 3-0 win against Wigan Athletic at the JJB Stadium.
Having made 64 appearances across the next two Premier League campaigns, Boa Morte recovered from an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury suffered in July 2009, battling back to fitness and scoring on his return to first-team action, and being rewarded with a new two-year contract in June 2010.
On the international front, he represented Portugal’s senior side on 28 occasions and featured at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
After leaving the Hammers in August 2011, Boa Morte continued to play football around the globe, with Athlitiki Enosi Larissa in Greece, Orlando Pirates in South Africa and then Chesterfield back in the UK. Boa Morte was ultra-competitive as a player and has built a successful career as a manager, and he is currently in charge of the Guinea-Bissau national team.
Adrián
DOB: 03.01.87 WHU: 2013-2019 Apps: 150 Clean Sheets: 43
When Adrián joined West Ham United in the summer of 2013 from Real Betis, he was a virtual unknown to the Claret and Blue Army. Six years on, after half-a-dozen memorable seasons and 150 appearances, he left east London a cult hero and a modern-day icon.
After being spotted by goalkeeper coach Martyn Margetson during a breakthrough 2012/13 season with Spanish La Liga club Betis, the Hammers moved quickly to bring the then 26-year-old to the Boleyn Ground on a free transfer.
Having initially waited patiently for his chance as manager Sam Allardyce remained loyal to the experienced Jussi Jääskeläinen, he was handed an opportunity in the Premier League fixture at Manchester United four days before Christmas 2013, and he took it with both gloved hands. By the end of the 2013/14 season, Adrián’s spectacular displays had earned him the Signing of the Season and Best Individual Performance awards, and saw him voted runner-up to Mark Noble for Hammer of the Year by the Club’s supporters.
Arguably the standout moment of Adrián’s career in Claret and Blue occurred on 13 January 2015, when the Hammers hosted Everton in an FA Cup third-round replay. After an enthralling 120 minutes of action, the tie went to penalties, with Adrián converting his own spot-kick to send West Ham through.
He was again named Hammer of the Year runner-up in 2015 - this time to Aaron Cresswell - and remained the Irons’ first choice for the following, historic Farewell Boleyn campaign, before earning a call-up to the full Spain squad for the first time in August 2016.
The signing of Łukasz Fabiański in summer 2018 put an end to his Premier League career with the Hammers, but his contribution during a historic period in the Club’s history will never be forgotten.
Alphonse Areola
DOB: 27.02.93 WHU: 2021-2022 (loan), 2022-present Apps: 86 Clean Sheets: 24
Current No23 Alphonse Areola was initially allocated the No13 shirt under David Moyes for the first two seasons of his time at West Ham United, where he has made 86 appearances and kept 24 clean sheets in all competitions to date.
Areola, who played a starring role in the team’s run to the UEFA Europa League semi-finals in 2021/22, keeping five clean sheets, conceding just eight goals and making numerous important saves in his eleven appearances while on loan from Paris Saint-Germain, returned on a permanent five-year contract until the summer of 2027, with a further one-year option.
The five-time capped French international became a firm favourite during his debut season in Claret and Blue, also helping West Ham to memorable Carabao Cup victories over Manchester United - on debut - and Manchester City, earning the Player of the Round award after making seven saves in the latter. He made 29 saves in the aforementioned eleven Europa League ties, including a vital, spectacular one-handed stop to deny Sevilla’s Youssef En-Nesyri that paved the way for West Ham’s 2-0 round of 16 second-leg victory at London Stadium and earned him the Save of the Season award.
Areola went on to keep ten clean sheets in 23 2022/23 appearances in all competitions and was ever-present between the sticks en route to the unforgettable UEFA Europa Conference League success, which subsequently saw him named in the tournament’s Team of the Season.
Another 33 appearances and four clean sheets followed during 2023/24, when he won the Premier League Save of the Month gong for October. Areola has remained an integral member of the team in this ongoing campaign, and has made 12 appearances in all competitions so far.
