The Joan Gamper Trophy squad presentation is usually a photo opportunity. On Wednesday it doubled as an admin dump: the Barcelona squad numbers for 2026-27 were finally made public as the players walked out at the Spotify Camp Nou, and the headline is the obvious one. Rodri is the club’s new No. 16.
The number was never really in doubt — he wore it at Atlético Madrid, at Manchester City and with Spain — but it is confirmed now, and Barça Universal report the shirts were on sale in the Camp Nou club shop before he had even been presented to the crowd. Mundo Deportivo called it “Rodrimanía”, with both the home and away kits already printed up.
Rodri’s 16 sets off a chain reaction
Handing the 16 to a new signing meant moving somebody first. Fermín López has vacated it and taken the No. 7 left behind by Ferran Torres, a promotion in shirt terms that says plenty about where the academy midfielder now sits in Hansi Flick’s thinking.
Elsewhere, Joan García has inherited the No. 1 from Marc-André ter Stegen, who is at Ajax on loan, with Wojciech Szczęsny dropping into the 13. Karim Adeyemi takes the 14 that Marcus Rashford wore last season. Héctor Fort has been given the 12, although Mundo Deportivo note the academy defender is still expected to leave. Two numbers sit empty for now: the 4 that belonged to Ronald Araújo, gone to Liverpool on loan, and — pointedly, with a striker still to be signed before 31 August — Robert Lewandowski’s 9.
The full Barcelona squad numbers for 2026-27
- 1 Joan García
- 3 Alejandro Balde
- 5 Pau Cubarsí
- 6 Gavi
- 7 Fermín López
- 8 Pedri
- 10 Lamine Yamal
- 11 Raphinha
- 12 Héctor Fort
- 13 Wojciech Szczęsny
- 14 Karim Adeyemi
- 15 Andreas Christensen
- 16 Rodri
- 17 Marc Casadó
- 18 Gerard Martín
- 19 Roony Bardghji
- 20 Dani Olmo
- 21 Frenkie de Jong
- 22 Marc Bernal
- 23 Jules Koundé
- 24 Eric García
- 25 Anthony Gordon
The one riddle left: Anthony Gordon
Gordon walked out in the 25, but Mundo Deportivo report that everything points to the England winger ending up in the 17 — the number he wore on his debut at Basel. The obstacle is that the 17 still belongs to Marc Casadó, whose exit is still being resolved. Until that is done, Gordon stays in the 25.
Jesse Bisiwu, meanwhile, was presented as a Barça Atlètic player wearing the 27 and has not been given a first-team number at all — no small footnote for a teenager who scored twice on his debut against Basel.
And then there is João Cancelo, who had the strangest night of anyone. Mundo Deportivo report the Portuguese full-back had already changed into the Barça kit with the No. 2 on his back and was waiting in the tunnel when he was told he could not walk out, because his signing has not been made official. A bureaucratic hold-up has pushed the announcement to Thursday; he watched the game from the front row alongside Rodri instead.
So: one Ballon d’Or winner in the 16, one academy graduate promoted to the 7, two numbers waiting on exits and a vacant 9 that tells you exactly what the Blaugrana still have to do in the eleven days left of this window.
