Why Bruno Guimarães wears the number 39 shirt

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·9 January 2024

Why Bruno Guimarães wears the number 39 shirt

Highlights

Bruno Guimarães wears the number 39 as a tribute to his father, who was a taxi driver in Brazil. It symbolizes the support and sacrifice his dad made for his football career.
Guimarães has worn the number 39 for every club he has played for, including his current team Newcastle United.
It has become a part of his identity as a player and holds sentimental value, although he can't wear it for Brazil.

Bruno Guimarães is one of the best midfielders in the Premier League right now. Regularly pulling the strings for Newcastle United, he dictates the play with his eye-catching passing and silky technical ability, while he's not afraid of putting in a strong tackle either.

One of the most striking things fans may notice about the player, however, is that he wears a pretty unusual number. While most first-team central midfielders take on traditional digits such as four, six, and eight, the Brazilian wears the number 39 shirt.

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He's so attached to that figure, in fact, that he's worn it for every club he's played for in his senior career – spanning across South America and Europe. It's for good reason too. Indeed, Guimarães wears the no.39 in homage to his father. Dick Guimarães was a taxi driver back in Brazil as that was his car's dispatch number.

Why Bruno Guimarães wears the no.39

He owes his career to taxi driver dad

It doesn't take long to figure out just how much the number means to Guimarães. If you go on his social media accounts, you can see the figure punctuating, in emoji form, many of his posts – to the point where it's almost become a signature.

As mentioned before, it's a reference to the dispatch number of his father’s taxi in Rio de Janeiro, but why does that have such significance for the midfielder? Well, in his article for The Players' Tribune, written in February 2023, Guimarães went into great detail about his upbringing and why his dad's job has been so key for him.

"The number tells a story more beautiful than words can say. 39. I know people think it’s a weird number for a footballer. But for me 39 is special — no, it’s more than that. It's magical. The number 39 gave me everything in life. It got me here to Newcastle. It fed me, clothed me, and paid for three-hour bus rides to pursue my dream. #039 was the dispatch number of my father’s taxi in Rio de Janeiro."

Later on in the article he went into more detail, saying:

"My mother worked in a motorcycle shop. My father, of course, was a taxi driver. In Brazil, especially in Rio, this is a tough life. You work basically all day and night. But that yellow taxi kept my dream alive. Pretty much the only day I saw my father was on Saturday, when he came to watch me play football. It made me nervous, to be honest. My father was my hero. I didn’t want to disappoint him. And he was quite hard on me, at first. Sometimes he’d even say, 'I’m tired of seeing you lose. You can have an extra hamburger today, but only if you win.'”

He felt so much pressure from his dad, though, that he struggled to perform as a kid when it came to playing actual games. But eventually, after some advice from a coach, Guimarães spoke with his father and asked him to ease up on the pressure as it was making him too tense. The conversation helped and "from that day, everything changed."

Bruno Guimarães' career

Why he doesn't wear number 39 for Brazil

The 26-year-old established himself with Athletico Paranaense, who he initially joined for the under-23 squad but soon did enough to break into the first team. It was his father's idea to wear the number 39 in reference to his taxi but the club had already assigned him a number before he could ask.

Incredibly, however, he had been given the #39 shirt anyway. He explained to The Players' Tribune that both he and his father started crying after this serendipitous moment and that that was the "start of the most beautiful period" of his life – "a period that continues to this day."

After a few seasons with Athletico Paranaense, he moved to Europe, signing for Lyon in 2020. In France, Guimarães quickly showed his quality, starting in Champions League knock-out stage victories against Juventus and Manchester City before his new side exited the competition after losing to Bayern Munich in the semi-finals. After impressing in Europe, the midfielder soon got a chance to shine on the international stage.

Having already featured for the under-23 team, he got his first Brazil cap in November 2020 and was part of the squad to travel to Qatar in 2022 for the World Cup. As kit numbers don't go up as high as number 39 at international level, he has had to settle for 22, 18, 17, 16, 15, and eight when representing the Seleção.

In January 2022, Guimarães joined Premier League club Newcastle United and immediately claimed his favourite kit number, which was unsurprisingly vacant. Since then, he's gone on to prove himself as one of the best midfielders in England, helping the Magpies reach the Champions League for the first time in 20 years with his fine displays across 2022/2023.