List of athletes who came out of retirement



In most cases, when a professional athlete announces retirement, he or she retires and then never returns to playing professional sports; however, in rare instances there are some athletes who came out of retirement. The following list shows such athletes in addition to any noteworthy achievements that they earned during their playing career after returning from retirement. It includes only professional athletes who announced retirement, were retired for at least one full season or year, and then returned to play their sport in at least one regular season contest. The list does not include players who sat out at least one full season due to injury and then returned to play without having ever officially announced retirement, nor does it include players whose careers were interrupted because of military service or incarceration. It also excludes free agents who were unable to find a team for at least a season and signed with a team at a later point without having ever officially announced retirement. Also excluded are those who continued their careers in senior tours as is the case in tennis, snooker and golf.

American football

 * Maxie Baughan (1960–1970, 1974)
 * Ross Brupbacher (1970-72, 1976)
 * Randall Cunningham (1985–1995, 1997–2001)
 * Anthony Davis (2010–14, 2016)
 * Steve DeBerg (1977–1993, 1998)
 * Kyle Emanuel (2015–18, 2020)
 * Carl Etelman (1924–27, 1929)
 * Russ Francis (1975-80, 1982-89)
 * Rob Gronkowski (2010–2018, 2020–2021)
 * Charles Haley (1986–96, 1998–99)
 * Bill Hewitt (1932–39, 1943)
 * Ed "Too Tall" Jones (1974–78, 1980–89)
 * Marshawn Lynch (2007–2015, 2017–19)
 * Rueben Mayes (1986–90, 1992–93)
 * Rolando McClain (2010–12, 2014–15)
 * Randy Moss (1998–2010, 2012)
 * Bronko Nagurski (1930–37, 1943)
 * Red Pearlman (1919–1922, 1924)
 * Jim Ramey (1979–1985, 1987)
 * Manny Rapp (1934, 1937, 1942)
 * John Riggins (1971–79, 1981–85)
 * Deion Sanders (1989–2000, 2004–05)
 * John Tosi (1939–1942, 1944, 1946)
 * Eric Weddle (2007–2019, 2021)
 * Reggie White (1984–1998, 2000)
 * Ricky Williams (1999–2003, 2005–2011)
 * Jason Witten (2003–2017, 2019–2020)

Association football (soccer)

 * Zico (1971–1989, 1991–1994)
 * Alan Judge (1978–1997, 2002–2004)
 * Aldair (1986–2005, 2007–2008)
 * Marc Overmars (1990–2004, 2008–2009)
 * Roberto Carlos (1991–2012, 2015)
 * Dida (1992–2010, 2012–2015)
 * Paul Scholes (1993–2011, 2012–2013)
 * Landon Donovan (1999–2014, 2016, 2018–2019)
 * Arjen Robben (2000–2019, 2020–2021)
 * Dani Osvaldo (2005–2016, 2020)
 * Ben Foster (2022-2023)
 * Adebayo Akinfenwa 2023

Australian rules football

 * Gary Ablett Sr. (1982, 1984–1990, 1991–1996)
 * Tony Lockett (1983–1999, 2002)
 * Tim Watson (1977–1991, 1993–1994)
 * Paul Salmon (1983–2000, 2002)
 * Peter Hudson (1967–1974, 1977)
 * Stuart Dew (1997–2006, 2008–2009)
 * James McDonald (1997–2010, 2012)
 * Shane Heard (1977–1987, 1991)
 * Nathan Ablett (2005–2007, 2011)
 * Peter McKenna (1965–1975, 1977)
 * Shane Mumford (2008–2017, 2019–2021)
 * Dermott Brereton (1982–1992, 1994–1995)
 * Scott Hodges (1991–1993, 1996)
 * Martin Clarke (2007–2009, 2012–2014)

Baseball

 * Ed Abbaticchio (1897–1905, 1907–1910)
 * Daniel Bard (2009–2013, 2020–present)
 * Chief Bender (1903–1917, 1925)
 * Yogi Berra (1946–1963, 1965)
 * Joe Blanton (2004–2013, 2015–2017)
 * Jim Bouton (1962–1970, 1978)
 * Blaine Boyer (2005–2011, 2014–2018)
 * Dan Brouthers (1879–1896, 1904)
 * Chris Chambliss (1971–1986, 1988)
 * Ben Chapman (1930–1941, 1944–1946)
 * David Cone (1986–2001, 2003)
 * Tony Conigliaro (1964–1971, 1975)
 * Dizzy Dean (1930–1941, 1947)
 * Mike Donlin (1899–1906, 1908, 1911–1912, 1914)
 * Jim Eisenreich (1982–1984, 1987–1998)
 * Kevin Elster (1986–1998, 2000)
 * Jimmie Foxx (1925–1942, 1944–1945)
 * Jerry Grote (1963–1978, 1981)
 * Chris Hammond (1990–1998, 2002–2006)
 * Emmet Heidrick (1898–1904, 1908)
 * Babe Herman (1926–1937, 1945)
 * Jackie Jensen (1950–1959, 1961)
 * Gabe Kapler (1998–2006, 2008–2010)
 * Marc Kroon (1995, 1997–1998, 2004)
 * Hod Lisenbee (1937–1932, 1936, 1945)
 * Minnie Miñoso (1949–1964, 1976, 1980)
 * Charley O'Leary, (1904–1913, 1934)
 * Jim O'Rourke (1872–1893, 1904)
 * Rube Oldring (1905–1916, 1918)
 * Joe Page (1944–1950, 1954)
 * Satchel Paige (1926–1953, 1965)
 * Troy Percival (1995–2005, 2007–2009)
 * Andy Pettitte (1995–2010, 2012–2013)
 * Ryne Sandberg (1981–1994, 1996–1997)
 * Paul Shuey (1994–2003, 2007)
 * J. T. Snow (1992–2006, 2008)
 * Luis Sojo (1990–2001, 2003)
 * Dave Stieb (1979–1993, 1998)
 * George Strickland (1950–1957, 1959–1960)
 * Sam Thompson (1885–1898, 1906)
 * Salomón Torres (1993–1997, 2002–2008)
 * Clay Touchstone (1928–1929, 1945)
 * Hal Trosky (1933–1941, 1943, 1946)
 * Arky Vaughan (1932–1943, 1947–1948)
 * Lloyd Waner (1927–1942, 1944)

Basketball

 * Jonathan Bender (1999–2006, 2009–2010)
 * Bob Cousy (1950–1963, 1969–1970)
 * Dave Cowens (1970–1980, 1982–83)
 * Carlos Delfino (1998–2013, 2017–present)
 * Richie Guerin (1956–1967, 1968–1970)
 * Danny Ildefonso (1998–2015, 2023)
 * Kevin Johnson (1987–1998, 1999–2000)
 * Magic Johnson (1979–1991, 1996)
 * Michael Jordan (1984–1993, 1995–1998, 2001–2003)
 * George Mikan (1946–1954, 1956)
 * Sidney Moncrief (1979–1989, 1990–91)
 * John Salley (1986–1996, 1999–2000)
 * Robert Reid (1977–1982, 1983–1991)
 * Brandon Roy (2006–2011, 2012–13)
 * Saulius Štombergas (1992–2007, 2009–2010)
 * Rasheed Wallace (1995–2010, 2012–2013)
 * Kelly Williams (2006–2019, 2021–present)
 * Kevin Willis (1984–2005, 2006–07)

Boxing

 * Joe Louis (1934-48, 1950-51)
 * Muhammad Ali (1960–1979, 1980–1981)
 * Sugar Ray Leonard (1977–1982, 1983–1984, 1986–1987, 1988–1991, 1996–1997)
 * George Foreman (1969–1977, 1987–1997)

Cricket

 * Imran Khan (1971–1987, 1988–1992)
 * Ray Illingworth
 * Shahid Afridi

Cycling

 * Lance Armstrong (1992–2005, 2009–2011)

Ice hockey

 * Helmuts Balderis (1973–1985, 1989–1990, 1991–1996)
 * Barry Beck (1977–1986, 1989–1990)
 * Carl Brewer (1957–1965, 1967–1974, 1979–1980)
 * Alexandre Daigle (1993–2000, 2002–2010)
 * Ron Ellis (1964–1975, 1977–1981)
 * Mike Fisher (1999–2017, 2018)
 * Dominik Hasek (1980–2002, 2003–2008, 2009–2011)
 * Gordie Howe (1946–1971, 1973–1980, 1997)
 * Guy Lafleur (1971–1985, 1988–1991)
 * Claude Lemieux (1983–2004, 2008–2009)
 * Mario Lemieux (1984–1997, 2000–2006)
 * Ted Lindsay (1944–1960, 1964–1965)
 * Dickie Moore (1951–1963, 1964–1965, 1967–1968)
 * Mark Pavelich (1980–1989, 1991)
 * Jim Peplinski (1980–1989, 1995)
 * Jacques Plante (1952–1965, 1968–1975)
 * Gary Roberts (1985–1996, 1997–2009)
 * Al Secord (1978–1990, 1994–1996)
 * Steve Smith (1983–1997, 1998–2000)

Mixed martial arts

 * Tito Ortiz (1997–2012, 2014–present)
 * Randy Couture (1997–2006, 2007–2011)
 * Chuck Liddell (1998–2010, 2018)
 * Fedor Emelianenko (2000–2012, 2015–present)
 * Georges St-Pierre (2002–2013, 2017)
 * Urijah Faber (2003–2016, 2019)
 * Brock Lesnar (2007–2011, 2016)
 * Alexander Gustafsson (2006–2019, 2020–present)

Motorsports

 * Neil Bonnett (1974–1990, 1993–1994)
 * Ryan Dungey (2006–2017, 2022)
 * Niki Lauda (1971–1979, 1982–1985)
 * Fred Lorenzen (1956, 1960–1967, 1970–1972)
 * Mark Martin (1981–1983, 1986–2006, 2007–2013)
 * Michael Schumacher (1991–2006, 2010–2012)

Professional wrestling

 * Bryan Danielson (1999–2015, 2018–present)
 * Christian Cage (1995–2014, 2020–present)
 * Edge (1992–2011, 2020–present)
 * Saraya (2005–2017, 2022–present)
 * Shawn Michaels (1984–1998, 2002-2010, 2018)
 * “Stone Cold” Steve Austin (1989–2003, 2022)
 * Trish Stratus (2000–2006, 2018, 2019, 2022–present)

Rugby union

 * Andy Goode (1998–2015, 2015–2016, 2020)
 * Peter Rogers (1990–2004, 2007–2008)

Swimming

 * Brent Hayden (2002–12, 2019–present)
 * Michael Phelps (2000–12, 2014–16)
 * Dara Torres (1984–92, 2000, 2007–12)

Tennis

 * Björn Borg (1973–1983, 1991–1993)
 * Martina Hingis (1994–2002, 2006–2007, 2013–2017)
 * Kim Clijsters (1997–2007, 2009–2012, 2020–2022)
 * Justine Henin (1999–2008, 2010–2011)
 * Caroline Wozniacki (2005–2020, 2023–present)