Random numbering
Pelé was the only one in the Brazilian delegation to use the “correct number” in this edition, according to the CBF website. Goalkeeper Gilmar, for example, received 3, while Zagallo and Garrincha “swapped numbers”. The first normally wore a size 11 and stayed at a size seven. The second was given the number 11 instead of the number seven. The number 9 was taken over by the substitute defender Zózimo.
There is no clear explanation for this problem. According to one version, the group's official list was not submitted in time to FIFA, which was responsible for numbering the players.
Zagallo risks a motive. He can't remember exactly, but he has a vague recollection that the number comes from the order of the suitcases listed on the trip.
I don't know for sure, but I think they sent the number that they put on our suitcases that we traveled with. That can only be the explanation, because I still remember that the number seven was written on my suitcase. Zagallo, to CBF
Pelé himself has already given different versions of why he received the number. “It got to the point where the number 10 shirt was left out in the FIFA draw,” he said in an old interview with Esporte Interativo. He said on Santos TV in 2014: “At the 1958 World Championships in Sweden, I was the tenth Brazilian athlete to be registered. That’s why I was number ten for the team in their first world title.”