One Club Award

The prize exists to honour players who have demonstrated a "real" connection to region of their club. Athletic Bilbao place particular importance on player loyalty and promotion from within,^[2] with the majority of their players graduating from their youth academy system based at the Lezama Facilities outside Bilbao;^[3][4] they have a self-imposed limitation where they will only field players that have a connection to the Basque region where they are based.^[2][5] As such they have a small pool of potential players to choose from compared to other large clubs, and their players are encouraged to agree to long-term contracts to remain.

According to the club, up until the 21st century "the association between clubs and the territory they belonged to was a football club’s most important identifying feature".^[6] This feature is what they call the Principle of Origin - "which boils down to: I support the team of where I come from because their players represent me and share my origin. They are “our players”.^[6] In recent years, the club believes that the principle of origin has been superseded by success at all costs with clubs often featuring teams without any players from the city the club represents.

Athletic Club define the club's values as:^[7]

• Loyalty
  • Towards the club that placed their trust in a young, promising player and developed that player into an elite footballer.
• Commitment
  • To fostering a football culture that encourages a mutual sense of belonging among fans and players.^[8]
• Responsibility
  • Towards the cultural identity of the club, the place it belongs to and its fans.^[6]
• Sportsmanship
  • Ensuring that the sporting spirit of the game always prevails and that the equality between participants is protected.
• Respect
  • For all fans, whose passion is the raw material that enriches football.

• List of one-club men in association football