In heraldry, supporters are figures usually placed on either side of the shield and depicted holding it up. These figures may be real or imaginary animals, human figures, and in rare cases plants or inanimate objects. Often these can have local significance, such as the fisherman and the tin miner granted to Cornwall County Council, or a historical link, such as the lion of England and unicorn of Scotland on the two variations of the Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom. The arms of nutritionist John Boyd-Orr use two garbs (wheat sheaves) as supporters; the arms of the USS Donald Cook, missiles; the arms of the state of Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil, trees.Letters of the alphabet are used as supporters in the arms of Valencia, Spain.

Human supporters can also be allegorical figures, or, more rarely, specifically named individuals.

There is usually one supporter on each side of the shield, though there are some examples of single supporters placed behind the shield, and the arms of the Congo provide an extremely unusual example of supporters issuing from behind the shield. While such single supporters are generally eagles (City of Perth, Scotland) with one or two heads, there are other examples, including the cathedra in the case of some Canadian cathedrals. At the other extreme and even rarer the Scottish family Dundas of that Ilk, had three supporters; two conventional red lions and the whole supported by a salamander. The coat of arms of Iceland even has four supporters.

Mathieu Valbuena (French pronunciation: [matjø valbwena]; born 28 September 1984) is a French international footballer who plays for Marseille in Ligue 1. He plays as an attacking midfielder and a winger and is known for his quickness, technical ability, and tenacious style of play. He is described by his former coach at Libourne Saint-Seurin Didier Tholot as "an explosive player who is capable of quickly taking two opponents out of the game to create space, above all due to his dribbling skills." Due to his small stature, Valbuena is nicknamed le petit vélo, which translates to "the small bike". This is a play on Valbuena's size and the fact that Marseille's home ground is called the Stade Vélodrome.

Valbuena began his career at professional club Bordeaux. He was let go from the club after two seasons and subsequently joined amateur club Langon-Castets in the fifth division of French football. In 2004, Valbuena joined Libourne Saint-Seurin in the Championnat National, the third level of French football. The midfielder had a good 2005–06 season with the club and signed with Ligue 1 club Marseille, prior to the 2006–07 season. With Marseille, Valbuena played in the UEFA Champions League for the first time and, in the 2009–10 season, was part of the team that won the league and league cup double, as well as the Trophée des champions.