All-Time Best XI | One Club Men, the best players to have spent their career at one club

Across the annals of football history, the list of legendary figures that played their part in defining the beautiful game is indeed endless. But there is a special sub-section of players that enjoyed immense influence on the sport while only ever putting on one shirt across the duration of their career. Those one club men, that so many of us fondly remember, have just that little bit of extra presence about them that has become of the aspects of yesteryear during a current era in football where few players remain at one club for long. Here is 101 Great Goals’ all-time best XI of one club men.

Note: This XI only considered players that made official appearances for just one club across the duration of their career, which will discount quite a few from consideration on the back of loan stints away from their club even though they were not officially on the books elsewhere.

GK: Lev Yashin (FC Dynamo Moscow)

• Years of service: 20
• Appearances: 326

“Lev Yashin was first-class, a real super goalkeeper. His positional play was excellent, but everything he did was top-class. He was the model for goalkeeping for the next 10 to 15 years, without a doubt. I visualized myself doing some of the things he was doing, even though I was already playing in the top division I used to learn from him.”

—  Gordon Banks

Widely touted as the greatest goalkeeper in football history, Moscow-born Lev Yashin redefined what it meant to be a shot-stopper and then some. For two decades the four-time World Cup attendee was a wall for Russian giants Dynamo Moscow, while also becoming the only keeper to ever win the Balon d’Or as well as claiming Europe’s top goalkeeper award on nine occasions. The likes of Sepp Meier were considered, but the way Yashin transcended eras cannot be ignored.

RB: Carles Puyol (FC Barcelona)

• Years of service: 15
• Appearances: 593

“Puyol is the key, not just because he is one of the best defenders in the world but because of his character. He never lets up.”

—  Xavi

Much like Sergio Busquets (who yes, features below), Catalan native Carles Puyol is another iconic figure in the northeast of Spain and was a defining presence on the pitch – and as a leader – for Barcelona’s high-water mark that saw the club enjoy a period of unfathomable dominance in Europe. Though his career only spanned fifteen seasons, a smaller number when compared to others who feature here, Puyol was a warrior if there ever was one in the way that he left it all on the pitch for the club that meant the world to him. Eighteen major hours later and nearly 600 appearances, Puyol will forever encapsulate what Barcelona achieved.

CB: Franco Baresi (AC Milan)

• Years of service: 20
• Appearances: 719

A leader at the back, very strong and quick, with an excellent understanding of the game. As a defender, he could do everything. A lot of the time, he would know what the attacker was going to do before they knew themselves! How do you get past someone like that?”

—  Ruud Gullit

With a CV that includes three UEFA Champions League titles, six Serie A titles, four Supercoppa Italiana wins, two European Super Cups, and two Intercontinental Cups while also being voted the Serie A player of the 20th century, the legendary Lombardy native Franco Baresi was one of the very best in the world of any era. After being named captain at 22, Baresi went on to define Italian giants AC Milan over the course of a career that spanned two decades while he played alongside a laundry list of iconic figures along the way.

CB: Jack Charlton (Leeds United)

• Years of service: 21
• Appearances: 762

Another sad day for football. Jack was the type of player and person you need in a team to win a World Cup. He was a great and loveable character and he will be greatly missed. The world of football and the world beyond football has lost one of the greats. RIP old friend.”

—  Geoff Hurst; in tribute to Jack Charlton upon his passing

Leeds United may not have much to say in the way of the current landscape of football in England, but the Yorkshire outfit was certainly in full voice in decades past, with Jack Charlton still commanding the utmost love and admiration in Leeds to this day. Best known for being a key figure in England’s only World Cup win in 1966, Charlton was a mainstay at Elland Road for 21 years across 762 appearances in both the first and second divisions between 1952 and 1973. To this day, he remains the all-time appearance leader for Leeds, but most importantly, helping the Three Lions bring it home is why he rightly features.

LB: Paolo Maldini (AC Milan)

• Years of service: 25
• Appearances: 902

“Paolo Maldini. When you found him in front of you you knew you would not pass. He was big. He was strong with his head, with his right foot, with his left foot…You needed to put together 15 players to make one like him.”

—  Roberto Baggio; when he was asked who was the best defender he ever faced

CM: Paul Scholes (Manchester United)

• Years of service: 20
• Appearances: 718

My toughest opponent? Scholes of Manchester. He is the complete midfielder. Scholes is undoubtedly the greatest midfielder of his generation… There is no doubt for me that he [Paul Scholes] is still in a class of his own.

—  Zinedine Zidane

One of the most prominent figures in Manchester United’s history and arguably the face of the Class of ‘92, legendary English midfielder Paul Scholes is viewed as one of the greatest players in the history of the Premier League and hands down one of the most gifted midfielders to ever come out of the British Isles. Owning a career that spanned two decades and featured over 700 appearances to go along with twenty-five major honors, all under Sir Alex Ferguson, Scholes was the headline midfielder among a generation of England players that some still say deserved more international success.

CM: Sergio Busquets (FC Barcelona)*

• Years of service: 15
• Appearances: 736

He’s one of the greatest talents that has been given to Spanish football. This is a discovery. The first time I saw Busquets playing, I called a friend and said: ‘I saw a player from an extinct species’. He’s a star. An absolute talent.”

—  Cesar Luis Menotti

One of two active players still plying their respective trades at their boyhood clubs, Catalonian-born Sergio Busquets has long been one of the faces of Spanish giants Barcelona and their rampant, era-defining success on the pitch since 2008. First breaking into the first team that year, Busquets has been a mainstay as a shield in front of the back four while also forming breathtaking central partnerships with friends and former colleagues Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, and others. Thirty-one major honors later, Busquets is synonymous with one of football’s most storied institutions.

CAM: Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich)*

• Years of service: 15
• Appearances: 653

“He [Müller] provides so many assists. He’s an outstanding player, and I think that Thomas Müller belongs to FC Bayern, much like Oktoberfest belongs to the city of Munich.”

—  Herbert Hainer

Still active at the time of writing and the face of German juggernaut Bayern Munich, Bavarian-born Thomas Müller is one of an impressive contingent of German footballers that have dedicated large parts of their careers to building Bayern’s legacy. But where the likes of Franz Beckenbauer, Lothar Matthäus, Oliver Kahn, and so many others spent time away from Bavaria, Müller is a lifer. Since breaking into the senior team in 2008 after rising through the academy ranks, the Raumdeuter has made 653 appearances while scoring 232 goals and providing over 200 assists along the way while helping the club earn thirty-one major honors. Iconic.

RW: Max Morlock (1.FC Nürnberg)

• Years of service: 24
• Appearances: 472

“Our stadium is an important symbol of the sports city of Nürnberg far beyond the city limits – both sporting and emotionally.

—  Nürnberg major Marcus König on the connection that FCN fans have with the stadium that bears Morlock’s name

The second German to appear in our best XI, Nürnberg legend Max Morlock is arguably the greatest figure in the history of Der Club. In his twenty-four years of service for the club in which he is credited with over 900 combined appearances (official and not official), Morlock would go on to become the FCN’s all-time leading scorer (a record that still stands) across an influential career that would craft an enduring legacy for both club and country after scoring in the final of the 1954 World Cup against Hungarian’s golden team. Nürnberg would go on to name their ground after him in 2017; 23 years after his death.

LW: Ryan Giggs (Manchester United)

• Years of service: 24
• Appearances: 963

“Maybe one day people will say I was another Ryan Giggs.”

—  George Best

When you come close to making 1000 official appearances across all competitions for one club, chances are you were pretty special as a player. Welsh icon and Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs certainly fit that bill without any debate. First breaking into the senior setup in 1990-91, Giggs featured in his last match for the Red Devils during the 2013-14 season and racked up thirty-five major honors for United along the way. Though he may not have scored the number of goals some say he should have, his longevity was undeniable, and on his day, an unquestioned match-winner.

CF: Francesco Totti (AS Roma)

• Years of service: 25
• Appearances: 786

“Totti is immortal and he is a symbol of our sport. I only regret not having worked with him.”

—  Carlo Ancelotti

Rome-born and bred, Francesco Totti’s career with boyhood club AS Roma was, in a word, sensational. Totti holds ten Roma records for goals and appearances while also becoming Serie A’s youngest-ever captain, beating out Franco Baresi in the process. His 307 goals across 786 appearances in all competitions come in as a phenomenal strike rate for a player who made the vast majority of his appearances as an attacking midfielder. An honorable way to close out this list.