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.

American football

Randy Moss with the Minnesota Vikings in 2010 (left) and the San Francisco 49ers in 2012 (right) after having announced his retirement before the intervening season

• Maxie Baughan (1960–1970, 1974)^[1]
• Ross Brupbacher (1970-72, 1976)^[2][3]
• Randall Cunningham (1985–1995, 1997–2001)^[4]
• Anthony Davis (2010–14, 2016)^[5][6]
• Steve DeBerg (1977–1993, 1998)^[7]
• Kyle Emanuel (2015–18, 2020)^[8][9]
• Carl Etelman (1924–27, 1929)^[10][11]
• Rob Gronkowski (2010–2018, 2020–2021)^[12]
• Charles Haley (1986–96, 1998–99)^[13][14]
• Bill Hewitt (1932–39, 1943)^[15]
• Ed "Too Tall" Jones (1974–78, 1980–89)^[16]
• Marshawn Lynch (2007–2015, 2017–19)
• Rueben Mayes (1986–90, 1992–93)^[17][18]
• Rolando McClain (2010–12, 2014–15)^[19][20]
• Randy Moss (1998–2010, 2012)^[21]
• Bronko Nagurski (1930–37, 1943)^[22]
• Red Pearlman (1919–1922, 1924)^[23]
• Jim Ramey (1979–1985, 1987)^[24]
• Manny Rapp (1934, 1937, 1942)^[25]
• John Riggins (1971–79, 1981–85)^[26][27]
• Deion Sanders (1989–2000, 2004–05)^[4]
• John Tosi (1939–1942, 1944, 1946)^[28]
• Eric Weddle (2007–2019, 2021)^[29]
• Reggie White (1984–1998, 2000)^[4]
• Ricky Williams (1999–2003, 2005–2011)^[30][31]
• Jason Witten (2003–2017, 2019–2020)^[32]

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

Blaine Boyer with the New York Mets in 2011 (left) and the Minnesota Twins in 2015 (right) before and after retiring and working at a brokerage firm.

Gabe Kapler with the Boston Red Sox in 2004 (left) and the Tampa Bay Rays in 2009 (right) before and after having retired and served as a Minor League Baseball manager.

• Ed Abbaticchio (1897–1905, 1907–1910)^[33][34]
• Daniel Bard (2009–2013, 2020–present)^[35][36]
• Chief Bender (1903–1917, 1925)^[37]
• Yogi Berra (1946–1963, 1965)^{[38][notes 1]}
• Joe Blanton (2004–2013, 2015–2017)^[39][40]
• Jim Bouton (1962–1970, 1978)^[41][42]
• Blaine Boyer (2005–2011, 2014–2018)^[43][44]
• Dan Brouthers (1879–1896, 1904)^[45]
• Chris Chambliss (1971–1986, 1988)^{[46][47][notes 2]}
• Ben Chapman (1930–1941, 1944–1946)^[48][49]
• David Cone (1986–2001, 2003)^[50]
• Tony Conigliaro (1964–1971, 1975)^[51]
• Dizzy Dean (1930–1941, 1947)^{[52][notes 3]}
• Mike Donlin (1899–1906, 1908, 1911–1912, 1914)^[53][54]
• Jim Eisenreich (1982–1984, 1987–1998)^[55][56]
• Kevin Elster (1986–1998, 2000)^[57]
• Jackie Jensen (1950–1959, 1961)^[58]
• Jimmie Foxx (1925–1942, 1944–1945)^[48][59]
• Jerry Grote (1963–1978, 1981)^[60][61]
• Emmet Heidrick (1898–1904, 1908)^[62]
• Babe Herman (1926–1937, 1945)^[48][63]
• Gabe Kapler (1998–2006, 2008–2010)^[64][65]
• Marc Kroon (1995, 1997–1998, 2004)^[66]
• Minnie Miñoso (1949–1964, 1976, 1980)^{[67][notes 4]}
• Charley O'Leary, (1904–1913, 1934)^{[69][notes 5]}
• Jim O'Rourke (1872–1893, 1904)^{[70][notes 6]}
• Rube Oldring (1905–1916, 1918)^[71][72]
• Joe Page (1944–1950, 1954)^[73][74]
• Satchel Paige (1926–1953, 1965)^{[75][notes 7]}
• Troy Percival (1995–2005, 2007–2009)^[77][78]
• Andy Pettitte (1995–2010, 2012–2013)^[79][80]
• Ryne Sandberg (1981–1994, 1996–1997)^[81][82]
• Paul Shuey (1994–2003, 2007)^[83]
• J. T. Snow (1992–2006, 2008)^{[84][85][notes 8]}
• Luis Sojo (1990–2001, 2003)^[86][87]
• Dave Stieb (1979–1993, 1998)^[88]
• George Strickland (1950–1957, 1959–1960)^[89]
• Sam Thompson (1885–1898, 1906)^[90]
• Salomón Torres (1993–1997, 2002–2008)^[91][92]
• Clay Touchstone (1928–1929, 1945)^[93][94]
• Hal Trosky (1933–1941, 1943, 1946)^[95][96]
• Arky Vaughan (1932–1943, 1947–1948)^[97]
• Lloyd Waner (1927–1942, 1944)^[98]

Basketball

• Jonathan Bender (1999–2006, 2009–2010)^[99][100]
• Bob Cousy (1950–1963, 1969–1970)^[4]
• Dave Cowens (1970–1980, 1982–83)^[101][102]
• Carlos Delfino (1998–2013, 2017–present)
• Richie Guerin (1956–1967, 1968–1970)^[103][104]
• Danny Ildefonso (1998–2015, 2023)
• Kevin Johnson (1987–1998, 1999–2000)^[105][106]
• Magic Johnson (1979–1991, 1996)^[4]
• Michael Jordan (1984–1993, 1995–1998, 2001–2003)^[4]
• George Mikan (1946–1954, 1956)
• Sidney Moncrief (1979–1989, 1990–91)^[107][108]
• John Salley (1986–1996, 1999–2000)^[109][110]
• Robert Reid (1977–1982, 1983–1991)^[111][112]
• Brandon Roy (2006–2011, 2012–13)^[113][114]
• Saulius Štombergas (1992–2007, 2009–2010)
• Rasheed Wallace (1995–2010, 2012–2013)
• Kelly Williams (2006–2019, 2021–present)
• Kevin Willis (1984–2005, 2006–07)^[115]

Boxing

• Joe Louis (1934-48, 1950-51)
• Muhammad Ali (1960–1979, 1980–1981)^[4]
• Sugar Ray Leonard (1977–1982, 1983–1984, 1986–1987, 1988–1991, 1996–1997)^[4]
• George Foreman (1969–1977, 1987–1997)^[4]

Cricket

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

Cycling

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

Ice hockey

Mario Lemieux in 1992 (left) and 2005 (right) before and after retiring due to Hodgkin lymphoma and other injuries.

• 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)^[4]
• 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

• Fernando Alonso (2001, 2003–2018, 2021–present)
• Neil Bonnett (1974–1990, 1993–1994)
• Ryan Dungey (2006–2017, 2022–present)
• Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (1998–2017, 2018–present in least 1 race of Xfinity Series only)
• Alan Jones (1975–1981, 1983, 1985–1986)
• Jimmie Johnson (2002–2020, 2023–present part-time only)
• Matt Kenseth (2000–2018, 2020)
• 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 (1984–2010, 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)

Skateboarding

• Tony Hawk (1982–2003, 2021)^{[116][117][notes 9]}

Swimming

• Brent Hayden (2002–12, 2019–present)^[118]
• 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)