Barcelona's announcement on Sunday regarding the squad numbers for their reserve team, Atlètic, sparked widespread controversy due to the official inclusion of Egyptian professional Hamza Abdulkarim in the released list.
Barcelona Atlètic issued an official statement concerning their player roster and shirt numbers for the current 2026/27 season, where Hamza Abdulkarim's name appeared alongside shirt number 19.
This comes just days after the publication of FC Barcelona's first-team squad list for the current season, which also included Hamza Abdulkarim, assigning him shirt number 29.
Both developments have caused confusion among Barcelona fans in general, and particularly among supporters of Hamza Abdulkarim and Egyptian enthusiasts.
Hamza Abdulkarim had joined Barcelona from Al-Ahly on loan last February, spending the latter half of the previous season with the Under-19 youth team.
Subsequently, Barcelona activated the permanent purchase clause in Hamza Abdulkarim's contract that summer. He joined the first-team training camp under manager Hans Flick in preparation for the new season, emerging as the top scorer during that period with 4 goals.
Following this, Hamza Abdulkarim has appeared in Barcelona's matchday squads for every La Liga game so far this season: against Elche, Athletic Bilbao, and Rayo Vallecano, where he came off the bench for a few minutes, and most recently against Valencia.
Moreover, Hamza Abdulkarim was included in Barcelona's squad registered for the UEFA Champions League, where the team begins its campaign with a match against Feyenoord next Wednesday.
The question now arises: how can Hamza Abdulkarim's name be officially listed in both Barcelona's first-team and reserve-team squads for the same season, yet with two different shirt numbers?
Simply put, the first team has the right to assign shirt numbers between 1 and 25 to its players; this list comprises what could be termed the core or first-team players. If reserve players are included, they receive higher numbers.
Therefore, Hamza Abdulkarim wears shirt number 29 for FC Barcelona's first team, indicating that administratively he belongs to the reserve team and does not hold a first-team registration card.
But why was Hamza Abdulkarim officially registered in Barcelona's squad with the Spanish Football League (La Liga)? The answer lies in the regulations: this step is necessary to allow manager Hans Flick to include the Egyptian player in La Liga matchday squads; otherwise, the league system would not recognize him and would automatically prevent his participation.
Conversely, a reserve team player can participate with the first team in the Copa del Rey without being officially registered with that team, because the cup competition falls under the jurisdiction of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), not La Liga.
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To summarize, Hamza Abdulkarim currently belongs administratively to Barcelona's reserve team but is registered with the first team at La Liga to enable his regular participation in league matches. Simultaneously, he remains eligible to play for Atlètic if summoned by coach Juliano Belletti when needed.
In contrast, a player like Xavi Espart was officially promoted from the youth academy to the first team, removed from Atlètic's roster, and assigned shirt number 12 within Hans Flick's squad. What does this mean? It signifies that he can no longer play for the reserve team and is now fully registered exclusively with the first team.
We can now address the matter of shirt numbers: why does Hamza Abdulkarim wear different numbers for Barcelona's first and reserve teams?
As previously mentioned, Hamza Abdulkarim cannot wear a shirt number below 25 for the first team as long as his administrative registration remains with the reserve team; therefore, he must wear a higher number.
He wears shirt number 19 for Atlètic because he is officially registered with the reserve team. Core players in that squad wear numbers between 1 and 24, while numbers above that range are assigned to players called up from the younger梯队, specifically the Under-19 team.
Thus, this situation represents a tightly regulated circle of laws governing football in Spain, which automatically applies to Barcelona across all age-group teams.
Consequently, including Hamza Abdulkarim in Barcelona Atlètic's roster for the current season and announcing his shirt number signifies nothing surprising or negative regarding his future at Camp Nou. It is entirely a standard procedure and reflects no intention from Hans Flick to relinquish the 18-year-old from the first team.
