FEATURE: The One Club Award

Jon Bonfiglio looks at the One Club Award, given by Spanish club Athletic Bilbao to reward footballers who spent careers in a single team, and who represented values of loyalty, commitment, responsibility sportsmanship and respect, values that the club considers linked to its identity.

Transcript

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Hello everyone. Here we are again at World Cup, etc. And as regular listeners will know, here on the podcast, we definitely have a focus on where football sits in history, in society, and in community. And an inevitable result of that, although truth be told, it's probably a chicken and egg thing, which came first. It also means that we have a perspective which aligns on what football could be. Let's call it its utopia factor, if you like, over well over what it currently is. You've heard us and will continue to hear us, for instance, rail against FIFA in its imperial Darth Vader-ish capacities, although uh there was still some good in Vader, as far as I remember from the films. No such luck with Gianni Infantino, a more malevolent, self-serving soul you would struggle to find on Tatooine or on Earth. We make no bones about football being played a particular well way over a cynical win at all costs mentality. And of course, we view the obscene levels of money in the game as a stigma for all involved. Not because it's not worth it, but because of who ends up with it and the constant fleeting of your average fan. And alongside this, of course, the club as commodity aspect of business for many players is a long, long way from how fans view their clubs, who they stick with through thick and thin. That is the badge of honour and the devotion they have for these cathedrals. So, as part of all this today, we're going to celebrate the San Mames One Club Trophy, also known as the One Club Award, which is a hugely prestigious honor given annually by athletic club Bill Bao to football players who spent their entire professional careers at a single team. So prestigious, in fact, that last year, the winner of the trophy in 2025, Jamie Carragher, said that after the Champions League trophy, being awarded the San Mamez one club trophy was the greatest achievement of his career. First awarded in 2015, the award highlights loyalty and values, which once again are often in thin supply in the modern football world, and as such is a pretty unique trophy with winners usually celebrated on the San Mames pitch during a home match. Now, for those of you who are football history and culture literate, or who listened to our series a couple of months back on Spanish football, you'll know that Spain's Basque region is a holdout in modern football as regards local talent. And Athletic Club in particular has a longstanding commitment and record of coaching, promoting and hiring locally. So the award makes perfect sense in that it recognises players from other clubs who share the same commitment and dedication to one team, mirroring athletic club's own philosophy. It's a trophy which includes both a male, one club man, and a female one club woman category, with the awards presented, as mentioned before, at the Athletic Club's home uh ground, the San Mamez, at some point during the season. The 2026 award has not yet been given, and it's expected to happen at some point in the next few matches before the end of the La Liga season. Interestingly, the first winner in 2015 was uh Matthew Letitia, Southampton Football Club, uh, who was followed by the likes of Paolo Maldini, AC Milan, Sep Meyer, Bayern Munich, Ryan Giggs, Manchester United, and Giuseppe Bogomi Inter Milan. As mentioned earlier, Garagger. Carraga, apologies, Jamie Carrager won in 2025 for his lifelong commitment to Liverpool. Uh it's a completely unique award celebrating loyalty over self, commitment to a cause over and above earnings, and maybe for all these reasons, Athletic Club should be everyone's favourite next best team. That's it for me. At this point in recordings, Paul Schmidt Troschke reminds everyone to please rate the podcast. If you haven't already, just go on to your podcast download platform and give us hopefully a five-star rating. It'll make Mr. Schmidt Troshka and all of us very happy indeed. Thanks for listening.

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Also check out our World Sports, etc. podcast for more sports news and stories. And with that, thank you so much for listening and goodbye.