The discreet charm of the captain armband

Since the first international time between England and Scotland in 1872, Captains have been a key role in football. They’re there to flip the coin before kickoff, to decide who gets to kick the ball and as a reference point for the referee. Captain’s role has always been surrounded by myths, like his allegedly privilege to be the only one capable to argue with referees (not true). But if we can recognize captains it’s only thanks to their colorful armbands, which in years have become a cult object.

Last Saturday, before the game against AC Milan, Atalanta’s Papu Gomez has shown his brand new armband featuring a PlayStation 1 and the starting eleven from Winning Eleven’s Master League, the one with Castolo and Miranda. Papu is not new to this kind of things: his characteristic armbands are designed by his wife Linda and feature Holly and Benji, Spiderman and Pope Francis.

But Gomez is not the only one with custom armbands. Francesco Totti has always wore one with the Coliseum, wore upside down for superstition. This year, he has one with all his years spent with Roma, just like Zanetti before him with Inter Milan and Buffon for his 500th appearance.

Sometimes, then, the armband can assume higher and deeper meanings. Like Roberto Baggio’s one from when he played in Brescia. We’re talking about the “Soka Gakkai” armband, which accompanied him through his conversion to Buddhism.

Also Barcellona’s armband it’s very easy to notice. It has Catalogna’s colors and the writing “Capità”, Catalan for captain. 

However, one of the coolest armband in history is Ajax’s one, which has the symbols of city flag, making their captains arm immediately recognizable and incredibly fascinating.