List of retired numbers in association football

Association football clubs around the world sometimes retire squad numbers to recognise players' loyal service, most as a memorial after their death.

Background

Signed jersey worn by Diego Maradona during his tenure on Italian club Napoli, exhibited at the San Siro Museum of Milan. The number 10 he wore was retired by Napoli in 2000.

This practice, long established in the major North American sports, is a recent development in football elsewhere, since squad numbers for specific players were not widely used until the 1990s. Before then, it was typical for players in the starting lineup to be issued numbers 1 to 11 by formation/position on a match-by-match basis, and substitutes to be numbered from 12 upwards, meaning a player might wear different numbers during the season if they were to play in different positions for tactical reasons, or simply not be a regular in the starting lineup.

In contrast, in the American league NASL, players have always worn permanent numbers since its inception in 1967. ^[2] Moreover, Pelé's #10 was retired by the New York Cosmos during the farewell of the Brazilian star on 1 October 1977, ^[3] probably becoming the first number ever retired in association football. ^[4]

Mexico was a pioneer country in the use of permanent numbers in football; these were adopted in the Primera División in the 1980s. ^[5]

Retiring a player's shirt number usually occurs after the player has left the team or retired. It honours a player who has meant much to his club, and no other player is permitted to use that number in the future. In some cases, such as those of Jason Mayélé, Vittorio Mero, Marc-Vivien Foé, Miklós Fehér, Ray Jones, Dylan Tombides, François Sterchele, David di Tommaso, Antonio Puerta, Besian Idrizaj, Piermario Morosini and Davide Astori, numbers have been retired to posthumously honour a player who died while still active. Also, Norwegian club Fredrikstad retired Dagfinn Enerly's number following an on-pitch accident that left him paralysed. In Britain, only Bobby Moore's, Jack Lester's and Jude Bellingham's shirt numbers have been retired due to great service to the club as opposed to a tragic incident. Although it had not been officially retired, Gianfranco Zola's No. 25 shirt had not been reissued by Chelsea since he left the club in 2003 until re-issued to Moisés Caicedo in 2023. ^[6]

The Argentina, Ecuador and Cameroon national teams have been prevented from retiring the numbers of Diego Maradona (10), Christian Benítez (11) ^[7] and Marc-Vivien Foé (17), respectively, by FIFA rules dealing with squad numbers for Finals tournaments; in other competitions, qualifiers or friendlies, national associations may assign numbers according to criteria of their choosing. Similarly, several clubs have been required to reissue retired numbers for continental club competitions due to squad numbering rules of continental confederations. For example, CAF ^[8] and CONMEBOL have such rules in their club competitions, ^[9] but CONCACAF does not.

Some South American teams (such as Universitario de Deportes and Flamengo, and even Mexican teams invited for the occasions) occasionally had to re-issue their retired numbers for special cases due to CONMEBOL rules, which stated that shirts had to be numbered 1–25/30 in continental club competitions (such as Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana, among others), although nowadays clubs are not forced to number their players consecutively.

Retired numbers

Team	No.	Player	Pos.	Tenure	Notes
Godoy Cruz	18	Santiago García	FW	2016–21	Posthumous [n3 1]
Central Coast Mariners	19	Matt Simon	FW	2006–12, 2013–15, 2018–22	Club legend [14]
Red Bull Salzburg	26	Jonathan Soriano	FW	2012–17	Club legend [15]
Sturm Graz	3	Günther Neukirchner	DF	1989–2006	Club legend
Sturm Graz	7	Mario Haas	FW	1993–2012	Club legend
SV Ried	27	Sanel Kuljić	FW	2003–06
Club Brugge	23	François Sterchele	FW	2007–08	Posthumous [16]
Genk	16	Anele Ngcongca	DF	2007–16	Posthumous
OH Leuven	13	Bjorn Ruytinx	FW	2004–14	Club legend
UR Namur	3	Michel Soulier	DF	1967–77	Posthumous
Avaí	88	Cléber Santana	MF	2012, 2013–14	Posthumous [17]
São Paulo	01	Rogério Ceni	GK	1990–2015	Club legend. [n3 2]
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	8	Hristo Bonev	MF	1963–67, 1968–79, 1982–84	Club legend
Ludogorets Razgrad	84	Marcelinho	MF	2011–20	Club legend
CF Montréal	20	Mauro Biello	FW	1993–98, 2000–09	Club legend
Serbian White Eagles	9	Mike Stojanović	FW	1973–76	Club legend [19]
Vancouver Whitecaps	5	Bob Lenarduzzi	DF	1974–1984, 1987–1993	Club legend
Vancouver Whitecaps	10	Domenic Mobilio	FW	1987–2001	Club legend [20]
Cobreloa	8	Fernando Cornejo	MF	1992–97, 2000–04	Posthumous
Beijing Enterprises	24	Cheick Tioté	MF	2017	Posthumous
Beijing Guoan	13	Xu Yunlong	DF	1999–2016	Club legend
Chengdu Blades	18	Yao Xia	FW	2005–10	Club legend
Dalian Shide	26	Zhang Yalin	MF	2000–09	Posthumous
Dalian Transcendence	17	Wang Renlong	FW	2014	Posthumous
Heilongjiang Ice City	5	Ren Jianglong	DF	2015–22	Posthumous
Alajuelense	20	Mauricio Montero	DF	1987–98	Club legend
Cartaginés	11	Leonel Hernández	FW	1957–1977	Club legend
Anorthosis Famagusta	14	Temur Ketsbaia	MF	1991–94, 2002–09	Club legend
Baník Ostrava	27	Milan Baroš	FW	1998–01, 2013, 2014–15, 2017–20	No. retired in 2020 [21]
České Budějovice	8	Karel Poborský	MF	1991–94, 2005–07	Club legend
Viktoria Plzeň	27	František Rajtoral	DF/MF	2009–2016	Posthumous
Viktoria Plzeň	28	Marián Čišovský	DF	2011–2014	Posthumous
AaB	12	Torben Boye	DF	1984–2002	Club legend
Nordsjælland	26	Jonathan Richter	MF	2005–09	After retirement [n3 3]
Næstved BK	7	Rasmus Green	MF	2005–06	Posthumous
Viborg FF	22	Søren Frederiksen	FW	1989–94, 1998, 2001–05
Accrington Stanley	29	Billy Kee	FW	2009–10, 2015–20	Prematurely retired [n3 4]
Birmingham City	22	Jude Bellingham	MF	2019–20	[n3 5]
Chesterfield	14	Jack Lester	FW	2007–13	Club legend
Hartlepool United	25	Michael Maidens	MF	2004–07	Posthumous [23]
Macclesfield Town	21	Richard Butcher	MF	2010–11	Posthumous [24]
Manchester City	23	Marc-Vivien Foé	MF	2002–03	Posthumous. [n3 6]
Millwall	20	Matija Sarkic	GK	2023–24	Posthumous [25]
Queens Park Rangers	31	Ray Jones	FW	2006–07	Posthumous [23]
Rushden & Diamonds	1	Dale Roberts	GK	2008–10	Posthumous [26]
West Ham United	6	Bobby Moore	DF	1958–74	Posthumous [23]
West Ham United	38	Dylan Tombides [27]	FW	2010–14	Posthumous
Wycombe Wanderers	14	Mark Philo	MF	2004–2006	Posthumous [n3 7]
Clermont	14	Clément Pinault	DF	2008–09	Posthumous
Lens	17	Marc-Vivien Foé	MF	1995–99	Posthumous
Nantes	9	Emiliano Sala	FW	2015–19	Posthumous [29]
Nice	17	Kevin Anin	MF	2012–13	Prematurely retired [n3 8]
Rennes	29	Romain Danzé	DF	2006–19	Club legend [31]
Saint-Étienne	24	Loïc Perrin	DF	2003–20	Club legend
Sedan	29	David di Tommaso	DF	2000–04	Posthumous
Bayern Munich	5	Franz Beckenbauer	DF	1964–1977	Posthumous
Wacker Burghausen	11	Marek Krejčí	FW	2004–07	Posthumous
VfL Wolfsburg	19	Junior Malanda	MF	2012–15	Posthumous
AEL	29	Mathías Acuña	FW	2021–22	Posthumous
AEL	24	Kobe Bryant	Shooting guard	2020	Posthumous
Panathinaikos	32	George Baldock	DF	2024	Posthumous
PAOK	17	Panagiotis Katsouris	MF	1996–98	Posthumous
Skoda Xanthi	13	Olubayo Adefemi	DF	2010–11	Posthumous
Skoda Xanthi	56	Steve Gohouri	DF	2013–14	Posthumous
C.S.D. Municipal	15	Juan Carlos Plata	FW	1990–2010	Club legend
Roulado	7	Jean-Robert Menelas	FW	1993–2007	[n3 9]
Olimpia	11	Wilmer Velásquez	FW	1991–2009	Club legend
Happy Valley	8	Cheung Sai Ho	MF	1994–2011	Posthumous
Hong Kong Rangers	15	Cheung Yiu Lun	DF	1992–99, 2001–02	Posthumous
Sham Shui Po	83	Wong Chun Hin	MF	2022	Posthumous
South China	38	Mateja Kežman	FW	2011, 2012	Club legend [34]
Kitchee	19	Huang Yang	MF	2011–24	Club legend [35]
Ferencváros	2	Tibor Simon	DF	1985–99	Posthumous
Kispest AC/Honvéd	10	Ferenc Puskás	FW	1939–1956	Retired in 2000
BHC FC New Delhi	5	Andrew Ould	FW	2014–15	Club Legend
BHC FC New Delhi	7	Kev Burgess	MF	2015–16	Club Legend
Bethlehem Vengthlang	21	Peter Biaksangzuala	MF	?–2014	Posthumous [n3 10]
Dempo SC	10	Christiano Junior	FW	2004	Posthumous [37]
Arema	1	Kurnia Meiga	GK	2008–17	Club legend
Arema	47	Achmad Kurniawan	GK	2006–08, 2010–17	Posthumous
Persebaya Surabaya	19	Eri Irianto	MF	1998–2000	Posthumous
Persela Lamongan	1	Choirul Huda	GK	1999–2017	Posthumous
Persib Bandung	24	Hariono	MF	2008–19	Club legend
Persija Jakarta	14	Ismed Sofyan	DF	2002–22	Club legend
Persija Jakarta	20	Bambang Pamungkas	FW	1999–2005, 2007–13, 2015–19	Club legend
Persis Solo	17	Ferry Anto	FW	2001–16	Posthumous
Persis Solo	33	Diego Mendieta	FW	2011–12	Posthumous
PSIS Semarang	9	Erik Dwi Ermawansyah	FW	2017–18	Posthumous
PSIS Semarang	22	Hari Nur Yulianto	FW	2013–23	Club legend
Persepolis	24	Hadi Norouzi	MF/FW	2008–15	Posthumous [38] [39] [40] [41]
Sepahan	4	Moharram Navidkia	MF	1998–2004, 2006–16	Club legend
Zob Ahan	30	Mehdi Rajabzadeh	MF	2003–07, 2010–18	[42]
Derry City	5	Ryan McBride	DF	2007–17	Posthumous [n3 11]
Derry City	18	Mark Farren	FW	2000–14	Posthumous [n3 12]
Limerick	4	Joe O'Mahony	DF	1966–86	Posthumous [43]
Treaty United	4	Joe O'Mahony	DF	1966–86	Posthumous
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	6	Chaswe Nsofwa	FW	2007	Posthumous
Maccabi Haifa	20	Yaniv Katan	MF/FW	1998–2014	Club legend
Maccabi Tel Aviv	8	Avi Nimni	FW	1990–97, 1998–2003, 2005–08	Club legend
Maccabi Tel Aviv	12	Meni Levi	DF	2000–02	Prematurely retired [45]
Atalanta	14	Federico Pisani	FW	1991–1997	Posthumous
Bari	2	Giovanni Loseto	DF	1982–1993	Club legend
Bologna	27	Niccolò Galli	DF	2000–2001	Posthumous
Brescia	10	Roberto Baggio	FW	2000–2004	Club legend
Brescia	13	Vittorio Mero	DF	1998–2002	Posthumous
Cagliari	11	Gigi Riva	FW	1963–1978	Club legend
Cagliari	13	Davide Astori	DF	2008–2014	Posthumous
Chievo	30	Jason Mayélé	FW	2001–2002	Posthumous
Chievo	31	Sergio Pellissier	FW	2002–2019	Club legend [46]
Crotone	4	Antonio Galardo	MF	1995–1998, 2002–2016	Club legend
Fiorentina	13	Davide Astori	DF	2015–2018	Posthumous
Genoa	6	Gianluca Signorini	DF	1988–1995	Posthumous
Genoa	7	Marco Rossi	MF	2003–2013	Club legend
Internazionale	3	Giacinto Facchetti	DF	1961–1978	Posthumous
Internazionale	4	Javier Zanetti	DF	1995–2014	Club legend [47] [48]
Livorno	25	Piermario Morosini	MF	2012	Posthumous [49]
Messina	41	Salvatore Sullo	MF	2001–2007	Club legend [50]
Milan	3	Paolo Maldini	DF	1984–2009	Club legend [n3 13]
Milan	6	Franco Baresi	DF	1977–1997	Club legend [23]
Napoli	10	Diego Maradona	MF	1984–1991	No. retired in 2000. [52]
Parma	6	Alessandro Lucarelli	DF	2008–2018	Club legend
Pescara	4	Vincenzo Zucchini	MF	1973–1979	Posthumous
Roma	10	Francesco Totti	FW	1993–2017	Club legend
Salernitana	4	Roberto Breda	MF	1993–1999, 2003–2005	Club legend
Sassuolo	4	Francesco Magnanelli	MF	2005–2022	Club legend [n3 14]
Siena	4	Michele Mignani	DF	1996–1997, 1998–2006	Club legend
Vicenza	3	Giulio Savoini	DF	1953–1966	Posthumous
Vicenza	25	Piermario Morosini	MF	2007–2009, 2011	Posthumous
Montego Bay	2	Stephen Malcolm	DF	1989–2001	Posthumous
Reno	7	Caple Donaldson	MF		Posthumous
Fujieda MYFC	2	Toshihide Saito	DF	2009–13
Thespa Kusatsu	31	Ryosuke Okuno	DF	2002–03
Yokohama F. Marinos	3	Naoki Matsuda	DF	1995–2010	Posthumous
Astana	1	Nenad Erić	GK	2011–20	[54] [55]
Shakhtar Karagandy	14	Andrei Finonchenko	FW	2000–16	[56]
Trepça '89	15	Erion Kajtazi [57]	MF	2022	Posthumous
Liberia	14	George Weah	FW	1987–2018	[58]
Al Ahly Tripoli	14	Tarik El Taib	MF	1995–2001
VB Addu FC	7	Ali Ashfaq	FW	2008–11
Valletta	7	Gilbert Agius	MF	1990–2013	Club legend
Lija	6	Daniel Scerri	MF	2003–2023	Club legend
Atlante	12	Félix Fernández	GK	1989–2003
Guadalajara	8	Salvador Reyes	FW	1953–1967, 2008	No. retired in 2013 [59]
Guadalajara	22	José Martínez González	MF	1970–81	Posthumous [60] [61]
Monterrey	26	Humberto Suazo	FW	2007–14	Club legend
Monterrey	28	Jesús Arellano	FW	1992–97, 2000–11	[n3 15]
Pachuca	1	Miguel Calero	GK	2000–11	Posthumous. [n3 16]
Pachuca	17	Hernán Medford	FW	1994–97
Pachuca	20	Pablo Gómez	FW	1999–2001	Posthumous
Pachuca	110	Andrés Chitiva	MF	2001–08, 2011	[n3 17]
UANL	7	Gerónimo Barbadillo	MF	1977–82	[64]
Raja Casablanca	23	Zakaria Zerouali	DF	2011	Posthumous
Ajax	14	Johan Cruyff	FW	1957–73, 1981–83	No. retired in 2007. [65]
SCG'18	11	Jan van Os	FW	1998-	Number lost in 23-24
Telstar	22	Luciano van den Berg	DF	2004–05	Posthumous
Utrecht	4	David di Tommaso	DF	2004–05	Posthumous
Vitesse	4	Theo Bos	DF	1983–98	Posthumous
Wellington Phoenix	22	Andrew Durante	DF	2008–19	Club legend [66]
FK Osogovo	7	Nikola Mantov	FW	?–1973	Posthumous [67]
Linfield	11	Noel Bailie	DF	1986–2011	Club legend [n3 18]
Fredrikstad	8	Dagfinn Enerly	MF	2004–05
Árabe Unido	21	Amílcar Henríquez	MF	2003–08, 2016–17	Posthumous [68]
Chepo	77	Jonathan Rodríguez	MF	2006–09	Posthumous
Universitario	9	Teodoro Fernández	FW	1930–53	[69]
Universitario	22	José Luis Carranza	MF	1986–2004	[70]
Arka Gdynia	5	Zbigniew Bieliński	DF	1966–1981	Posthumous [71]
Cracovia	1	John Paul II	GK	–	Club supporter [n3 19]
GKS Katowice	9	Jan Furtok	FW	1979–1988, 1995–1998	Club legend [74]
Legia Warsaw	10	Kazimierz Deyna	MF	1966–78	Posthumous
Piast Gliwice	21	Gerard Badía	MF	2014–21	Club legend [75]
Pogoń Szczecin	5	Edi Andradina	FW	2005–07, 2011–13	Club legend [76]
Pogoń Szczecin	78	Olgierd Moskalewicz	MF	1991–98, 2003–04, 2009–10	Club legend [77]
Stomil Olsztyn	2	Andrzej Biedrzycki	DF	1985–2001, 2002	Posthumous [78]
Widzew Łódź	11	Włodzimierz Smolarek	FW	1974–78, 1980–86	Posthumous
Zagłębie Lubin	10	Paweł Piotrowski	MF	1996–2002	Posthumous [79]
Benfica	29	Miklós Fehér	FW	2002–04	Posthumous
Boavista	29	Edu Ferreira	FW	2016–17	Posthumous
FC Argeș	10	Nicolae Dobrin	MF	1962-1981, 1982-1983	Posthumous
Dinamo București	11	Cătălin Hîldan	MF	1994–2000	Posthumous
Dinamo București	14	Patrick Ekeng	MF	2016	Posthumous
Dinamo București	25	Ionel Dănciulescu	MF	1995–1997, 2002-2009, 2010–2013	Club Legend
Steaua București	7	Marius Lăcătuș	FW	1983–90, 1993–2000	No. retired on 7 July 2021
CSKA Moscow	16	Serhiy Perkhun	GK	2001	Posthumous
Rubin Kazan	17	Lenar Gilmullin	DF	2003–07	Posthumous
Rubin Kazan	61	Gökdeniz Karadeniz	MF	2008–18	Club legend
Ural	23	Pyotr Hrustovsky	FW	1999, 2001–2003	Posthumous
Heart of Midlothian	26	Marius Žaliūkas	DF	2007–13	Posthumous
FAS	10	Mágico González	FW	1977–82, 1991–99	Club legend
Municipal Limeño	11	Oscar Armando Díaz	FW	?–1998	Posthumous [80]
Najran SC	20	Al Hasan Al-Yami	FW	1991–96, 2005–10	No. retired in 2012 [81]
Partizan Belgrade	22	Saša Ilić	MF	1996–2005, 2010–19	Club legend [82]
Radnički Niš	10	Ivan Krstić	MF	1999–2000	Posthumous
Red Star Belgrade	11	Dragan Džajić	MF	1963–75, 1977–78	Club legend [83]
Red Star Belgrade	26	Goran Gogić	MF	2013−14	Posthumous [84]
Spartak Trnava	9	Ladislav Kuna	MF	1964–80	Posthumous
Maribor	19	Stipe Balajić	DF/MF	1998–2005	Club legend
Maribor	33	Jasmin Handanović	GK	2011–21	Club legend
Maribor	9	Marcos Tavares	FW	2008–22	Club legend
Ajax Cape Town	21	Cecil Lolo	DF	2009–15	Posthumous [85]
Orlando Pirates	1	Senzo Meyiwa	FW	2005–14	Posthumous [86]
Orlando Pirates	10	Jomo Sono	MF		Club legend
Orlando Pirates	13	Clifford Moleko	MF	1997–98	Posthumous
Orlando Pirates	22	Lesley Manyathela	FW	2000–03	Posthumous
Daejeon Citizen FC	18	Kim Eun-jung	FW	1997–2003, 2014	Club legend
Daejeon Citizen FC	21	Choi Eun-sung	GK	1998–2012	Club legend
Daewoo Royals	16	Kim Joo-Sung	MF	1987–92, 1994–99	Club legend
FC Seoul	13	Go Yo-han	MF	2004–23	Club legend
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	20	Lee Dong-gook	FW	2009–20	Club legend
Córdoba	8	Juanín	FW	1960–70	Posthumous
Espanyol	21	Daniel Jarque	DF	2002–09	Posthumous
Extremadura	19	Jose Antonio Reyes	FW	2019	Posthumous [87]
Real Betis	26	Miki Roqué	DF	2010–12	Posthumous
Assyriska FF	18	Eddie Moussa	FW	2001–10	Posthumous
Helsingborgs IF	17	Henrik Larsson	FW	1992–93, 2006–09
Kalmar FF	15	Johny Erlandsson	MF	1973–88	Club legend [n3 20]
Kalmar FF	8	Henrik Rydström	MF	1993–2013	Club legend [n3 21]
Norrköping	18	Stefán Þórðarson	FW	2004–07, 2009	Club legend [n3 22]
Umeå IK	6	Malin Moström	MF	1995–2007	Club legend [n3 23]
Basel	2	Massimo Ceccaroni	DF	1987–2002
Basel	20	Fabian Frei	MF	2007–2015, 2018-2024
St. Gallen	17	Marc Zellweger	DF	1994–01, 2003–10
TOT-CAT	19	Chanont Wong-aree	DF	2009–10	Posthumous
Alanyaspor	90	Josef Šural	FW	2019	Posthumous [90]
İstanbul Başakşehir	12	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan	–	–	Significant supporter [n3 24]
Konyaspor	6	Ahmet Yılmaz Çalık	DF	2013–22	Posthumous
Colorado Rapids	25	Pablo Mastroeni	MF	2002–13	No. retired in 2021 [92]
Eastern Illinois	19	Erik Proffitt	MF	1987–88	Posthumous [n3 25]
FC Kansas City	12	Lauren Holiday	MF	2013–15
New York Cosmos	9	Giorgio Chinaglia	–	–	Posthumous [n3 26]
New York Cosmos	10	Pelé	FW	1975–77	Club legend [n3 27]
New York Red Bulls	99	Bradley Wright-Phillips	FW	2013–19	Club legend [n3 28]
Portland Timbers	3	Clive Charles	DF	1978–81	Posthumous [n3 29]
Rochester New York	14	Mickey Trotman	MF	2001	Posthumous [101]
Rochester New York	19	Doug Miller	F	1996–99, 2003–06	No retired in 2006 [102]
Tampa Bay Rowdies	6	Mike Connell	DF	1975–84	No retired in 2013 [103]
Tampa Bay Rowdies	12	Perry Van der Beck	MF	1978–82, 1984, 1991–93	Club legend [n3 30]
UMass women's	1	Briana Scurry	GK	1989–93	Club legend [105] [106]
Hofstra men's	5	Gary Flood	DF	2003–06	No. retired in 2008 [107] [108]
Hofstra men's	9	Michael Todd	FW	2003–06	No. retired in 2008 [107] [108]
Hofstra women's	17	Tiffany Yovino	MF	2007–10	No. retired in 2011 [107] [109]
Hofstra women's	20	Sue Weber	DF	2005–07	No. retired in 2008 [107] [109]
Shakhtar Donetsk	33	Darijo Srna [110]	DF	2003–18	Club legend
Zorya Luhansk	33	Maksym Bilyi	MF	2010–13	Posthumous [111]
Hoàng Anh Gia Lai	13	Kiatisuk Senamuang	FW	2001–06	Club legend
Hoàng Anh Gia Lai	14	Võ Bá Khôi	DF	2003–06	Posthumous
Hoàng Anh Gia Lai	7	Paollo Olivieira Madeira	FW	2023	Posthumous
Cardiff City	7	Peter Whittingham [112]	MF	2007–17	Posthumous
Swansea City	40	Besian Idrizaj [113]	FW	2009–10	Posthumous
Emerald FC	2	Hussein Hammoud	DF	2017-24	Posthumous

Notes

1. Number retired after García committed suicide on 4 February 2021. ^{[10] [11] [12]} He was the all-time club top scorer in Argentine Primera División. ^[13]
2. His double-digit number, worn from 2007, was retired on 12 December 2015 when he retired from football. The single-digit '1' may still be used, but the iconic '01', which is an inverted '10', is retired. ^[18]
3. Richter lost his leg as a result of a lightning strike ^[22]
4. Kee had to leave football due to mental health issues.
5. Recognised as the youngest-ever first-team player and goalscorer.
6. Foé died on the pitch while playing for Cameroon, was at Manchester City on loan from Lyon at the time. ^[23]
7. Philo was killed in a car accident and the number 14 shirt retired. It was later revealed he was significantly over the drink-drive limit and his car veered on to the other side of the road, killing a 58-year-old mother of two. ^{[28] [23]}
8. Anin retired after suffering a serious car accident which left him paralyzed. ^[30]
9. Number was retired in recognition of his career at the club and for his all-time record goal scoring in the league. He is the first in the history of Haitian football to have a number permanently removed from use. ^{[32] [33]}
10. Biaksangzuala died while celebrating a goal ^[36]
11. Number was retired in dedication to the club's captain after he died in his sleep in 2017. McBride was 27 years old.
12. Number was retired in dedication to the club's all-time record goal scorer after Farren died of cancer in 2016.
13. Exception granted for another member of Maldini family, in which case the number would be reissued. ^[51]
14. Current record holder for most appearances ^[53]
15. The shirt is not fully retired. Arellano has given consent for his son to adopt the number 28.
16. Calero's number had been retired on 23 October 2011 after Calero's retirement as a professional player. Later his number was retired again posthumous when he died on 4 December 2012.
17. Chitiva was given number 100 in 2011 to commemorate the 110th. anniversary of the club. Chitiva was chosen to carry that number due to his career in the club. ^{[62] [63]}
18. No. retired in 2011 to commemorate his world record of 1,013 senior appearances for the club.
19. Pope John Paul did not play for Cracovia but was a strong supporter of the team. ^[72] The number was retired on 4 January 2005 during Pope's private audience with the players and staff of Cracovia in Vatican City, during which they gave him a shirt with his name and number. ^[73]
20. Previous record holder for most appearances
21. Current record holder for most appearances and current manager ^[88]
22. The shirt was worn by Þórðarson during his comeback for the club during the 2009 season. Has been worn again since 2017.
23. The shirt was worn by Moström during her comeback at the club during the 2007 season. ^[89]
24. Erdogan was not a player but a politician and long-time supporter of the club. ^[91] The number 12 refers to the "12th. man".
25. Proffitt died in April 1989 after contracting spinal meningitis. He was 20 years old. ^{[93] [94]}
26. Number retired in June 2014 by the second Cosmos franchise. ^{[95] [96]}
27. Number retired on 1 October 1977, at half-time of his testimonial match. ^[97] The number remained retired by the reborn Cosmos team. ^[98]
28. Wright-Phillips left the New York Red Bulls in 2019, but the franchise had announced his number would be retired in August 2018 ^[99]
29. Number retired on 23 August 2003 ^[100]
30. Number retired on 1 October 2010 by Tampa Bay before they rebranded into the second incarnation of the Rowdies. ^[104]

Special cases

Team	No.	Player	Pos.	Tenure	Notes
Argentina national team	10	Diego Maradona	MF	1977–94	Retired and re-issued. [n1 1]
River Plate	12	–	–	1949–2013 [n1 2]	"Retired" and reissued. [n1 3]
Sydney FC	15	Terry McFlynn	MF	2005–14	Unofficially retired. [n1 4]
Rapid Wien	5	Peter Schöttel	DF	1986–2001	Temporarily retired [n1 5]
Rapid Wien	11	Steffen Hofmann	MF	2002–18	Retired for at least eleven years
Palmeiras	12	Marcos	GK	1993–2012	Retired for GK only. [n1 6]
Santos	10	Pelé	FW	2023–	Temporarily retired [n1 7]
Santa Fe	23	Léider Preciado	FW	1995–98, 2000–01, 2004–08, 2011	Temporarily retired [n1 8]
Slavia Prague	7	Stanislav Vlček	FW	2004–07, 2009–13	Not fully retired. [n1 9]
Ecuador national team	11	Christian Benítez	FW	2005–13	Retired and re-issued. [n1 10]
Bradford City	8	Tomi Solomon		2019–21	Retired in academy [n1 11]
Chelsea	25	Gianfranco Zola	FW	1996–2003	Unofficially retired [n1 12]
Portsmouth	13	Aaron Flahavan	GK	1994–2001	Temporarily retired. [n1 13]
Leeds United	17	Massimo Cellino	–	2014	Temporarily retired [128]
Exeter City	9	Adam Stansfield	FW	2006–10	Temporarily retired [n1 14]
Wolverhampton	1	Carl Ikeme	GK	2003–18	Temporarily retired. [n1 15]
FC Haka	14	Valeri Popovitch	FW	1994–2008	Partially retired [n1 16]
Lyon	16	Luc Borrelli	GK	1998–99	Temporarily retired [n1 17]
Lyon	17	Marc-Vivien Foé	MF	2000–03	Temporarily retired. [n1 18]
1. FC Köln	10	Lukas Podolski	MF	2002–06, 2009–12	Temporarily retired. [n1 19]
Schalke 04	7	Raúl	FW	2010–12	Temporarily retired. [n1 20]
Motagua	16	Edy Vásquez	MF	2003–07	Temporarily retired [n1 21]
Diósgyőri VTK	77	José Juan Luque	MF	1996–2013	Temporarily retired [n1 22]
Persepolis	7	Ali Parvin	MF	1970–87	Partially retired. [n1 23]
Maccabi Tel Aviv	12	Meni Levi	DF	2000–02	Unofficially retired. [n1 24]
Livorno	10	Igor Protti	FW	1985–88, 1999–2005	Temporarily retired. [n1 25]
Milan	3	Paolo Maldini	DF	1984–2009	Partially retired. [n1 26]
Roma	6	Aldair	DF	1990–2003	Temporarily retired [n1 27]
Sagan Tosu	17	Sakata Michitaka	–	2001–	Key figure. [n1 28]
Llapi	9	Fadil Vokrri	FW	1976–79	Retired and re-issued
Akhaa Ahli Aley	20	Mohamed Atwi	MF	2018–20	Temporarily retired. [n1 29]
Guadalajara	11	Ramón Morales	MF	1998–2011 [n1 30]	Unofficially retired. [n1 31]
Pachuca	8	Gabriel Caballero	MF/FW	1998–2009	Temporarily retired. [n1 32]
UNAM	12	Sergio Bernal	GK	1989–2001, 2003–10	Retired and re-issued. [150]
Ajax	34	Abdelhak Nouri	MF	2016–17	Unofficially retired. [n1 33]
Stabæk	7	Christer Basma	DF	1995–98	Temporarily retired. [n1 34]
Benfica	10	Fernando Chalana	MF	1976–84, 1987–90	Temporarily retired [n1 35]
União Leiria	10	Hugo Cunha	MF	2004–05	Temporarily retired [n1 36]
Dunfermline Athletic	4	Norrie McCathie	DF	1981–96	Temporarily retired. [n1 37]
Motherwell	10	Phil O'Donnell	MF	1990–94, 2004–07	Unofficially retired. [n1 38]
Orlando Pirates	22	Lesley Manyathela	FW	2000−03	Occasionally re-issued. [n1 39]
Barcelona	21	Luis Enrique	MF	1996–2004	Temporarily retired. [n1 40]
Oviedo	10	Peter Dubovský	MF	1995–2000	Temporarily retired. [n1 41]
Sevilla	16	Antonio Puerta	DF	2004–07	Temporarily retired. [n1 42]
Östers IF	6	Mario Vasilj	DF	2006–18	Temporarily retired. [n1 43]
Hammarby IF	10	Kennedy Bakircioglu	MF	1999–2003, 2012–18	Temporarily retired [n1 44]
Galatasaray	3	Bülent Korkmaz	DF	1984–2005	Temporarily retired [n1 45]
LA Galaxy	13	Cobi Jones	MF	1996–2007	Unofficially retired. [n1 46]
Real Salt Lake	9	Jason Kreis	MF/FW	2005–07	Retired and re-issued. [n1 47]
Real Salt Lake	11	Javier Morales	MF	2007–16	Retired and re-issued. [n1 47]
Tampa Bay Rowdies	7	Steve Wegerle	FW	1977–81, 1984, 1988–90	Temporarily retired [n1 48]

Notes

1. The number 10 had been retired by the Argentine Football Association in October 2001 to honour Maradona. Before the 2002 World Cup, the AFA submitted a squad list of 23 players for the tournament, listed 1 through 24, with the number 10 omitted. ^[23] FIFA rejected Argentina's list, and the governing body's president, Sepp Blatter suggested the number 10 shirt be instead given to the team's third-choice goalkeeper, Roberto Bonano. AFA ultimately submitted a revised list with Ariel Ortega, originally listed as number 23, as the number 10. ^[114] The number 10 has been worn by other players since, most notably by Lionel Messi, whom Maradona considered "his successor".
2. Period counts since squad numbers were established as mandatory in Argentina. ^[115]
3. The club decided to put this number out of circulation in 2013. The official reasons for this decision were never given, but it is believed to be because arch-rival Boca Juniors fans are nicknamed "La 12". ^{[116] [117] [118]} Nevertheless, the number was later re-issued and has been worn by several players since.
4. Sydney FC have not officially retired the number 15 shirt, but it has not been allocated to another player since McFlynn retired from professional football in 2014. McFlynn also held a staffing position with Sydney FC from 2014 until 2019.
5. Schottel's number was temporarily retired for at least ten years. In 2013, it was reactivated and given to Thanos Petsos.
6. Outfield players are allowed to use the number.
7. The number 10 was temporarily retired in honor renowned striker Pelé following the club's relegation from the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A after 111 years. ^[119]
8. The number was out of circulation for a period of 23 months (starting May 2012) in honor of the second top scorer in the history of the club. ^[120]
9. Rather than retiring the number, the club opted to freeze the number for any future player that wants it, provided that the applying player meets 7 game achievements. Among those are scoring 3 goals overall against Sparta Prague, being nominated for his national team, winning the trophy for top goalscorer and others. Even though Milan Škoda met the requirements in the 2016–17 season, he opted to keep his number 21. The 7 was eventually given to Danny upon him joining the team for 2017-18 season. Vlček gave his consent and Danny pledged to work to meet the remaining criteria. ^[121]
10. The number 10 had been retired by the FEF in 2013 to honour Benítez, died at 27 years old from a cardiac arrest. ^{[122] [123]} Nevertheless, the number had to be reissued due to FIFA rules for the 2014 World Cup that stated squads to be numbered 1–23. ^[7] For that occasion, Felipe Caicedo was given number 11. ^[124]
11. Bradford retired number 8 across all age groups of the Bradford Academy, after the tragic death of 13-yo player Tomi Solomon, stating that it shall 'remain with him forever'. ^[125] Solomon drowned in River Calder in 2021. ^[126] The decision did not include the senior squad, where the number remain in use.
12. Chelsea did not officially retire the number 25 shirt, but it was not allocated to another player after Zola left the club in 2003 until Moises Caicedo took it in 2023.
13. Following Flahavan's death in a car accident in August 2001, Portsmouth and his first club, Southampton, retired their number 1 shirts for the 2001–02 season as a mark of respect. From the 2003–04 season, Portsmouth retired the number 13 shirt, as this was the number Flahavan wore during the majority of his time at the club. Number 13 remained unused until 2011, when it was allocated to goalkeeper Stephen Henderson, and it has been reissued since.
14. The club retired the number 9 for nine seasons after the striker died of cancer on 10 August 2010. The number returned to use in 2020, following the arrival of Stansfield’s son, Jay Stansfield, at Exeter City. As of 2023, Jay Stansfield continues to wear the number 9 shirt. ^[129]
15. Carl Ikeme retired from professional football before the 2018–2019 season after complete remission from acute leukaemia and the club decided to leave the jersey –previously worn by Ikeme– vacant, ^[130] with newly signed Rui Patrício unusually wearing the number 11 ^[131] and the other team goalkeepers wearing numbers ending in "1". ^{[132] [133]} In 2021, the number was reissued following the signing of new goalkeeper José Sá, and after Ikeme stated publicly that he wished for someone to take the number. ^{[134] [135]}
16. First ever retired shirt number in the history of Finnish football is ex-Haka's Valeri Popovitch's number 14. Popovitch has stated that his sons, who are still playing for Haka's junior teams, can wear the legendary number if they want. ^[136]
17. Posthumous – returned to use in 2011.
18. Posthumous – returned to use in 2008.
19. The club had announced that the number would remain out of circulation as long as Podolski is playing football on a professional level. Nevertheless, the #10 was given to Patrick Helmes in July 2014. ^[137]
20. At the time Raúl left the club, the team intended to retire the jersey indefinitely. ^[138] However, the retirement of this shirt only lasted one year; with Max Meyer wearing it from 2013 to 2018.
21. Posthumous, retired from 2007 to 2009.
22. Retired on 2 June 2013 in respect of Luque being the most notable player in the DVTK history. His number was retired for ten years.
23. The shirt was retired after Parvin's retirement, but Parvin gave the shirt to player Hamid Estili and the shirt has since not been retired permanently. ^{[139] [140] [141] [142]}
24. During a game between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem, Levi chest-controlled and kicked the ball, ran back to defend, then collapsed. He returned to his feet, and then collapsed a second time. He was subsequently on a life-support machine, and has since returned home. The club claims that the number 12 is unofficially reserved for the fans. ^[143]
25. In December 2005, Livorno officially retired the #10 jersey. However, Protti, who led the forward line and captained his side in two promotions from Serie C1 to Serie A, quickly gaining a reputation as a fan favourite, announced his willingness to see the #10 number reissued to another player, in order to "give anybody back a dream to dress it one day." This was made effective starting from the 2007–08 season, in which Francesco Tavano played with the #10 number. ^[144]
26. Maldini's number was not fully retired so he gave consent for his sons to adopt the number 3 shirt if either of them play professionally for the club. ^{[23] [145]}
27. The shirt number had been retired by the club when the player left the club in 2003. When Kevin Strootman joined Roma in 2013, he asked for permission to wear number 6. The club approved the request after Aldair gave his consent. ^{[146] [147]} The number remained in use and has given to other players since.
28. The shirt was retired posthumously, to honour Michikata who played a key role in establishment of former Tosu Futures and their revival as Sagan Tosu, and who died due to kidney cancer on 7 January 2000. Number 17, derived from the day of his death, was selected to be retired. The number would later also be dedicated to the club's fans, thus they have not retired squad number 12 like most Japanese League teams.
29. Akhaa Ahli Aley have retired the squad number 20, in honour of Atwi's death in 2020 due to a stray bullet in the head. The club has retired the number for two seasons—from 2020 to 2022—the duration in which Atwi stayed at the club. ^[148]
30. Career as player. Since 2013, Morales became part of the coaching staff.
31. The shirt was never officially retired, but it was not issued out of American competitions for the time between Morales' exit and his return as a coach. All players intending to wear the jersey have to ask for Morales' consent. It is now being worn by Isaác Brizuela.
32. Caballero's number was just temporarily retired for five years. After that period, it was reactivated and given to Hirving Lozano in 2014. ^[149]
33. Nouri collapsed on the pitch after suffering severe cardiac arrhythmia, ^[151] which forced him to leave football. ^[152] Number 34 has not been issued since then.
34. The club had retired the number to honor Basma's career at Stabæk. However, the retirement was revoked after 2004 season and the number given to Henning Hauger.
35. After the death of Chalana, the club announced the number 10 jersey would become vacated for the 2022–23 season. ^[153]
36. Posthumous; has been worn again since 2009.
37. The club retired the number after club captain McCathie was found dead in his home on 8 January 1996, as a result of Carbon monoxide poisoning. ^[154] At that time, Scottish League clubs used shirt numbered from 1 to 11, so for the remainder of the 1995–96 season, 12 was used instead. However, the number was not retired permanently, and has been re-issued since.
38. O'Donnell collapsed while playing for Motherwell against Dundee United in 2007. He was pronounced dead at Wishaw General Hospital. The number 10 shirt was worn by his nephew David Clarkson during the 2008–09 season. Since Clarkson left in June 2009, it has not been retired, but has not been issued to any subsequent player.
39. The club retired the number 22 after Manyathela died in a car crash in August 2003. However, Confederation of African Football rules state that shirts must be numbered 1–30 in continental club competitions, so Pirates has re-issued it in those special cases.
40. Luis Enrique joined the club as a free agent from eternal rivals Real Madrid, spending eight years at Barcelona, even becoming captain of the team. The shirt was retired for just two years (2004–06), since La Liga did not allow numbers to be retired permanently. The number 21 shirt was awarded to Lilian Thuram in 2006. Since his arrival at the club in 2020, Frenkie de Jong currently holds the number 21 shirt, taking it from Carles Aleñá.
41. The Spanish Football League allowed Oviedo to retire number 10 just for the 2000–01 season, as an exception to its rules. At the end of the season, number 10 was re-issued.
42. The number was temporarily retired after Puerta died of a cardiac arrest on the first match day in La Liga 2007–2008. However, Spanish Football Federation rules state that clubs must use number 1 to 25 for their regular squad, and as a result, David Prieto wore the number in 2008 in honour of his friend. ^[155] It has become a club policy to reserve number 16 for players coming from the youth academy as a tribute to Puerta, who was a youth system product. Exceptions have been made when 16 was the only jersey number available. ^[156]
43. Retired for six years. ^[157]
44. Retired for ten years between 2019 and 2028. ^[158]
45. Despite the club announcing the retirement of the number, it has been re-issued.
46. The number was not officially retired by the Galaxy but had not been worn since Jones retired. In 2017, it was given to Jermaine Jones. ^[159]
47. Jason Kreis's number 9 was not worn by RSL players after the time of its retirement in 2011. ^[160] However, in 2019, when the club decided to retire Javier Morales's number 11, Kreis pleaded with the club to recirculate his number 9. As a result, both number 9 and number 11 are still circulated numbers for the club. Kreis and Morales's names and numbers are "retired" and displayed prominently above the player's tunnel on the west concourse of America First Field. ^[161]
48. Although his number had been retired by the original franchise in 1989, ^[162] the current team has reissued it.

Dedication to fans

Number 12

Some clubs dedicate a number to their fans, and do not issue it to any player. The most common number for this practice is 12, from descriptions of the fans as "the twelfth man". Clubs and teams that do not give the '12' to any player include:

• Tirana
• Melbourne Victory
• Perth Glory
• Rapid Vienna
• Club Brugge
• Genk
• Sarajevo
• Atlético Mineiro ^{[n2 1]}
• Avaí ^{[n2 1]}
• Flamengo ^{[n2 1] [164]}
• Botev Plovdiv
• CF Montréal
• Beijing Guoan
• Changchun Yatai
• Chongqing Tonglianglong
• Heilongjiang Ice City
• Shaanxi Union
• Shandong Taishan
• Shanghai Shenhua
• Hajduk Split
• Omonia
• Sparta Prague
• AGF
• OB
• Bristol Rovers ^[165]
• Gillingham ^[165]
• Oxford United
• Oldham Athletic ^[165]
• Plymouth Argyle ^[165]
• Portsmouth ^[165]
• Reading ^[166]
• Flora
• Lens
• Mikkelin Palloilijat
• Arminia Bielefeld
• Bayern Munich ^[167]
• Borussia Mönchengladbach
• Rot-Weiss Essen
• TuS Koblenz
• Werder Bremen ^[167]
• PAOK
• Ferencváros
• Újpest
• Kerala Blasters
• Persija Jakarta ^[168]
• Persis Solo
• Foolad
• Persepolis ^[169]
• Cork City
• Shamrock Rovers
• Atalanta
• Cesena
• Genoa
• Lazio
• Palermo
• Parma
• Torino
• FC Seoul
• Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC
• Incheon United
• Jeju United FC
• Seoul United
• FK Ekranas
• Terengganu
• Valletta
• Monterrey
• UANL
• Guadalajara
• Yangon United
• Yadanarbon
• Thanlyin Technological University
• PSV Eindhoven
• Feyenoord
• Vitesse
• PEC Zwolle
• Roda JC Kerkrade
• IK Start
• Vålerenga
• Pogoń Szczecin
• Lech Poznań
• Polonia Warsaw
• Vitória de Guimarães
• Dinamo București
• Rapid București
• Oxford United
• Zenit Saint Petersburg
• CSKA Moscow
• Aberdeen
• Hibernian
• Rangers
• Red Star Belgrade
• Hammarby IF
• Malmö FF
• GIF Sundsvall
• Basel
• Club Africain
• Bangkok United
• Chonburi
• BEC Tero Sasana
• Muangthong United
• Port
• Buriram United
• Fenerbahçe ^[170]
• Sivasspor
• Dynamo Kyiv
• Hà Nội FC

Notes

1. Despite having their number "12" retired, Brazilian clubs have had to re-issue them for CONMEBOL competitions such as Copa Libertadores, where the squads must be numbered from 1 to 25 consecutively, ^[163] although that rule changed and teams can use arbitrary numbers from 1 to 50. ^[9]

Other numbers retired

• 1 – AIK, Djurgården IF, and PSIM Yogyakarta ^[171] reserve the number for their supporters.
• 7 – Paysandu reserve the number for their supporters.
• 11 – Indy Eleven reserve the number for their supporters.
• 13 – Reading and Bryne reserve the number for their supporters, Panathinaikos reserve the number in honour of Gate 13, the ultras based in the respective gate in home matches. Between 2002 and 2007 Norwich City reserved the number 13 shirt for "the fans" after which it was worn by Declan Rudd while Shrewsbury Town reserve the number 13 shirt for the fan who wins a pre-season competition.
• 16 – Bursaspor reserve the number for their supporters.
• 17 – Atlanta United FC reserve the number for their supporters and to reference their inaugural season in Major League Soccer. ^[172] For the 2021 MLS season, the club also reserved the number 44 as part of a tribute by Atlanta-area sports teams in memoriam of Henry Aaron of the local MLB club, who died on 22 January 2021. ^[173]
• 17 – Sagan Tosu retired the number in dedication to their fans.
• 27 – Bournemouth use squad number for the Steve Fletcher Stand which houses the large majority of hardcore supporters, the number 50 for "12th man" and the number 99 shirt for their mascot, Cherry Bear.
• 33 – Remo reserve the number for their supporters.
• 40 – Oldham Athletic reserve the number for their fans.
• 55 – Rochdale retired the number on 13 January 2017 in honour of five-year old Joshua McCormack who died of cancer. ^[174]
• 58 – Portsmouth retired the number for their mascot Nelson, with Nelson’s name and number appearing on club issued match day programmes
• 79 – APOEL have reserved the shirt number in honour of PAN.SY.FI. (APOEL Ultras), to denote the year the group was founded, 1979. ^[175]

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