Ranking the 10 best footballers to have their shirt numbers retired | OneFootball

Lionel Messi will go down as one of the greatest footballers of all time. When he finally calls time on an illustrious career, Argentina have announced they will retire the number 10 that was emblazoned on his back when he led his country to World Cup glory in 2022.

Many players have had their shirt numbers retired, either for having made such an enormous impact during their time with the team, or out of respect if that player suffered a tragic early death. One example is the number 9 shirt at Nantes, which the French club decided to retire in 2019 after their player Emiliano Sala died in a plane crash on his way over the English channel to sign for Cardiff City.

Argentina had actually decided to retire the number 10 shirt back in 2001, in honour of the equally legendary Diego Maradona, who inspired his nation to two World Cup triumphs in 1978 and 1986. However, FIFA rules prevented them from going through with the decision, and it will be interesting to see how the Argentinian Football Association navigate such a problem this time around.

If they can get it done, Messi would join a long list of footballers who have had their iconic shirt number retired by their teams, and there are some other big names that make up that list. Here at GIVEMESPORT, we're going to rank the ten best players to have had their shirt numbers retired.

Ranking factors

Factors taken into consideration when ranking these players are as follows:

Several players in this list spent the entirety of their career with the club who retired their number which works in their favour, whilst others made a big impression during their time with that team despite playing for other clubs, but as they are regarded as some of the greatest players in football history, they also rank highly. And now, without further ado, here are the top ten...

10 Francesco Totti

AS Roma

Francesco Totti is one of the most famous one-club men in football history, having spent the entirety of his 24-year playing career with his beloved AS Roma. Therefore, it was only natural that once he finally hung up his boots, the Italian side retired the number 10 that had adorned the back of his shirt from 1997 to 2017.

Totti's 783 appearances and 307 goals means he has made more appearances and scored more goals than any other player in Roma's history. The attacker helped his team win only their third-ever Serie A accolade in 2001, as well as back-to-back Coppa Italias in 2007 and 2008. Totti made his final Roma appearance on 28 May 2017 and received a standing ovation from the Stadio Olimpico.

9 George Weah

Liberia

George Weah is indisputably the greatest player ever produced by the country of Liberia and his legacy extended beyond his playing career when he was elected President of the country in 2018, serving a six-year term. Having won 61 caps and scoring 22 goals, the striker's number 14, which he wore for the bulk of his international career, was retired by the national team in 2018.

Weah is considered to be one of the greatest African footballers of all time, first arriving on European shores in 1988 when he signed for Monaco. He became the first African player to win the Ballon D'Or in 1995, thanks to his stellar performances for both PSG and AC Milan. He retired in 2003, having also enjoyed brief spells in the Premier League with Chelsea and Manchester City.

8 Roberto Baggio

Brescia

Roberto Baggio is regarded as one of the greatest Italian players of all time who shone for some of the greatest teams in Italian football. However, it is for his exploits with a smaller team at the end of his career that his shirt number was forever retired by a club in his honour.

Having been a star at Juventus and both Milan clubs, Baggio made the surprising decision to join newly-promoted Brescia in 2000, at the age of 33. The former Ballon D'Or winner was tasked with keeping the side in Serie A, but instead captained them to their highest-ever finish of 8th place, grabbing 10 goals and eight assists. Despite struggling with injuries the following season, his incredible 11 goals in 12 matches helped Brescia survive on the final day, and in his final two seasons of football, he helped them become an established Serie A team and is still regarded as their greatest ever player.

7 Franco Baresi

Milan

Like Baggio, Franco Baresi is also a legendary name in Italian football and is one of the most beloved players in AC Milan's history. Having spent the entirety of his 20-year career with the club, his number 6 shirt was immediately retired upon his retirement.

Baresi made his senior debut in 1978 at the age of 18 and soon became a regular starter for the Rossoneri. During his time with the club, he helped them win six Serie A and three Champions League titles, and he was so well-regarded on the world stage, he even came second for the Ballon D'Or in 1989, which would have made him one of only four defenders to ever win the accolade, alongside Franz Beckenbauer, Matthias Sammer and Fabio Cannavaro. In total, Baresi made the second-most appearances in AC Milan history with 716, and scored 33 goals in that time before hanging up his boots in 1997.

6 Bobby Moore

West Ham

Bobby Moore is best remembered for captaining England to their first and only World Cup in 1966. However, he was also adored for his domestic performances with his boyhood club West Ham United and in 2008, 15 years after his premature death from liver cancer, his number 6 shirt was retired by the Hammers.

The centre-back captained the Irons to FA Cup glory in 1964, which saw him named FWA Football of the Year, and also led them to the European Cup Winners' Cup the following year, which was the club's only European honour until they won the Europa Conference League in 2023. Moore finally left the Boleyn Ground in 1974, and enjoyed three years at Fulham, before playing out the remainder of his career in America and Denmark. His 647 appearances is the second-most in West Ham's history.

5 Paolo Maldini

Milan

The only player to make more appearances for AC Milan than Franco Baresi is Paolo Maldini. So he received a similar tribute to his defensive partner upon his retirement in 2009, as his number 3 shirt was forever retired by the Rossoneri.

Maldini made his senior debut for Milan as a 16-year-old during the 1984/85 campaign and by the following season, he had become a first-choice in the team, due to his ability to play across the whole defence. He helped them win five Serie A titles and three Champions Leagues before being officially appointed captain in 1997. As the skipper, he added another two league titles and two Champions Leagues, as well as a Coppa Italia, to his substantial trophy haul and ended his career at AC Milan having made a jaw-dropping 901 appearances.

4 Ferenc Puskas

Budapest Honved

Ferenc Puskas is one of the greatest goalscorers in football history and played in an era where his native Hungary were one of the most fearsome footballing powers on the planet. He came through at a club called Kispest Honved, who became known as Budapest Honved in 1949, when the team was acquired by the Hungarian army.

Due to his prolific goal-scoring, Puskas was kept by the club and eventually acquired the rank of major within the military. The forward spent thirteen years with the club, scoring an astonishing 382 goals in 367 appearances, before the Hungarian Revolution forced him to flee the country. He would later emigrate to Spain and spent eight years as one of the stars of a dominant Real Madrid team. Budapest Honved remain a club to this day and retired Puskas' number 10 in 2000, after the forward was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

3 Johan Cruyff

Ajax

Johan Cruyff is widely regarded as one of the best and most important players to play the game. He was the star of the Netherlands team that promoted the philosophy of Total Football during the 1970s, and as a result services to Ajax, with whom he spent a total of 11 years of his playing career across two spells, his iconic number 14 shirt was retired by the Amsterdam club in 2007.

During the Dutchman's first nine years with his boyhood club, he helped them win six league titles, as well as three consecutive European Cups between 1971 and 1973, before joining Barcelona for a world record fee. After five years at Camp Nou as well as spells in America, he returned to Ajax in 1981, winning another two league titles in two seasons, before ending his career with their arch rivals Feyenoord and helping them to their first league triumph in ten years. Not even this controversial decision could taint his legacy at Ajax, who even named their stadium after the forward upon his death in 2016.

2 Pele

New York Cosmos

Pele is a name synonymous with football, and he is widely regarded as one of the greatest to ever play the game. This is mostly down to his exploits on the international stage with Brazil, with whom he won three World Cups and remains the only player to have achieved such a feat. However, it is not Brazil, but a club that retired a shirt number in his honour.

Having spent eighteen years in his native country with Santos, during which time he scored an estimated 643 goals in 659 games, Pele was signed by New York Cosmos in 1975, in a bid to raise the profile of the sport in the United States. He spent three seasons with the New York club, scoring 37 goals in 64 games, and despite the club dissolving in 1985, they were re-founded in 2010 and continue to leave the number 10 in their squad unassigned in the Brazilian forward's honour.

1 Diego Maradona

Napoli

Diego Maradona is arguably the greatest footballer who has ever lived and was voted Player of the Century in an internet poll on FIFA's website in 2000. While Argentina's first attempt to retire the number 10, in Maradona's honour, was unsuccessful, the club with whom he left the biggest imprint were able to retire the number.

Having started his career in his native Argentina with Argentinos Juniors and later Boca Juniors, Maradona came to Europe in 1982, spending two years with Barcelona, before he made a blockbuster move to Napoli and broke the world-record transfer fee for a second time. The attacking midfielder was quickly appointed club captain and led the club to their first-ever league titles in 1987 and 1990, as well as the UEFA Cup in 1989. The Argentinian was idolised during his seven years playing in southern Italy, with his number retired in 2000 and their stadium renamed in his honour mere days after his death in December 2020.