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Several renowned goalkeepers, including Jens Lehmann, and Wojciech Szczesny, have come out of retirement to help clubs during goalkeeping crises, often on short-term deals to fill gaps caused by injuries or other emergencies.
The goalkeeping department is as crucial as any other section across the field of play in the world of football because the goals scored and conceded determine the outcome of a match.
Goalkeepers often receive a lot of stick when the team loses a match, a trend that is evident both locally and internationally.
Coming out of retirement isn't an easy decision either but players that come from retirement normally do so because of a lack of or limited options, handing coaches a selection dilemma. Such players are normally given short-term deals because they act like stop-gap solutions in the crisis area.
Pulse Sports analysed the goalkeepers to have returned to goal after hanging up their gloves.
Petr Cech
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In an illustrious career that lasted two decades, the shot-stopper took up an advisory role with former club Chelsea after calling it a day in 2019. In an unexpected turn of events, he was included in Chelsea's 25-man Premier League squad for the 2020-21 season on an emergency non-contractual basis.
Cech won 12 major trophies for the Blues. The undisputed No. 1 won the Champions League in 2012, perhaps the best accolade in his trophy-laden career. He made his comeback with the under-23s in the Premier League 2 before retiring again. Czech also played for Arsenal.
Jens Lehmann
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Lehmann was part of the Arsenal 'invincibles' 2003/04 team that won the English Premier League titles but retired in 2010 after a spell with VfB Stuttgart.
A year later, the iconic German goalkeeper donned the Gunners colours again to rescue the team from a goalkeeping crisis in 2011.
He was back up to Manuel Almunia and played against Blackpool in April the same year where he also won his 200th and final appearance for the club.
Carlos Roa
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Roa, who won the 1998 World Cup with Argentina, never conceded a goal in the group stage for the quadrennial showpiece
He retired from football in 1999 aged 30, after turning down a lucrative offer from Manchester United to live a life devoted to God.
There were also reports that Roa believed the world would end at the turn of the millennium and that he felt there was no point continuing to play football because everybody's fate would be sealed in 2000. He, however, reconsidered his future and joined Santa Fe in his native Argentina.
Wojciech Szczesny
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The former Arsenal goalkeeper is the latest stopper to return to action and is set to fill in for the injured Mac-Andre Ter Stegen at Barcelona.
The Polish international was let go by Juventus in July after his contract expired and has been clubless despite being strongly linked with Christiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr throughout the summer transfer window.
The 34-year-old is set to sign a one-year deal with Barcelona with Ter Stegen suffering a season-ending injury last weekend.
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