One Club Footballers - The Top 5 Footballers Who Only Played for One Club
The 5 Greatest Football Players who were Loyal to One Club
This is our list of the 5 best players who were one-club men, not including current players.
These 5 global superstars were loyal to their clubs for the entirety of their football careers, something that will become rarer and rarer.
Iconic Shirt - Iconic Player
There are a number of players that of course did not make this list, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t thought about or considered them. Let us know who we missed in the comments if you want to lobby for another candidate.
5. Ryan Giggs (Manchester United)
The most decorated player in Premier League history, Ryan Giggs spent all 24 years of his professional career with Manchester United and was a key part in their resurrection and consistency as a superpower in football.
Giggs is one player who’s come under criticism by ‘Football Twitter’ for his lack of goals as a winger and has been in my opinion unfairly criticised as a player who had benefited from Manchester United with no reciprocity.
When someone as universally loved and respected like Johan Cruyff says:
“Eric Cantona is a great player, but he’s not as good as Ryan Giggs”,
that tends to speak to the talent of Giggs. Not only did Giggs win 13 Premier League titles, two Champions League trophies, and countless domestic cups, he was the first player to win the PFA Young Player of the Year in consecutive years and is the oldest winner of the PFA Player of the Year award, winning it at the ripe age of 36 years old.
Giggs also holds the assist record in Premier League history with 162 and is one of three players in Premier League history to hit triple digits in goals and assists, a record shared with Frank Lampard and former Man United teammate Wayne Rooney. We certainly think Giggs is the greatest Man U player of all time.
4. Francesco Totti (Roma)
While Francesco Totti may possess the least silverware on this list, he just might be the most revered. T
otti spent all 25 years of his professional career with his boyhood club Roma, having been born and raised in the capital and rising through the youth ranks to the first team.
The Italian is Roma’s top goalscorer and their most capped player as well as being the youngest captain in Serie A history (22 years old). With all the goals, assists, and individual achievements Totti has amassed over his career, his crowning moment will always be captaining his club to the Serie A title in the 2000/01 season: Roma’s third title and first since 1983.
That title solidified his icon status in Rome as he continued writing his legacy for the next 16 years of his illustrious career. Even in retirement, ‘Er Bimbo de Oro’, which translates to ‘The Golden Boy’, Totti is Roma through and through as he was appointed technical director of the club in 2017 before leaving in 2019.
3. Paul Scholes (Manchester United)
The second Manchester United player on this list and perhaps their best midfield player ever. Paul Scholes is one of the greatest midfielders of his generation and I still think his ability is not appreciated to its full extent.
Barcelona legend Xavi spoke glowingly about Scholes in 2012, calling him the best central midfielder he’s seen in the last 15 to 20 years. Scholes has won 11 Premier League titles which is more than any other Englishman as well as two Champions League titles with United.
One thing I’ll always remember about Paul Scholes is him returning from retirement in the 2012/13 season because of the midfield injuries Manchester United had suffered and once again bossing the midfield as United won a 13th Premier League title and their last one to date.
Alongside Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes inspired a generation and showed that at 5’6, you don’t have to be an imposing physical figure to not only lead a midfield but a team that was successful across multiple decades.
While Lampard and Gerrard may get more plaudits from the media, it’s always the players that had to play against Scholes that speak so highly of him.
2. Franco Baresi (AC Milan)
This is Franco Baresi’s second appearance on my top five lists and both mentions are absolutely deserved. Baresi spent his entire 20-year career with AC Milan and is universally recognised as one of the greatest defenders to ever grace the game.
Having been captain for 15 of those 20 years, Baresi became a symbol for the team, especially in the years when Milan was relegated twice to Serie B, once for a match-fixing scandal in 1980 and finishing 18 th in the league in the 1981-82 season.
The likes of Aldo Maldera and Fulvio Collovati left the club in 1982 to Roma and Inter Milan which led to Baresi receiving the captain’s armband.
He stayed when he would have had opportunities to return to Serie A and he was rewarded with his loyalty as Milan’s greatest period was around the corner as they dominated both their domestic league and the European stage over the next nine years.
Baresi ended his career in 1997 having won six Serie A titles, three European Cup/UEFA Champions League titles, and four European Supercups amongst other honours. His number 6 was immediately retired upon Baresi’s departure from football which is perhaps the greatest way to honour a player that not only won everything but stayed through good and bad, just as a leader should.
Baresi and Maldini, one club men, and iconic defenders!
1. Paolo Maldini (AC Milan)
After paying tribute to his former centre-back partner, it’s time to honour a fellow AC Milan icon in Paolo Maldini who is my number-one player, and who was a one-club man.
One of the greatest Italian players of all time, when you think of Paolo Maldini, you think of greatness. You think of his longevity, his consistency, his persistent drive to win, and the passion he had for his boyhood club which makes it all the more special to do what he did with AC Milan.
Maldini spent 25 years with Milan beginning his career in 1984 until his retirement in 2009; an unbelievable span of time for a professional football career, and even crazier to think that for those 25 years, it was pure top-level football.
One thing I want people to understand is that Maldini didn’t spend the last few years of his career as a passenger that didn’t contribute much, and he wasn’t a shell of his younger self. Maldini played 30 league games in his last season, leading Milan to 3 rd in the table with only Inter Milan conceding fewer goals.
Maldini also won the Best Defender trophy at the UEFA Club Football Awards at 39 years old, an achievement I don’t think we’ll see again.
With seven Serie A titles, five European Cup/UEFA Champions League trophies, and 13 other domestic/European trophies, Maldini was a serial winner and I’ll leave you with a quote from former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
“Maldini went through the entire 90 minutes without tackling. That is an art and he is the master of it.”
