Koke

He joined Atlético Madrid's academy at eight years old, worked through the youth ranks until 2008, then spent two seasons with the reserve side before a senior debut in September 2009 that opened the door to a career he has spent entirely at the club.

Koke became a fixture in Atlético's midfield through the club's most successful era, winning La Liga twice, the Copa del Rey once, the Europa League twice and the Super Cup twice, along with a domestic Super Cup. Two Champions League finals ended in defeat, in 2014 and 2016, and the closest he came with Spain at senior level was a runner-up finish in the 2021 Nations League. He was handed the captaincy for the 2019–20 season, by which point he had long since stopped being considered a promising academy graduate and had become the dressing room's old head.

The number that best captures his career came in October 2022, when he passed Adelardo Rodríguez's total of 553 official appearances to become Atlético's all-time record appearance maker, a mark built almost entirely on a single-club loyalty rare in the modern game. His individual recognition has followed a similar pattern of steady rather than spectacular: a place in the La Liga Team of the Season for 2013–14, two Player of the Month awards, and inclusion in the Champions League and Europa League squads of the season in 2015–16 and 2017–18.

With Spain, Koke made his debut in 2013 against Ecuador and has continued to be called up over the years that followed, adding to a cap total built up without ever finding the net for the national side. Before that, he had already won the European Under-21 Championship in 2013, part of the generation that carried the promise he later fulfilled at club level.