List of Athletic Bilbao players

Athletic Bilbao is an association football club based in Bilbao, in Biscay in the Basque Country of Spain. The club was a founder member of the Spanish league, better known as La Liga, in 1928, and has won the league championship eight times. As of 2012, Athletic has played for 82 years in the Primera División, the top tier of Spanish football, and is one of only three clubs, the others being Real Madrid and Barcelona, never to have been relegated from La Liga.
The club is known for its policy of recruiting only players from the greater Basque Country, a region which includes Labourd, Soule and Lower Navarre in France as well as the Spanish provinces of Biscay, Guipúzcoa, Álava and Navarre. This policy, which for many years applied both to signings from other clubs and to youngsters admitted to the club's academy, has in recent years become more flexible, so that players whose career developed in the youth system of other clubs in the region are now acceptable, irrespective of their country of birth.
Athletic won the Copa del Rey three times between 1914 and 1916. The team of that period included the prolific goalscorer Rafael "Pichichi" Moreno; he scored the first goal in the San Mamés Stadium on 21 August 1913, scored a hat-trick in the 1915 Copa del Rey final, and his 89 games for the club produced a total of 78 goals. Since 1953, the top scorer in La Liga each season has been awarded the Pichichi Trophy, named in his honour.
On 29 September 1940, Telmo Zarra played his first league match for the club. During his time at Athletic, he won six Pichichi awards, a league record, and helped the club achieve a league championship and five Copa del Rey trophies. He retired in 1955, having played 352 matches and scored 333 goals. Since 2006, the annual Zarra Trophy is awarded to the highest goalscorer of Spanish nationality in La Liga. Joseba Etxeberria, who joined Athletic from Real Sociedad in 1995 for a record transfer fee of €3 million, is the player with the most appearances for the club in the last 30 years. He signed a one-year extension to his contract in 2009 in which he agreed to play the 2009–10 season unpaid in the hope of reaching 500 games before he retired; he finished the season on 514.

Players

Appearance and goal totals include matches in La Liga, Copa del Rey, Supercopa de España, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and regional competitions. Substitute appearances are included. Table is initially sorted in descending order of appearances and includes all Athletic players who have made 100 appearances or more.
A statistical analysis by El Correo in 2023 showed that the more historic players at the top of the list had played many more minutes overall than those from the modern era with fewer or no substitutions available – Orúe was on the field for the entirety of all matches he played, with contemporaries Panizo, Gaínza and Canito not doing so only twice apiece, contrasting sharply with the likes of Muniain and Susaeta whose totals for coming on and coming off were each well into the hundreds. On the other hand, the stats do not count the increasingly lengthy stoppage time typically being applied in the 21st century.

Key

Name	Pos.	Athletic Bilbao career	League App.	League Goals	Cup App.	Cup Goals	Euro App.	Euro Goals	Other App.	Other Goals	Total App.	Total Goals	Notes	Refs
*	GK	1962–1980	466	0	93	0	55	0	0	0	614	0
	DF	2009–2025	435	25	53	4	77	8	8	2	573	39
	FW	2009–2024	434	56	65	10	61	10	4	0	560	76
	FW	1965–1982	414	47	87	16	40	4	0	0	541	67
	FW	1995–2010	445	87	41	10	26	6	2	0	514	103
	DF	2003–2015	406	33	56	2	46	3	2	0	510	38
	MF	2007–2019	379	38	50	6	75	12	3	0	507	56
	FW	1940–1959	380	117	99	30	8	1	2	0	489	148
	DF	1950–1951 1952–1968	391	1	74	0	18	0	0	0	483	1
'	FW	2014–	377	82	47	15	42	12	5	1	471	110
	DF	1990–2004	390	39	37	3	18	1	0	0	445	43
	DF	1948–1963	354	4	76	1	8	1	2	0	440	6
	MF	1992–2006	372	101	41	11	17	4	–	–	430	116
	FW	1977–1990	332	63	69	12	18	1	9	0	428	76
	FW	1996–2007	367	115	34	12	18	1	0	0	419	128
	FW	2002–2003 2006–2008 2012–2020	316	118	41	16	48	34	2	4	407	172
	MF	1938–1955	326	136	79	36	–	–	7	1	412	173
	GK	1950–1964	334	0	62	0	8	0	0	0	404	0
	FW	1974–1986	303	147	68	37	25	11	7	4	403	199
	MF	1987–2003	348	10	39	1	14	0	0	0	401	11
	DF	2009–2020	304	27	39	3	53	6	1	1	397	37
	FW	1962–1974	296	90	65	20	33	9	0	0	394	119
	MF	2002–2016	313	18	37	1	39	3	4	0	393	22
	GK	2007–2017	315	0	28	0	45	0	4	0	392	0
	FW	1976–1977 1978–1988	284	84	72	28	17	3	9	4	382	119
	DF	1974–1987	277	35	65	8	23	1	4	0	369	44
	FW	1964–1974	265	62	62	15	36	5	0	0	363	82
	MF	2015–2024	292	65	39	10	28	7	4	2	363	84
	MF	1971–1981	291	8	47	2	24	1	0	0	362	11
	DF	1983–1985 1986–1997	304	16	39	2	12	3	1	0	356	21
*	FW	1940–1955	277	252	74	81	–	–	3	5	354	338
	MF	1998–2010	302	50	32	6	19	3	0	0	353	59
	FW	1950–1965	276	107	65	24	8	6	1	0	350	137
	DF	1961–1972	259	1	54	3	33	1	0	0	346	5
	DF	1978–1987	255	3	64	2	18	2	8	0	345	7
	DF	1962–1974	263	7	50	1	24	0	0	0	337	8
	DF	1970–1983	258	17	56	4	20	0	0	0	334	21
	FW	2005–2013	262	83	35	16	35	16	1	0	333	115
	MF	1979–1980 1981–1991	259	14	41	1	21	1	10	1	331	17
	MF	1994–2003	287	8	25	2	16	0	0	0	328	10
	FW	1940–1953	257	80	65	33	–	–	9	2	331	115
	DF	2008–2009 2013–2023	246	1	33	0	36	0	6	0	321	1
	MF	2008–2019	232	3	33	0	54	0	1	0	320	3
	DF	1962–1975	247	4	44	0	28	0	0	0	319	4
	MF	2000–2011	263	10	39	3	14	0	2	0	318	13
	FW	1960–1972	231	52	53	13	26	3	0	0	310	68
	FW	1957–1970	231	44	56	15	17	4	0	0	304	63
	DF	1982–1992	239	7	44	3	8	0	11	1	302	11
	FW	1951–1966	244	128	46	30	10	4	–	–	300	162
	DF	1950–1960	236	7	50	3	8	0	2	0	296	10
	FW	1953–1964	245	59	41	13	8	0	0	0	294	72
	DF	1987–1993 1997–2002	263	6	21	0	10	0	0	0	294	6
	FW	1991–1998	255	77	27	10	9	4	0	0	291	91
	DF	1993–2003	251	6	30	0	8	1	0	0	289	7
	MF	1980–1981 1982–1992	210	28	45	8	14	1	10	0	279	37
	DF	1965–1974	200	0	53	0	24	0	–	–	277	0
	FW	1970–1981	213	81	44	32	19	5	0	0	276	118
	DF	1941–1952	213	6	60	0	–	–	3	0	276	6
	MF	1987–1996	234	35	33	7	8	0	0	0	275	42
	MF	1979–1988	198	9	50	2	12	1	8	0	268	12
	GK	1941–1957	197	0	64	0	0	0	3	0	264	0
	DF	1992–2003	226	21	27	4	11	0	0	0	264	25
'	DF	2015–	201	3	29	0	29	1	4	0	263	4
	FW	1998–2005	222	45	23	7	15	5	0	0	260	57
'	DF	2016–	209	3	26	0	19	1	3	1	257	5
	MF	1997–2007	220	9	21	1	13	2	–	–	254	12
	DF	2005–2013	195	3	28	1	31	0	0	0	254	4
	DF	1971–1976 1978–1986	177	2	51	0	13	0	11	0	252	2
	DF	1997–2006	224	12	20	0	7	0	0	0	251	12
	MF	2006–2012	201	22	25	2	25	2	0	0	251	26
	DF	1953–1966	205	2	35	1	7	0	0	0	247	3
	FW	1979–1987	183	41	39	11	12	3	11	1	245	56
'	MF	2016–2018 2019–	188	9	34	1	15	0	5	0	242	10
	MF	2006–2007 2013–2020	182	6	23	2	35	3	2	0	242	11
'	DF	2018–	191	10	34	4	11	1	3	0	239	15
	GK	1981–1986	169	0	46	0	14	0	16	0	239	0
	DF	1952–1961	198	35	32	6	7	0	0	0	237	41
	DF	1980–1987 1991–1993	168	2	42	1	13	0	11	2	234	5
	MF	1939–1950	187	0	44	0	–	–	4	0	271	0
	DF	1981–1988	169	17	41	1	15	0	6	0	231	18
	MF	1999–2008	198	21	27	5	5	0	0	0	230	26
	DF	1933–1948	186	1	34	0	–	–	6	0	226	1
	MF	1972–1978	177	19	27	2	20	2	0	0	224	23
	FW	1986–1997	193	22	21	1	9	0	0	0	223	23
'	MF	2020–	177	28	26	6	14	0	5	0	222	34
	DF	2012–2018	161	7	20	2	39	1	2	0	222	10
	DF	1971–1979	182	3	26	0	14	1	0	0	222	4
' *	GK	2018–	200	0	12	0	1	0	5	0	218	0
	FW	1953–1963	174	57	35	9	5	2	–	–	214	68
	DF	1988–1995	192	3	15	0	5	0	0	0	212	3
	FW	1944–1947 1948–1955	167	70	39	21	–	–	2	0	208	93
	FW	2008–2015	156	20	20	3	29	1	2	0	207	24
	DF	1973–1980	162	0	26	1	18	0	0	0	206	1
	DF	1977–1983	151	3	45	1	8	1	0	0	204	5
	DF	1993–1997 1999–2005	178	1	23	0	3	1	0	0	204	2
	DF	1993–1998 2002–2006	182	4	13	0	7	0	0	0	202	4
	GK	1992–1999	172	0	17	0	6	0	0	0	195	0
	MF	2018–	166	1	25	0	–	–	4	0	195	1
'	MF	2019–	163	38	21	2	7	2	2	0	193	42
	FW	2010–2016 2019–2021	145	13	22	1	23	4	0	0	193	18
	GK	1999–2008	162	0	23	0	4	0	0	0	189	0
	MF	1949–1955	160	7	27	1	–	–	2	0	189	8
	MF	2011–2014 2022–2025	142	7	25	2	22	2	0	0	189	11
	MF	1984–1992	157	3	22	0	7	1	2	0	188	4
	FW	1990–1996	170	43	17	6	1	0	0	0	188	49
	FW	1952–1963	149	69	30	10	8	4	–	–	187	83
*	FW	1929–1936 1939–1940	140	110	47	37	–	–	0	0	187	147
	FW	1929–1936 1946–1949	141	94	46	25	–	–	0	0	187	119
	MF	1970–1977	143	8	30	3	13	1	0	0	186	12
	DF	2018–2023	152	6	21	2	–	–	4	0	177	8
	MF	1980–1985	125	15	37	6	5	2	10	1	177	24
	MF	2013–2019	126	10	18	3	31	1	1	0	176	14
	MF	2006–2012	147	19	17	4	9	1	2	0	175	24
	DF	1928–1936	129	1	45	2	–	–	0	0	174	3
	GK	1986–1990	151	0	14	0	8	0	0	0	173	0
	MF	1975–1980	136	22	16	4	18	3	0	0	170	29
	DF	1984–1989 1997–2000	143	13	14	1	11	0	1	0	169	14
'	FW	2021–	132	16	19	9	13	5	3	1	167	31
	MF	1928–1936	118	10	47	5	–	–	0	0	165	15
	FW	1980–1987	113	15	36	6	10	1	5	1	164	23
	MF	1995–2006	138	3	23	0	2	0	0	0	163	3
	DF	1968–1975	118	13	30	2	15	1	0	0	163	16
*	GK	1926–1936	113	0	47	0	–	–	0	0	160	0
	DF	1941–1951	117	0	42	0	–	–	0	0	159	0
	DF	2001–2009	132	1	18	0	7	0	0	0	157	1
	FW	1929–1936	118	108	38	34	–	–	0	0	156	142
	DF	2002–2008	134	6	11	0	8	0	0	0	153	6
	FW	1925–1934	96	24	57	16	–	–	0	0	153	40
	GK	1999–2009	128	0	17	0	6	0	–	–	151	0
	DF	1958–1970	116	12	23	4	12	0	0	0	151	16
'	DF	2021–	118	7	19	0	11	0	1	0	149	7
	DF	1988–1997	125	2	21	0	2	0	0	0	148	2
	DF	2000–2005 2007–2008	124	13	15	2	8	3	0	0	147	18
	MF	2007–2012	118	12	16	3	9	1	1	0	144	16
	GK	1995–2001	120	0	8	0	12	0	0	0	140	0
	DF	2008–2010 2013–2018	89	4	19	3	30	1	2	0	140	8
	FW	1935–1946	105	44	25	10	–	–	5	1	135	55
	FW	2018–2019 2022–	104	27	16	3	12	1	1	0	133	31
	DF	1964–1975	106	18	21	3	5	0	0	0	132	21
	DF	2017–2022 2024–2025	109	2	13	1	7	0	2	0	131	3
	MF	1989–1994	114	7	16	1	0	0	0	0	130	8
	FW	1927–1935	90	31	38	11	–	–	0	0	128	42
	FW	1973–1978	99	7	12	2	16	1	0	0	127	10
	DF	1949–1957	111	4	16	0	0	0	0	0	127	4
	FW	2016–2017 2019–2024	102	11	21	9	2	0	2	1	127	21
	FW	1928–1933 1939–1942	86	72	30	20	–	–	6	5	122	97
	MF	1935–1946	96	9	21	0	–	–	3	1	120	10
	GK	2013–2016 2017–2021	56	0	26	0	37	0	0	0	119	0
	DF	2001–2003 2007–2012	95	2	17	0	6	0	1	0	119	2
	DF	1990–1998	98	6	17	1	3	0	0	0	118	7
	DF	1976–1980	91	8	15	0	10	0	0	0	116	8
	FW	1976–1980	85	19	17	5	13	2	0	0	115	26
	DF	2018–2023	96	5	14	0	–	–	2	0	112	5
	MF	1994–1998	92	1	14	0	6	0	0	0	112	1
	DF	1928–1934	79	0	33	0	–	–	0	0	112	0
	FW	1987–1990	96	34	10	3	4	4	0	0	110	41
	DF	1966–1973	79	5	21	0	10	2	0	0	110	7
	MF	1927–1934	74	3	35	0	–	–	0	0	109	3
	FW	1933–1936 1939–1944	77	26	26	11	–	–	6	8	109	45
	DF	1935–1946 1940–1946	77	0	26	0	–	–	6	0	109	0
	FW	1982–1986	68	13	25	11	4	4	8	1	105	29
	DF	2009–2013 2014–2015	72	2	15	1	18	2	0	0	105	5
	FW	1955–1963	88	35	10	1	6	3	0	0	104	39
	DF	2005–2011	85	1	12	0	4	0	2	0	103	1
	FW	1990–1995	82	12	19	6	0	0	0	0	101	18
	DF	1964–1971	63	0	23	0	15	0	0	0	101	0
	MF	1939–1943	70	0	24	0	–	–	6	0	100	0

Club captains

Listed below are all the captains of Athletic Bilbao since football became professional in Spain with the introduction of La Liga in 1929.

Period	Captain	Position	One Club Man
1929–1934	Lafuente	FW
1934–1936	José Iraragorri	FW
1939–1942	Victorio Unamuno	FW
1942–1948	Isaac Oceja	DF
1948–1950	Roberto Bertol	MF
1950–1955	José Luis Panizo	FW
1955–1959	Agustín Gainza	FW
1959–1963	Canito	DF
1963–1965	José Luis Artetxe	FW
1965–1968	José Orúe	DF
1968–1969	Koldo Aguirre	MF
1969–1972	Koldo Etxeberria	DF
1972–1974	Iñaki Sáez	DF
1974–1980	José Ángel Iribar	GK
1980–1982	Txetxu Rojo	FW
1982–1986	Dani	FW
1986–1987	Andoni Goikoetxea	DF
1987–1988	Manuel Sarabia	FW
1988–1990	Estanislao Argote	FW
1990–1991	Txetxu Gallego	MF
1991–1992	Ismael Urtubi	MF
1992–1995	Genar Andrinua	DF
1995–2006	Julen Guerrero	MF
2006–2010	Joseba Etxeberria	FW
2010–2011	Pablo Orbaiz	MF
2011–2016	Carlos Gurpegi	MF
2016–2017	Gorka Iraizoz	GK
2017–2019	Markel Susaeta	MF
2019–2024	Iker Muniain	FW
2024–2025	Óscar de Marcos	DF
2025–	Iñaki Williams	FW

''Note: One club man; played for the club throughout his professional career.''