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 No15 from the four chosen nominees below!
All West Ham No15s since 1993/94 | ||
|---|---|---|
1993-1996 | 2005-2007 | 2013-2014 |
1997-2000 | 2007-2008 | 2014-2018 |
2000-2002 | 2008-2011 | 2018-2020 |
2002-2003 | 2011-2012 | 2020-2023 |
2003-2005 | 2012 | 2023-present |
Kenny Brown
DOB: 11.07.67 WHU: 1991-1996 Apps: 79 Goals: 6
Joining your boyhood club is the dream of any footballer. But to follow in your father’s footsteps is something extra special.
Brown, son of West Ham legend Ken Brown, who played 474 times in Claret and Blue between 1953 and 1967, winning the 1964 FA Cup and the 1965 European Cup Winners’ Cup, made the move to east London from Plymouth off the back of making 126 league appearances and securing his place in Pilgrims history, as he was named Player of the Year for 1990/91.
After a chance meeting with then West Ham manager - and Club icon - Billy Bonds, the chance to work under an Irons hero in Bonds could not be turned down, and he penned an initial one-month contract.
While Brown’s debut for the Hammers wasn’t one for the purists, a 0-0 draw with Luton, it gave the lifelong fan his first experience of walking out at the Boleyn Ground for the Club he loves, just as his father had done for 14 years.
Brown’s displays convinced Bonds to acquire him on a long-term basis, but the Hammers endured a difficult 1991/92 campaign and were relegated to the second tier. However, they bounced back at the first attempt, and Brown went on to tally a total of 79 appearances for his beloved West Ham, scoring six goals along the way.
Even more special is that Brown now works as a leading figure within the Club’s iconic Academy of Football, overseeing the development of the next generation of West Ham talent as Academy Manager.
Yossi Benayoun
DOB: 05.05.80 WHU: 2005-2007, 2012 (loan) Apps: 78 Goals: 8
Signed by Alan Pardew from Racing Santander in July 2005, Yossi Benayoun became an instant crowd hero at Upton Park, captivating fans with his technical skills and joyful style of play combined with a cultured right foot and ability to score and create goals.
The Israel international attacking midfielder made his name as a youngster with Hapoel Be’er Sheva and Maccabi Haifa before moving to Spanish club Racing in 2002.
After debuting for West Ham in the season-opening 3-1 win over Blackburn Rovers in August 2005, the then 25-year-old scored his first Premier League goal in a 4-0 thrashing of Aston Villa a month later.
January 2006 saw Benayoun produce arguably his signature moment in Claret and Blue - a sumptuous chip in a 2-0 win over Fulham at the Boleyn Ground. The No15’s first season in England ended with a match-winner in a 2-1 top-flight victory over Tottenham and an FA Cup final appearance as West Ham were edged out by Liverpool on penalties after a thrilling 3-3 draw in Cardiff.
The 2006/07 season was more fraught but had a happier ending as Benayoun played a central role in the Irons’ great escape from relegation, scoring in a vital 3-0 win at Wigan Athletic in late April 2007.
After moving to Liverpool in summer 2007, the talented playmaker returned to east London in 2012, on loan from Chelsea, adding six appearances to take his final tally to 78, with eight goals and five assists.
Diafra Sakho
DOB: 24.12.89 WHU: 2014-2018 Apps: 71 Goals: 24
A prolific goalscorer in France with FC Metz, where he starred in the second and third tiers, Senegal international Diafra Sakho arrived at the Boleyn Ground in August 2014 as a virtual unknown to West Ham United supporters.
After making his Hammers debut in a 3-1 away win against Crystal Palace, the striker scored on his first start in an EFL Cup tie with Sheffield United three days later, before equalling Micky Quinn’s Premier League record by scoring on his first six starts in the competition, set in 1992, which subsequently saw Sakho awarded the top-flight Player of the Month award for October 2014.
Twenty-six appearances in his maiden campaign resulted in Sakho finishing as West Ham’s top scorer for the 2014/15 season, with 12 goals, ten in the league and one in both the FA Cup and EFL Cup. He then scored the Club’s first two goals in the Farewell Boleyn season, 2015/16, in the UEFA Europa League first qualifying round first leg against Andorran team FC Lusitanos.
Sakho, who had a happy knack of scoring ultra-important goals, netted West Ham’s third against Liverpool as the Hammers ended their 52-year wait for an Anfield win in August 2015, before scoring against Manchester City at Etihad Stadium a matter of weeks later, our only victory in 19 Premier League visits to City’s new home. He also then struck the opener in the final ever match at Upton Park, in May 2016, which finished in an unforgettable 3-2 victory over Manchester United.
Thigh, hamstring and complex back injuries, alongside off-field issues, ruled Sakho out of consistent action throughout the next few seasons, though he did score two goals in 14 league appearances during 2017/18 before departing for Rennes.
Craig Dawson
DOB: 06.05.90 WHU: 2020-2021 (loan), 2021-2023 Apps: 87 Goals: 9
A firm favourite among Hammers fans and his teammates alike, Craig Dawson was a cult hero in Claret and Blue.
After loan spells at Rochdale in EFL League One and Bolton Wanderers in the Championship, Dawson established himself as a reliable, if understated, member of the West Bromwich Albion team that remained in the Premier League for a sustained spell, playing 194 times for the Baggies in the top flight and scoring 14 goals.
Following relegation heartache with Watford in 2019/20, the defender was offered a route back to the Premier League by David Moyes, who initially signed Dawson on loan in October 2020, a move he made permanent in April 2021. When Dawson’s opportunity arrived, he took it in typical style, keeping clean sheets in his first four appearances and scoring a thumping headed winner at a rain-soaked Stockport County in the FA Cup third round.
Dawson became a vital member of Moyes’ squad, helping the Hammers finish sixth in the Premier League in 2020/21, then by making 50 appearances as West Ham finished seventh and reached the UEFA Europa League semi-finals the following year. Indeed, he was voted into the 2021/22 Europa League Team of the Season by UEFA’s Technical Observer panel.
Despite leaving the Club in January 2023 for personal reasons, Dawson received a winner’s medal after West Ham won the 2023 UEFA Europa Conference League final in Prague, and he continues to ply his trade at Wolverhampton Wanderers at the age of 34.
