Williams overtakes Haaland to take top spot - The longest player contracts in world football

On Friday Athletic Bilbao somewhat stunned European football by announcing a new contract for star winger Nico Williams In a provocative social media video, which showed the young player spraypainting the numbers “2035” over a mural of him in the city which had recently been defaced by disgruntled fans, the club confirmed that the young player had rejected apparent interest from Barcelona and Bayern Munich to sign a new 10-year contract.

Whether Williams’ new deal will keep him at the LaLiga club for the long-term remains to be seen. According to Fabrizio Romano, the new deal comes with a release clause of around €95 million, suggesting that the Spain international may yet make his way to Barcelona, Munich or elsewhere in Europe if he opts to depart in the near future. But for now, Athletic fans will be delighted that their star player is staying put and has done so by making waves across the sport. Not only is Williams’ contract remarkable in length, but it’s also the longest in all of world football.

Indeed, Williams’ 10-year deal overtook Erling Haaland’s contract with Manchester City as the longest in world football. The Norwegian talent laid claim to having the longest contract when he signed a new deal with the Premier League giants in January, but as we can see in the table above, his contract expires one year before Williams’ at Athletic. And, to no great surprise, when we move down the list of players with the longest contracts in European football, we can see that it is dominated by players from one club in particular.

Chelsea can lay claim to all seven players in world football that have contracts that expire in 2033. Whether that be first-team stars like Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackon and new signing João Pedro or young prospects in Dário Essugo, Mamadou Sarr, Mathis Amougou and Kendry Páez, the Stamford Bridge club have made a habit of signing players up to eight-year deals. The club also have two players on seven-year deals in midfielder Enzo Fernández and goalkeeper Mike Penders, who are joined by two of Williams’ teammates at Athletic in Dani Vivian and Oihan Sancet.