Talk:List of retired numbers in association football

Latest comment: 4 years ago by Davehogg in topic Rapid Vienna

Paolo Maldini edit

Is it correct to call Maldini's number retired if he is still playing? Oldelpaso 13:18, 4 June 2006 (UTC)Reply

I think we could post a mark (*) mentioning his fact, the number 3 would be reserve to his son born in 1996. --Jor70 13:21, 3 July 2006 (UTC)Reply

Gianluca Pessotto edit

Just a question: Has Pessotto's number been retired due to the fact, that he attempted suicide? Or is there any other reason? Because after all, he hasn't been the most remarkable Juve player ever... —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.18.148.100 (talk) 15:24, 11 May 2007 (UTC).Reply

Lucas Radebe edit

If Lucas Radebe's shirt hasn't officially been retired by Leeds then it shouldn't be on this page. The asterisk claims that his number 5 shirt hasn't been used since he left the club. Is this really that remarkable considering he only left the club in 2005?

Agreed Audioweevil 01:04, 1 August 2006 (UTC)AudioweevilReply

Retired numbers edit

Could anybody please confirm that France's Olympique Lyonnais retired numbers 16 and 17 for the deceased Luc Borelli and Marc-Vivien Foé.

What about the teams who have retired a number for their fans ? I know that Portsmouth (Eng.) and Lecce (IT) have retired number 12 while Norwich City (Eng.) has retired number 13. Any other known ?

Aberdeen have retired number 12 for their fans, the Red Army. I would add it to the list, but I don't know how. Swaddon1903 21:29, 6 January 2007 (UTC)Reply

Speaking of Aberdeen edit

Is it worth noting Hicham Zerouali in this article at all? IIRC The Dons had to get special permission from the SPL to issue the number in the first place, and it's unimaginable that it would ever be used again —Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.105.219.66 (talk) 18:03, 27 March 2008 (UTC)Reply

Someone has changed the retired number for Zerouali to 30, which is not right. Aberdeen haven't retired number 30 at all, John Bateman had it last season. So I'll just completely remove Zerouali, seeing as there's no source to say that 0 or 30 have been retired. Swaddon1903 (talk) 18:34, 5 April 2011 (UTC)Reply

Sheva edit

Is there any source saying his number will be retired by Milan? seems unlikely. Hardrada 17:23, 16 August 2006 (UTC)Reply

Gianfranco Zola edit

Gianfranco Zola's number 10 jersey from Cagliari Calcio hasn't been retired. The year after he left the game, on 2005-2006, nobody took his number to honorate him, but this year, on 2006-2007, Andrea Capone will be Cagliari's numbero 10.

You're right, I've removed that entry. Ericoides 17:39, 29 April 2007 (UTC)Reply

Pele edit

im pretty sure santos retired his shirt

Jimmy Davis edit

Manchester United have not retired number 36. There were reports of them doing so at the time of Davis' death, but this season 36 was assigned to David Gray. Oldelpaso 11:13, 29 December 2006 (UTC)Reply

How do you know this? Seems Gray is currently on loan at Royal Antwerp. There is currently no 36 in the United squad. Antgel 00:45, 26 January 2007 (UTC)Reply
I was going by the BBC. Oldelpaso 10:15, 26 January 2007 (UTC)Reply

Duplication edit

Seeing as there is a column for the shirt number, I see no reason to repeat it in the description. It's unnecessary replication. Antgel 01:05, 26 January 2007 (UTC)Reply

Fans edit

I feel that the gimmick of giving a shirt number to the fans is not quite the same as retiring one because of a great / tragic player. Rather non-notable, will catch on more and more, and become commonplace. I propose to remove such entries. If anything, there should be a separate section for this within the page, detailing the practice, and optionally giving a list of clubs who have done it. Thoughts? Antgel 01:24, 26 January 2007 (UTC)Reply

Strongly support. It wasnt the idea to mention fans when I created the article .- Jor70 03:33, 26 January 2007 (UTC)Reply
The idea has crossed my mind before, seems a sensible suggestion. Oldelpaso 10:16, 26 January 2007 (UTC)Reply

Move edit

I suggest that this be moved to "Retired numbers in association football", since association football is the correct name for the sport worldwise and soccer is only used in the United States. --Acid Ammo 04:54, 5 March 2007 (UTC)Reply

Disagree, we had already put soccer in the name for the americans. Jor70 11:14, 5 March 2007 (UTC)Reply
See Talk:Football (soccer), which has several pages of debate about naming conventions for articles on the sport. Oldelpaso 18:43, 5 March 2007 (UTC)Reply

The name of the article edit

Why isn't it, simply, Retired numbers in soccer? Tomer T 13:54, 25 October 2007 (UTC)Reply

Because most of the world doesn't call it soccer. I'm sure this has far more interest for Britain than the USA than Australia, so to use one of those countries names for it is nonsensical. Mankytoes (talk) 19:42, 13 December 2008 (UTC)Reply

Mark Philo edit

"For drinking seven pints then driving on the wrong side of the road and crashing head on to another car, killing himself and a mother of two. He'd only played 17 games for Wycombe but that did not stop them showing great respect to the victims family by retiring his shirt in his honour."

Although the reason for his death this is not phrased very well. Better phrasing such as "Died in a car accident" would be more appropriate —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.12.37.6 (talk) 08:49, 1 August 2010 (UTC)Reply

Elio Corbani and Atalanta edit

In march Atalanta B.C. retired the number 80 for radio journalist Elio Corbani, I think maybe is correct to write something about [1]. Stigni (talk) 12:52, 17 October 2012 (UTC)Reply

Default sorting edit

By default, the tables "Retired numbers" and "Special cases" should be sorted by year of birth. SLBedit (talk) 17:32, 29 October 2014 (UTC)Reply

Or alternatively maybe by nationality of club? (it seems like this was the original idea but has been scrambled over time) Macosal (talk) 05:00, 4 November 2014 (UTC)Reply
The article is about retired numbers so they should be sorted by number and then by date/year of birth. SLBedit (talk) 22:16, 4 November 2014 (UTC)Reply
Potentially, although the large arbitrariness of the numbering system limits how informative that would be as I see it. I (maybe this is a personal thing) would rather see, for example, which American clubs have retired numbers than which clubs have retired the number 14. Macosal (talk) 01:57, 5 November 2014 (UTC)Reply
If not by number I would choose by career instead of country. Or sort by country plus career. SLBedit (talk) 17:42, 5 November 2014 (UTC)Reply

Requested move 16 November 2015 edit

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: Moved. (non-admin closure) Natg 19 (talk) 22:33, 30 November 2015 (UTC)Reply



Retired numbers in association footballList of retired numbers in association football – It's a list per content. 178.94.166.186 (talk) 17:29, 16 November 2015 (UTC) --Relisted. Natg 19 (talk) 19:45, 23 November 2015 (UTC)Reply


The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

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Career edit

Does "career" in table refer to a player's senior career or a player's career at a specific club? SLBedit (talk) 22:57, 10 February 2016 (UTC)Reply

Order? edit

Is this list in any specific order?? Savvyjack23 (talk) 06:21, 13 April 2016 (UTC)Reply

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Lukas Podolski edit

It's true that the club assigned the nr. 10 to Patrik Helmes, but he never actually played a competitive game wearing it, since he was injured and ended his career subsequently due to that injury. After that, the club didn't assign the nr. 10 to any player again, so Podolski still remains the last player who actually wore it on the pitch. That may be worth adding, but I am currently not able to provide one single source to prove this concisely. If I find something eventually, I will incorporate this information.

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Rapid Vienna edit

The two examples given for Rapid Vienna aren't retired numbers, just ones that were taken out of circulation for a few years after the retirement of a popular player. While that is also a sign of respect, it isn't the same as a permanent retirement of the number. There are numerous other examples on the list - if a number is reissued to anyone other than a family member, it isn't retired. Davehogg (talk) 07:03, 28 September 2019 (UTC)Reply