De Marcos to be Athletic captain next season

After evaluating this season, Oscar De Marcos, in line with Athletic Club's wishes, has chosen to renew his contract for a further year, meaning he will spend a 16th season as a Lion.

As has become customary in recent seasons, the full-back, the fourth highest appearance maker in Athletic history with 531 appearances, has waited until the end of the season to take decide his future.

The news was announced live at San Mames after the match against Sevilla FC. The Cathedral also saw a handing over of the captaincy in a highly symbolic and emotional moment.

Firstly, De Marcos handed Iker Muniain a shirt signed by the whole team.

The surprise came just after, with Muniain handing Oscar the captain's armband, while the San Mames scoreboard showed photographs of previous captain before ending with a final image: De Marcos 2025.

Raúl García, who is retiring at the end of the season, handed the new captain a shirt with the same text.

Decision to renew

De Marcos, 35, has earned this contract extension on the pitch. He has been the regular right-back in the team (33 games) that returned Athletic to Europe and won our 25th Copa trophy, seeing us take out La Gabarra for the first time in 40 years.

After deciding he was physically capable of continuing and know Athletic also wanted him to stay, De Marcos needed to consider other important aspects in this final stretch of the season, with European qualification still at stake, such as the emotional and mental factors.

De Marcos, in terms of personality, values and experience, is one of the heavyweights in the dressing room, and his sense of responsibility for the group makes him the ideal heir to the captain's armband.

Having recently become a father for the third time, family was the last and most vital aspect that could tip the balance. The triumphs of this campaign, with the dream of Athletic becoming Copa champions, perhaps made it the perfect moment to bid farwell to an extraordinary career.
 
However, as was the case last year, faced with a dilemma of pros and cons, Óscar de Marcos had yet to answer the last decisive question for himself: what is best for Athletic?

Feeling that he still has the legs, head and heart to fight for a place in the team for another season was key. Ernesto Valverde's decision to continue for another season capped off a contract extension that was celebrated in style at San Mames.

A life together

The no.10 and the no.18, Muniain and De Marcos, their respective debuts separated by barely a week, have been together for no less than 15 seasons, a lifetime. 

5,414 days, more than 700 weeks of shared training, passed between that first training camp in Isla Canela to the celebration of La Gabarra.

Parallel careers with enormous achievements: Copa champions, two Supercopas runners-up in the Europa League, four times runners-up in the Copa, one Champions League campaign, seven years competing in Europe... and more than 500 games as a Lions, putting them alongside two legends such as Jose Angel Iribar and Txetxu Rojo.

Óscar de Marcos doesn't only take the baton from Iker Muniain, but also from those who came before him, all of whom will undoubtedly be as happy as the fans to see the right-back continue.