Eleven sports stars who have retired in 2025
Cristiano Ronaldo confirms next World Cup will be his last
Cristiano Ronaldo has said next year’s World Cup will be his last international tournament for Portugal, but he might not be retiring just yet.
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The 40-year-old has never won the trophy, but is set to compete for his country at the event in the US, Mexico and Canada one last time - 20 years after reaching the semi finals in 2006.
Ronaldo has recently signed a contract extension with his Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr, however, and will not be hanging up his boots just yet. The Portuguese put pen to paper on a whopping new deal, that will see him net him a reported £492 million over 24 months.
While Ronaldo will keep on going, here are some of the other sports men and women who have called it a day in 2025, or are set to call it a day in the coming weeks or months.
Eleven sports stars who have retired in 2025
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
Olympic women’s 100m champion in Beijing 2008 and London 2012, the darling of Jamaican athletics reached the final of the World Championships in Tokyo aged 38 in September
Eliud Kipchoge
Another athletics legend, Kipchoge, 41, completed last week’s New York Marathon to tick off all the World Marathon Majors after an illustrious career that saw him win two Olympic golds for Kenya.
Virat Kohli
The Indian great, 37, is set to play on but retired from test cricket in May after 123 matches and 9,230 runs.
Steve Smith
The 35-year-old retired from international cricket in March, after Australia's semi-final exit from the Champions Trophy.
Mats Hummels
The German footballer was playing at the top level for Roma, right up until last summer, when he retired aged 36.
Petra Kvitova
Twice Wimbledon champion, the Czech tennis player had one more season of grand slams before hanging up her racket after the US Open.
Nicolas Mahut
A veteran of the longest ever match of tennis from Wimbledon 2010, the Frenchman retired last month, aged 43, having won all the grand slam doubles tournaments and reached a career singles high of No 37 in 2014.
Alex Morgan
The former US footballer called time on a career that saw her win the World Cup for her country in 2015 and 2019, memorably scoring to knock out England in the latter.
Ott Tanak
Unless he reverses his decision, Estonia’s 2019 World Rally Champion has only this month’s Saudi Arabia Rally left in his WRC professional career.
Jenson Button
The 2009 Formula One champion, 45, has long since left the F1 paddock, but will not race in any series again after finishing his career in this season’s World Endurance Championship.
Geraint Thomas
And Geraint Thomas, one of the most popular British sportsmen of recent times, finished his career this year after one final Tour De France - the race he famously won in 2018.