Orlando City Shirt Number Changes for 2018 Revealed

The off-season is really boring. It’s so boring, in fact, that little changes on your favorite club’s website generally don’t go unnoticed for long. Such changes on the Orlando City SC website appear to have given away some shirt number swaps for the upcoming 2018 MLS season.

Chief among these changes is that striker Dom Dwyer is now listed as No. 14, the number he wore at Sporting Kansas City. Dwyer wore 18 for the Lions after making the move from SKC in the summer transfer window. Giles Barnes was wearing No. 14 upon Dwyer’s arrival in Orlando. Dwyer wore No. 9 while playing with Orlando in the USL in 2013. That number is occupied by Cyle Larin, who switched from No. 21 prior to the 2016 season. Confusing? Nah, not too bad.

Defender Jose Aja is now shown as the No. 18 after wearing No. 4 since arriving in Orlando in 2016. Midfielder Will Johnson, who wore No. 8 in 2017, is now showing as the club’s No. 4 on the roster page.

The two newest Lions — forward Stefano Pinho and defender RJ Allen — are listed without jersey numbers on the OCSC roster page. Pinho has said publicly he believes he’ll be wearing No. 33 this season.

Allen wore No. 27 in his three seasons with New York City FC, but that number is currently occupied by Rafael Ramos.

So, there you have it. As Rush famously said in Tom Sawyer, changes aren’t permanent, but change is.