There are 22 players on the field, or pitch as it’s known, with one referee running amongst them. The numbers on the back of a player’s jersey remove the need for a referee to remember a specific player’s name. Jersey numbers are used in soccer primarily for identification. On top of this, there are also around 20 teams in a professional soccer league. That means that over 50 people can be directly involved with the game, and 22 of those are playing on the field.