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 No1 from the four chosen nominees below!
All West Ham No1s since 1993/94 | |
|---|---|
1993-1998 | 2005-2007 |
1999-2001 | 2007-2012 |
2001-2003 | 2015-2017 |
2004-2005 | 2018-present |
Luděk Mikloško
DOB: 09.12.61 WHU: 1990-1998 Apps: 373 Clean Sheets: 125
The warmth with which Luděk ‘Ludo’ Mikloško is remembered by West Ham fans is demonstrated by the fact his song is still heard among the stands at London Stadium. The Czech stopper was 28 by the time he caught the attention of Hammers boss Lou Macari, who signed him in February 1990, just before he resigned from his role and was replaced by Club legend Billy Bonds. Mikloško was Hammer of the Year in 1991, the same season the team reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup and won promotion back to the top flight, and he was involved in another promotion-winning campaign two years later. Perhaps his most famous day in Claret and Blue came on the final day of the 1994/95 season, when he gave a Man of the Match performance in a 1-1 draw with Manchester United, preventing the Red Devils from winning the Premier League title.
Shaka Hislop
DOB: 22.02.69 WHU: 1998-2002, 2005-06 Apps: 157 Clean Sheets: 50
Trinidad & Tobago international Shaka Hislop was snapped up by then West Ham manager Harry Redknapp in the summer of 1998, having earlier started his professional career with Reading before moving on to Newcastle United in 1995. The 6’6 goalkeeper made an outstanding start to his time in east London, producing a consistent series of displays that saw him voted Hammer of the Year for the 1998/99 season - a campaign that saw West Ham finish fifth in the Premier League table. A broken leg suffered in the famous 5-4 home win over Bradford City curtailed Hislop’s progress the following term, but he recovered in time to take his place between the sticks at the beginning of the 2000/01 campaign. After initially leaving the Club in the summer of 2002, Hislop returned for a season three years later, featuring in the 2005/06 FA Cup final against Liverpool in Cardiff.
Rob Green
DOB: 18.01.80 WHU: 2006-2012 Apps: 241 Clean Sheets: 62
Rob Green arrived at the Boleyn Ground aged 26 in the summer of 2006, having made 241 appearances for boyhood club Norwich City and become only the sixth player in the Canaries’ history to play for England a year earlier. His 27 outings in all competitions during his first campaign in Claret and Blue helped West Ham secure Premier League safety, and a year later he was ever present in the top flight en route to the Hammer of the Year award. Green similarly featured in all 38 games in the 2008/09 and 2009/10 seasons, and missed just one in 2010/11 as the Hammers were unfortunately relegated to the EFL Championship. The 12-time capped international played a key role as the Irons secured an immediate return to the top tier, though, including starting the 2012 Play-Off final win over Blackpool at Wembley, before signing for Queens Park Rangers that summer.
Łukasz Fabiański
DOB: 18.04.85 WHU: 2018-present Apps: 199 Clean Sheets: 51
Current No1 Łukasz Fabiański is on the cusp of joining an illustrious group of players to have featured 200 times for West Ham, while he stands ninth on the Hammers’ list of all-time top Premier League appearance makers (181). The 57-time capped Poland international has made quite the impact in east London since joining from Swansea City in 2018, then, while he continues to demonstrate his class between the sticks as part of Julen Lopetegui’s 2024/25 squad, aged 39. Fabiański won the Hammer of the Year award at the end of his first season with the Irons, while he was part of the team that lifted the UEFA Europa Conference League trophy in 2023. Last season, he took to the field on 23 occasions in all competitions, including nine times en route to the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals.
