Every year at San Mames, the iconic home of Athletic Club in Bilbao, local fans pause to recognise and celebrate players not from their own club, but those who share a unique value with the Basque outfit – loyalty.

Athletic Club – famous for only fielding players born or raised in the region – introduced the One-Club Award in 2015, honouring those who dedicated their entire professional career to a single team.

“We wanted to create an award that recognised most kids growing up dream of playing for one club,” explains Dan Parry from the La Liga side’s communications department.

“On the other side, we wanted to show despite all the big-money transfers in modern-day football, there are top players all over the world who want to become one-club players.

“It’s an individual award, but it’s also an award that celebrates the union between the football team, fans and the player.”

Keeping those values in mind, then, this week I’m ranking football’s top 10 one-club men – you can have your say below, too.

Spending your entire career with one club is a curious phenomenon – in 20-plus years at the top you’re likely to outlast several managers, and how often do the player or club’s paths take different trajectories?

It’s not solely the player’s decision to stay, either – the club has to want them. And you have to forge a strong bond with the fans – from Tony Hibbert to Ledley King, and even aptly named Celtic stalwart Paul McStay, many become cult heroes or club legends.

Athletic Club could field teams of one-club players past and present, but they only give the award to retired players from other clubs.

“We look for players we feel embody the values of their club or fanbase,” adds Parry.

“Maybe the player isn’t necessarily the big superstar or most talented to have ever come from that club, but generally they tend to be a big fan favourite.

“The fans saw that player as a reflection of themselves on the pitch and quite often the players saw themselves as a reflection of the fan base as well.”

From Milan to Manchester United, some clubs could feature heavily here, so we’ve gone for one representative per team.

To kick things off, though, it only feels right to include an Athletic star – the only current player on the list embodies the club’s values and also has his own remarkable story.

Inaki Williams would not be a legend in Bilbao if it wasn’t for the sacrifices made by his parents, who left Ghana in search of a better future while his mother, Maria, was pregnant, crossing part of the Sahara barefoot to settle in northern Spain.

“We had to suffer a lot,” Williams told me before helping Athletic to a first Copa del Rey triumph in 40 years. “Thanks to God we are all here together now, living a really good life.”

Growing up an Athletic fan, Williams was the first black player to score for the club and helped his brother Nico break through, too.

“Inaki Williams always says, ‘my dream is to be able to say I spent my entire career playing for my boyhood club’,” adds Parry.

At 31 and with more than 500 appearances for Athletic, including a La Liga record 251 in a row, the forward looks good to deliver on that dream.

There are plenty of worthy shouts for an older generation of stars – Jack Charlton at Leeds United, and Bolton Wanderers’ Nat Lofthouse among them – but with the commercialisation and globalisation of modern football making one-club wonders feel increasingly rare, we’ve not strayed too far into the past.

Apart from, that is, to include Lev Yashin – the Ballon d’Or-winning goalkeeper who spent his entire career between 1950 and 1970 with Dynamo Moscow (he also played ice hockey for them).

Yashin, at number nine, is also the only goalkeeper on this list, although honorable mentions go to 39-year-old Igor Akinfeev – into his 23rd season with CSKA Moscow – and Brazilian Rogerio Ceni, who played more than 1,000 times for Sao Paulo and remarkably scored 129 goals.

Giuseppe Bergomi sweeps in at eight, making his Inter debut shortly after turning 16 in 1980 and remaining the club’s youngest-ever player. Only Javier Zanetti has more appearances than the versatile Italian defender’s 519 for the Nerazzurri.

From San Siro to Southampton, where Matthew le Tissier spent his time sauntering around The Dell scoring worldies and tormenting goalkeepers from the penalty spot – Mark Crossley the only man to stop him from 48 attempts.

Le Tissier could have moved on to bigger pastures – Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham among those keen – but then he wouldn’t have made this list, or kept Saints in the top flight for so long.

There are players who have stood on the brink of one-clubmanship only to prolong their careers elsewhere – think Thomas Muller at Vancouver, Steven Gerrard in LA, John Terry in the Midlands.

But at number six is someone who committed themselves entirely to Merseyside.

When Jamie Carragher was invited to receive the One-Club Man award at San Mames, he said: “After winning the Champions League, being a one-club man is the biggest achievement of my career.”

Despite all their team silverware, players value the prize as a huge honour.

“They think their status as a one-club player is something that’s been undersung throughout their careers,” says Parry. “One thing that also strikes me is how humble they’ve been, which perhaps is quite telling considering the values of the award.”

Carragher played under six managers during his 16-year career at Anfield, while Carles Puyol – coming it at number five – played under eight at Barcelona, who accepted an offer to sell the defender before he had even made his debut.

Puyol refused to leave, and then won the lot.

“It’s rare and a difficult achievement to be a one-club player at any club, not just a top club,” explains Parry. “Clubs are constantly pushing to improve and transfer strategies are a huge part of that.

“Carragher and Puyol mentioned they know different managers signed different players to try and replace them. It was a huge challenge they had to overcome.

“Maintaining the level required to play in a top-division football team over a sustained period comes with a lot of pressure and competition.”

Tony Adams, at number four, was part of a transition from George Graham’s discipline to the progressive approach of Arsene Wenger – captaining Arsenal to league titles in three different decades.

Adams, meanwhile, had to overcome alcoholism – serving four months in prison in 1990 for drink-driving before founding the Sporting Chance Clinic in 2000.

The Romford-born centre-back made 672 appearances in a Gunners shirt – his defining moment striding on to, of all people, Steve Bould’s pass to score against Everton and put the icing on Arsenal’s title cake in 1998.

Ryan Giggs, at three, is unique in that 940 of his 963 games – and all of his 168 goals – for Manchester United came under one manager, Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Welshman won 13 Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues in a career that spanned 24 seasons and during which he evolved from marauding down the wing to central midfield and eventually the dugout during a brief stint as interim boss.

No-one, however, comes close to the top two.

No name is more synonymous with AC Milan than ‘Maldini’. Not just a one-club man, this is a line of succession.

Cesare played more than 400 games and later managed the Rossoneri, his grandson Daniel came through the ranks before moving on.

But Paolo Maldini? A Milan thoroughbred. Making his debut 16 years after being born in the city, he played in black and red until just shy of his 41st birthday.

Winning Scudetti and European Cups in three different decades, making more than 900 appearances, a legend at San Siro and beyond

Yet it’s one thing being among the world’s greatest defenders at one of Europe’s biggest clubs during a golden age of Italian football. That’s a natural fit.

It’s another to resist the lure of guaranteed success and riches to instead drag your boyhood side to glory.

A seventh-generation Roman, Francesco Totti dreamed of sporting the same carmine red and gold as the heroes plastered across his childhood bedroom wall.

Rejecting advances from Italian giants when he was still an academy kid, turning down an unrelenting Florentino Perez, huge salary and Real Madrid’s number 10 shirt after becoming one of the globe’s greatest – the die-hard Roma fan grew up to become the club’s top goalscorer and record appearance maker.

Totti’s Roma career is a love story that peaked with only the club’s third-ever Scudetto, and first in 18 years, in 2001. Stadio Olimpico welcomed Totti as a 16-year-old debutant in 1993 and worshipped him until a tearful goodbye aged 40.

“Damned time,” Totti professed to his adoring faithful afterwards. A true one-club hero, a worthy number one on this list.

BBC Sport