Anthony Fontana to wear shirt number 31

The Philadelphia Union’s latest Homegrown Player will wear the same jersey number he made his first team debut in. Anthony Fontana will wear the number 31 for the Philadelphia Union next season when his first team contract becomes official. He wore the number in the friendly against Swansea City that ended in a 2-2 draw on July 15th. Previously at Bethlehem Steel FC he wore number 59.

The 17 year old Newark, Delaware native is not the first player to wear the 31 for the Union, however. In 2011, Chase Harrison became the first player to wear the number. He was followed by Cristhian Hernandez in 2012, who like Fontana was signed via the Homegrown Player mechanism (although the Union did get into a bit of trouble for it). The number found a bit of a more permanent home in 2013 when Jeff Parke wore it upon arrival from D.C. United. Parke wore it in both the 2013 and 2014 seasons.

This may all be a moot point however, since there will certainly be players coming and going between now and next season and new numbers could be opening up.