By Solomon Wise
August, 2024
beginning of a season but some players have spent their entire career with only one club also referred to as a one-club man. Loyalty is rare nowadays in modern football as few players stay in one club their whole careers as many chase more money or new experiences with other football clubs, here are some of football’s most famous one-club players of all time
- RYAN GIGGS (MANCHESTER UNITED)
The Wales midfielder appeared in 963 matches for Man United over 24 seasons scoring 168 goals in all competitions between 1991 and 2014, winning 13 Premier League titles and 2 UEFA Champions League titles with other silverware.
- CARLES PUYOL (BARCELONA)
Puyol retired at the age of 36 winning 21 major trophies, He made 682 appearances for the club between 1999 and 2014. Puyol was named European right-back of the year in 2002 and he also captained Barcelona through one of their successful periods in history.
- PAOLO MALDINI (AC MILAN)
The former Italian defender appeared in 902 matches both in his youth and senior career between 1978 and 2009 scoring 29 goals in all competitions winning a total of 26 major trophies with AC Milan. He was voted as UEFA’s best defender at the age of 39 and by the time he retired in 2009, he was regarded as a legend by AC Milan.
- FRANCESCO TOTTI (AS ROMA)
Totti always had several options to leave Roma but always chose to stay at the club. The Italian appeared in 783 matches scoring over 250 goals in all competitions between 1993 and 2017. He has been Roma’s captain since 1997 and has won 5 major trophies.
- TONY ADAMS (ARSENAL)
Adams spent his 19-year career at Arsenal, captaining them for 14 years. The England defender appeared in 504 matches for Arsenal and scored 32 goals in all competitions between 1983 and 2002.
- JAMIE CARRAGHER (LIVERPOOL)
He appeared in 737 matches over 16 seasons winning 11 trophies with Liverpool between 1988-1996 (youth career) and 1996-2013 (senior career).
- TONY HIBBERT (EVERTON)
Between 1998 and 2016, he appeared in 328 appearances for the Toffees in all competitions before returning to France in 2001 to play amateur football.
- PAUL SCHOLES (MANCHESTER UNITED)
Paul retired in 2011 after 718 match appearances and scoring 155 goals for Manchester United winning 25 trophies.
- LEV YASHIN (DYNAMO MOSCOW)
With 358 match appearances for Dynamo from 1950-1970 winning a total of eight major trophies, He is the only goalkeeper to ever win the Ballon d’Or.
Some of the one-club players:
- Jim Barrett – West Ham United (15 years)
- Giuseppe Bergomi – Inter Milan (20 years)
- Carlo Bigatto – Juventus (18 years)
- Carlo Duarte – FC Porto (10 years)
- Patrick Fabian – VfL Bochum (15 years)
- Julen Guerrero – Athletic Bilbao (14 years)
- Ben Kantarovski – Newcastle Jets (14 years)
- Ledley King – Tottenham Hotspur (14 years)
- Gary Neville- Manchester United (19 years)
- Bruno Soriano – Villarreal (14 years)
Francesco Totti and Paolo Maldini are the one-club man footballers who have played their entire professional career with only one club for twenty-five years.
Solomon Wise is a videographer with over 7 years of experience. When not writing on Respbet he works for various projects in graphics design and videography
