Athletic Club captain announces retirement after 16 seasons

Athletic Club icon Oscar de Marcos has announced that he will be leaving the game at the end of the season, after a long and successful run with Los Leones. After Iker Muniain departed last season, de Marcos took over the captaincy, but will be the next experienced head to depart, after Raul Garcia also retired last season.

De Marcos made the announcement to his teammates on Wednesday morning at training. The 35-year-old will depart the club as their second-highest appearance maker ever, having levelled Muniain’s total of 560 matches for Athletic on Sunday against Espanyol. Only Jose Angel Iribar has more with 614 to his name.

#AthleticClub captain Oscar de Marcos today told his teammates that he will be retiring at the end of the season. ♥️🦁pic.twitter.com/RyRqsIySgl

— Football España (@footballespana_) February 19, 2025

De Marcos made his debut in 2009 against Young Boys, and has gone on to have an enormously successful career at Athletic, getting to the Europa League final, winning two Spanish Supercups and also lifting the Copa del Rey last season.

Starting off as a winger, de Marcos also played as a number 10 at times, and played a starring role in Marcelo Bielsa’s Athletic side. Over the last decade he became the de facto right-back at San Mames, and a reliable presence on the flank.

De Marcos did earn a call-up for Spain back in 2015, but did not get off the bench during a 2-0 win over England at the time. Over the course of his career, he has made 581 appearances, scoring 42 times and providing 65 assists. Those figures include a single appearance for Bilbao Athletic, the B-team, and a spell at Alaves back in the 2008-09 season before he made his move to Bilbao, having come thorugh the academy in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Going forward, 31-year-old Inigo Lekue will likely compete with Andoni Gorosabel for the starting spot. The latter, formerly of Real Sociedad, was signed from Alaves last summer, likely as de Marcos’ eventual successor. This season de Marcos has started around half of Athletic’s games, making 28 appearances, scoring once and giving five assists.