No player has played more for AS Monaco in the club’s entire history than Jean-Luc Ettori. Monaco Life spoke with the former goalkeeper, recently elected as the recipient of the “One Club Man” award.
Between 1975 and 1994, Ettori played 755 times for Les Monégasques. During that time, he won the league and the Coupe de France three times apiece. Having retired in ’94, his playing days are very much behind him, but next month, he will be awarded another trophy.
Since 2015, Athletic Club, based in Bilbao, have rewarded players who spent their entire careers at just one club. Paolo Maldini (AC Milan), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Ryan Giggs (Manchester United), and Jamie Carragher (Liverpool) are among the recipients of the award since its creation.
Ettori will be added to that list of “legends” when he receives the trophy ahead of Athletic Club’s game against Real Madrid on 6th December. “These are legends at their clubs, but I don’t like the word ‘legend’ because it means that I’ve aged,” Ettori jokes in an interview with Monaco Life.
He is still deeply attached to Monaco and its club. We speak to Ettori at Chez Tonton, a restaurant just 100 metres from the arches of the Stade Louis II. On matchdays, fans of the Principality club gather in the restaurant, whilst other former legends of Les Rouges et Blancs are known to stop by.
Ettori evokes a universal ‘particular attachment’ to AS Monaco
“If you ask any player that has passed through AS Monaco, there is always a particular attachment to the club. As I always say, it is a bit ‘Us against the world’. It is a club that doesn’t leave you indifferent,” Ettori tells us, adding that he is “very proud” to receive the award, not only for himself, but also for his former club.
Athletic Club fall into the same category. “To be attributed this award by a club like Athletic, it is a club with a strong identity. It has managed to build its future without erasing its past; I like that,” added the former Monégasque. The Basque club has a policy of only recruiting players from its region. It is, therefore, a club with a unique culture. So many of the players that come through their ranks never leave.
“Loyalty, commitment, identity and respect: these are at the heart of the values that Athletic Club has in its own identity and its own philosophy,” Johana Ruiz-Olabuenaga, Director of Community Relations at Athletic Club tells Monaco Life. “Jean-Luc is a perfect example of these values.”
Transitory nature of modern football ‘a shame’ – Ettori
“One Club Men” are increasingly rare in the world of football, hence the importance of this award, created by the La Liga club. “When football players are really successful and they have these opportunities maybe to jump into other, bigger football teams, they decide to remain with the team that raised them or with the team with whom they have grown up. That’s something that, for us, is really important and really valuable. We think that nowadays it has even more value taking into account how the football industry is evolving,” added Ruiz-Olabuenaga.
Ettori recognises that there may not be many more in his mould going forward. “Football today is such that players are only ever passing through, apart from the very top clubs,” he tells us. “It’s a shame, but it’s a fact.”
For the truth in Ettori’s statement, you needn’t look any further than Monaco, who run a successful player-trading model. La Diagonale is one of the most prestigious academies in the world, producing some of the most talented young players, but as Kylian Mbappé’s case (and many others, the likes of Maghnes Akliouche, Eliesse Ben Seghir, and Aladji Bamba most recently) exemplified, their time with the first-team is so often fleeting.
“It’s the club’s policy,” says Ettori. “That’s how it is. You have to generate profit, generate money in order to survive today. Berfore, an academy served to create the core of the first team; nowadays, it serves to make money. It is the reality of football today, unfortunately.” His loyalty and what Ruiz-Olabuenaga frequently referred to as “commitment to AS Monaco and its community” feels increasingly like a relic of a bygone earlier.
Etorri returns to Basque country ‘with a smile’
But it is to be celebrated and it will be at the San Mamés Stadium next month. Ettori doesn’t have fond memories of the place. It is the scene where France lost 3-1 to England in a World Cup Group Stage game. “I wasn’t very good. It isn’t a great memory,” admits Ettori, who started in goal in that game. “I’ll be happy to go back to San Mamés with a smile.”
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Photo source: AS Monaco
