current	2011–12 FA Cup
logo
founded	1871
number of teams	763 (2011–12)
region
current champions	Manchester City (5th title)
most successful club	Manchester United (11 titles)
website	FA Cup
broadcasters	ITV ESPN }}

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after the Football Association and usually refers to the English men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Its current sponsored name is the FA Cup with Budweiser.

The FA Cup was first held in 1871–72. Entry is open to all teams who compete in the Premier League, the Football League and in steps one to five of the FA National League System, as well as selected teams in step 6. This means that clubs of all standards compete, from the largest clubs in England and Wales down to amateur village teams. The tournament has become known for the possibility for "minnows" from the lower divisions to become "giant-killers" by eliminating top clubs from the tournament and even theoretically winning the Cup, although lower division teams rarely progress beyond the early stages. The qualification rounds and a system of byes mean that the very smallest and very biggest teams almost never meet.

The holders of the FA Cup are Manchester City, who beat Stoke City 1–0 in the 2011 final for their fifth Cup triumph and first since 1969.

Format

The competition is a knockout tournament with pairings for each round drawn at random. There are no seeds and the draw for each round is not made until after the scheduled dates for the previous round. The draw also determines which teams will play at home.

Each tie is played as a single leg. If a match is drawn, there is a replay, usually at the ground of the team who were away for the first game. Drawn replays are now settled with extra time and penalty shootouts, though until the 1990s further replays would be played until one team was victorious. Some ties took as many as six matches to settle; in their 1975 campaign, Fulham played a total of 12 games over six rounds, which remains the most games played by a team to reach a final. Replays were traditionally played three or four days after the original game, but from 1991–92 they were staged at least 10 days later on police advice. This led to penalty shoot-outs being introduced. Replays are no longer held for the semi-finals or final.

There are a total of 14 rounds in the competition — six qualifying rounds, followed by six further rounds (the "proper" rounds), semi-finals, and the final. The competition begins in August with the Extra Preliminary Round, followed by the Preliminary Round and First Qualifying Round, which are contested by the lowest-ranked clubs. Clubs playing in the Conference North and Conference South are given exemption to the Second Qualifying Round, and Conference National teams are given exemption to the Fourth Qualifying Round. The 32 winners from that round join the 48 clubs from League One and League Two in the First Round (often called the First Round Proper). Finally, teams from the Premier League and Football League Championship enter at the Third Round Proper, at which point there are 64 teams remaining in the competition. The Sixth Round Proper is the quarter-final stage, at which point eight teams remain.

The qualifying rounds are regionalised to reduce the travel costs for smaller non-league sides. The First and Second Rounds were also previously split into Northern and Southern sections, but this practice was ended after the 1997–98 competition.

The FA Cup has a set pattern for when each round is played. Normally the First Round is played in mid-November, with the Second Round on one of the first two Saturdays in December. The third round is played on the first weekend in January, with the Fourth Round later in the month and Fifth Round in mid-February. The Sixth Round (or quarter-finals) traditionally occurs in early or mid March, with the semi-finals a month later. The final is normally held the Saturday after the Premier League season finishes in May. The only seasons in recent times when this pattern was not followed were 1999–2000, when most rounds were played a few weeks earlier than normal as an experiment, and 2010–2011 when the FA Cup Final was played before the Premier League season had finished, in order to allow the stadium to be ready for the UEFA Champions League final.

As well as being presented with the trophy, the winning team also qualifies for the UEFA Europa League (formerly named the UEFA Cup), even if being relegated. If the winners have already qualified for the UEFA Champions League via the Premier League, the UEFA Europa League place goes to the FA Cup runners-up. If the winners have also qualified for the Europa League through finishing fifth in the Premier League, the FA Cup runners-up do not qualify, with the sixth placed team in the league receiving the Europa League place. If the runners-up have also qualified for the UEFA Champions League or are not entitled to play in UEFA competitions for any reason, the place goes to the next highest placed finisher in the league table. The FA Cup winners also qualify for the single-match FA Community Shield against the Premier League Champions.

The draw

The draw for each of the "proper" rounds is not seeded and is broadcast live on television, usually taking place at the conclusion of live coverage of one of the games of the previous round. No teams are seeded in the qualifying round draws either, but the teams are grouped geographically in the qualifying rounds to reduce travel costs. Public interest is particularly high during the draw for the third round, which is where the top-ranked teams are added to the draw. Traditionally, the draw has been conducted by means of balls drawn from a purple velvet bag, however in recent years in order to comply with FIFA regulations the balls have been drawn from a clear perspex container . To keep with tradition, however, the presenters are shown emptying the balls from the old velvet bag into the perspex container before the draw.

Eligible teams

All clubs in the Premier League and Football League are automatically eligible, and clubs in the next six levels of the English football league system are also eligible provided they have played in either the FA Cup, FA Trophy or FA Vase competitions in the previous season. Newly formed clubs that start playing in a high league, such as F.C. United of Manchester and MK Dons, may not therefore play in the FA Cup in their first season. All clubs entering the competition must also have a suitable stadium. There are also other factors and measures in place for lower clubs to enter the competition. It is very rare for top clubs to miss the competition, although it can happen in exceptional circumstances. Manchester United withdrew from the 1999–2000 competition due to their participation in the FIFA Club World Championship, a move highly controversial at the time.

Welsh sides that play in English leagues are eligible, although since the creation of the League of Wales there are only six clubs remaining: Cardiff City (the only non-English team to win the tournament, in 1927), Swansea City, Wrexham, Merthyr Town, Newport County and Colwyn Bay. In the early years other teams from Wales, Ireland and Scotland also took part in the competition, with Glasgow side Queen's Park reaching the final in 1884 and 1885 before being barred from entering by the Scottish Football Association.

The number of entrants has increased greatly in recent years. In the 2004–05 season, 660 clubs entered the competition, beating the long-standing record of 656 from the 1921–22 season. In 2005–06 this increased to 674 entrants, in 2006–07 to 687, in 2007–08 to 731 clubs, and for the 2008–09 and 2009–10 competitions it reached 762. By comparison, the other major English domestic cup, the League Cup, involves only the 92 members of the Premier League and Football League.

Venues

Matches in the FA Cup are usually played at the home ground of one of the two teams. The team who plays at home is decided when the matches are drawn. There is no seeding system in place within rounds other than when teams enter the competition, therefore the home team is simply the first team drawn out for each fixture. Occasionally games may have to be moved to other grounds due to other events taking place, security reasons or a ground not being suitable to host popular teams. In the event of a draw, the replay is played at the ground of the team who originally played away from home, with a penalty shootout deciding the winner if the replay game also ends in a tie.

In the days when multiple replays were possible, the second replay (and any further replays) were played at neutral grounds. The clubs involved could alternatively agree to toss for home advantage in the second replay.

Traditionally, the FA Cup Final was played at London's Wembley Stadium. Early finals were played in other locations and, due to extensive redevelopment of Wembley, finals between 2001 and 2006 were played at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The final returned to Wembley in May 2007. Early finals venues include Kennington Oval, in 1872 and 1874–92, the Racecourse Ground, Derby in 1886, Fallowfield Stadium, Manchester in 1893, Goodison Park in 1894, Burnden Park for the 1901 replay, Bramall Lane in 1912, the Crystal Palace Park, 1895–1914, Stamford Bridge 1920–22, and Lillie Bridge, Fulham, London in 1873. In more recent times the memorable 1970 final replay between Leeds and Chelsea was held at Old Trafford in Manchester. This was the only time between 1923 and 2000 that the FA Cup final or the FA Cup Final replay was held at a stadium other than Wembley.

The semi-finals were traditionally contested at high-capacity neutral venues; usually the home grounds of teams not involved in that semi-final. Venues used since 1990 include Manchester City's now demolished Maine Road stadium, Manchester United's Old Trafford Stadium, Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough stadium, Arsenal's former home, Highbury (since redeveloped as housing), London's Wembley Stadium, the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and Aston Villa's Villa Park in Birmingham. Villa Park is the most used stadium, with 55 semi-finals. The 1991 semi-final between Arsenal and Tottenham was the first to be played at Wembley, as were both 1993, 1994 and 2000 semi-finals. In 2005, both were held at the Millennium Stadium. The decision to hold the semi-finals at the same location as the final can be controversial amongst fans However, starting with the 2008 cup, all semi-finals are played at Wembley; the stadium was not ready for the 2007 semi-finals. For a list of semi-final results and the venues used, see FA Cup Semi-finals.

Trophies

At the end of the final, the winning team is presented with a trophy, also known as the "FA Cup", which they hold until the following year's final. Traditionally, at Wembley finals, the presentation is made at the Royal Box, with players, led by the captain, mounting a staircase to a gangway in front of the box and returning by a second staircase on the other side of the box. At Cardiff the presentation was made on a podium on the pitch.

The cup is decorated with ribbons in the colours of the winning team; a common quiz question asks, "What is always taken to the Cup Final, but never used?" (the answer is "the losing team's ribbons"). However this is not entirely true, as during the game the cup actually has both teams' sets of ribbons attached and the runners-up ribbons are removed before the presentation. Individual members of the teams playing in the final are presented with winners' and runners'-up medals. The present FA Cup trophy is the fourth.

The first, the 'little tin idol', was used from the inception of the Cup in 1871–72 until it was stolen from a Birmingham shoe shop window belonging to William Shillcock while held by Aston Villa on 11 September 1895, and was never seen again. The FA fined Villa £25 to pay for a replacement. Almost 60 years later, the thief admitted that the cup had been melted down to make counterfeit half-crown coins.

The second trophy was a replica of the first, and was last used in 1910 before being presented to the FA's long-serving president Lord Kinnaird. It was sold at Christie's on 19 May 2005 for £420,000 (£478,400 including auction fees and taxes) to David Gold, the then joint chairman of Birmingham City. David Gold has loaned this trophy to the National Football Museum which is housed in Preston North End's Deepdale Stadium and it is on permanent display to the public.

A new, larger, trophy was bought by the FA in 1911 designed and manufactured by Fattorini's of Bradford and won by Bradford City in its first outing, the only time a team from Bradford has reached the final. This trophy still exists but is now too fragile to be used, so an exact replica was made by Toye, Kenning and Spencer and has been in use since the 1992 final. A "backup" trophy was made alongside the existing trophy in 1992, but it has not been used so far, and will only be used if the current trophy is lost, damaged or destroyed. An otherwise identical, but smaller replica was also made by Fattorini, the North Wales Coast FA Cup trophy, and is contested annually by members of that regional Association.

Though the FA Cup is the oldest domestic football competition in the world, its ''trophy'' is not the oldest; that title is claimed by the Youdan Cup. The oldest national trophy is the Scottish Cup.

In 1914 Burnley F.C. won the cup and received unique medals incorrectly struck as "English Cup Winners". One is displayed at Turf Moor, within the 1914 collection.

Sponsorship

Since the start of the 1994–95 season, the FA Cup has been sponsored. However, to protect the identity of the famous competition, the name has never changed from 'The FA Cup', unlike sponsorship deals for the League Cup. Sponsorship deals run for four years, though – as in the case of E.ON – one-year extensions may be agreed.

Below is a list of sponsors and the sponsored name of the competition:

!Period	!Sponsor	!Name
1871–1994		The FA Cup
1994–1998	rowspan=1	The FA Cup sponsored by Littlewoods
1998–2002		The AXA-Sponsored FA Cup
2002–2006		The FA Cup
2006–2011	E.ON	The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON
2011–2014	rowspan=1	The FA Cup with Budweiser

From August 2006 to 2014, Umbro will supply match balls for all FA Cup matches.

Giant-killers

Aside from the non-top-flight winners mentioned below, the FA Cup has a long tradition of lower-ranked teams becoming "giant-killers" by defeating opponents from a higher division. While it is common for this to happen (one statistical analysis based on four years of results showed that the probability of at least one team beating one from a higher division in a given year was 99.85%, dropping to 48.8% for a two-division gap and 39.28% for a three-division gap), it is considered particularly newsworthy when the "victim" is one of the top Premier League teams, or where the giant-killer is from outside the League divisions. The most recent example of a non-league team beating top-flight opposition was Sutton United's victory over Coventry City in 1988–89. The last time a non-league side beat top-flight opposition away from home was Altrincham's victory over Birmingham City at St. Andrew's in 1985–86. Within the football league one of the most notable results was Wrexham's victory over Arsenal in 1992. In the previous season, Wrexham had finished 92nd (last) in the football league, Arsenal were 1st.

Giant-killings of various scales happen every year: almost every club in the League Pyramid has a fondly remembered "giant-killing" act in its history and some small clubs have, whether by accident or design, gained a reputation for being "cup specialists" after two or more such feats within a few years. Victories by non-league sides over league opposition are referred to as 'league scalps' . Overall, Yeovil Town holds the record with 20 league scalps won before the club entered the league. The record for a club which has never entered the league is held by Altrincham, with 16 league scalps.

Linked to this giant-killing is the progression of teams beyond what would normally be expected. A few teams have won the FA Cup while outside of the top division, though no team from the third level of the football league has progressed to the final. For non-league teams, reaching the third round – where all top flight sides now enter – is considered a major achievement. During the 2008-09 FA Cup, a record nine teams achieved this feat, and while Tottenham Hotspur won the 1901 FA Cup as a Southern League club, no non-league team has since progressed past the fifth round, this occurring most recently to Crawley Town F.C. in 2011. Chasetown are the lowest ranked team to play in the third round, playing eventual runners-up Cardiff City in the 2007–08 competition. The game took place on 5 January 2008 whilst Chasetown were playing in the Southern League Division One Midlands, the eighth tier of the English football pyramid.

Notable events in the FA Cup

FA Cup winners and finalists

Three clubs have won consecutive FA Cups on more than one occasion: Wanderers (1872, 1873 and 1876, 1877, 1878), Blackburn Rovers (1884, 1885, 1886 and 1890, 1891), and Tottenham Hotspur (1961, 1962 and 1981, 1982).

Seven clubs have won the FA Cup as part of a League and Cup double, namely Preston North End (1889), Aston Villa (1897), Tottenham Hotspur (1961), Arsenal (1971, 1998, 2002), Liverpool (1986), Manchester United (1994, 1996, 1999) and Chelsea (2010). Arsenal and Manchester United share the record of three doubles. Arsenal have won a double in each of three separate decades (1970s, 1990s, 2000s). Manchester United's three doubles in the 1990s highlights their dominance of English football at the time.

In 1993, Arsenal became the first side to win both the FA Cup and League Cup in the same season, beating Sheffield Wednesday 2–1, in both finals. Liverpool repeated this feat in 2001, as did Chelsea in 2007.

In 1998–99, Manchester United added the 1999 Champions League crown to their double, an accomplishment known as The European treble. Two years later, in 2000–01, Liverpool won the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup to complete a cup treble.

Portsmouth have the unusual accolade of holding the FA Cup for the longest unbroken period of time; having won the Cup in 1939, the next final was not contested until 1946, due to the outbreak of the Second World War.

The FA Cup has only been won by a non-English team once. Cardiff City achieved this in 1927 when they beat Arsenal in the final at Wembley. They had previously made it to the final only to lose to Sheffield United in 1925, and lost another final to Portsmouth in 2008.

Winners from outside the top flight

Since the foundation of the Football League, Tottenham Hotspur in 1901 have been the only non-league winners of the FA Cup. They were then playing in the Southern League and were only elected to the Football League in 1908. At that time the Football League consisted of only two 18-team divisions.

In the history of the FA Cup, only eight teams who were playing outside the top level of English football have gone on to win the competition, the most recent being West Ham United, who beat Arsenal in 1980. Excluding Tottenham in 1901, these clubs were all playing in the old Second Division, no other Third Division or lower side having reached the final.

One of the most famous upsets was when Sunderland beat Leeds United 1–0 in 1973. Leeds were third in the First Division and Sunderland were in the Second. Three years later Second Division Southampton also won the Cup, against First Division Manchester United by the same 1–0 scoreline. The other non-top flight winners of the FA Cup were Notts County in 1894, the first non-top flight team to win the FA Cup since the inception of the league; Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1908; Barnsley in 1912; and West Bromwich Albion in 1931. West Bromwich Albion remain the only team to have won the FA Cup and promotion from the second flight in the same season.

Thus far the FA Cup final has never been contested by two teams from outside the top flight. Uniquely, in 2007–08, three of the four semi-finalists (Barnsley, Cardiff City and West Bromwich Albion), were from outside the top flight, although Portsmouth went on to win it.

Media coverage

The FA Cup Final is one of ten events reserved for live broadcast on UK terrestrial television under the Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed & Designated Events.

From August 2008 until June 2012, FA Cup matches are shown live by ITV1 across England and Wales, with UTV broadcasting to Northern Ireland. ITV shows sixteen FA Cup games per season, including first pick live matches from each of the 1st to 6th rounds of the competition plus one semi-final exclusively live. The final is also shown live on ITV1.

Under the same contract, Setanta Sports showed three games and one replay in each round from round three to five, two quarter-finals, one semi-final and the final. The channel also broadcast ITV's matches exclusively to Scotland, after the ITV franchise holder in Scotland, STV, decided not to broadcast FA Cup games. Setanta entered administration in June 2009 and as a result the FA terminated Setanta's deal to broadcast the FA Cup and England internationals.

In October 2009, The FA announced that ITV would show an additional match in the First and Second Rounds on ITV1, with one replay match shown on ITV4. One match and one replay match from the first two rounds will broadcast on The FA website for free, in a similar situation to the 2010 World Cup Qualifer between Ukraine and England. The 2009–10 First Round match between Oldham Athletic and Leeds United was the first FA Cup match to be streamed online live.

Many expected BSkyB to make a bid to show some of the remaining FA Cup games for the remainder of the 2009/10 season which would include a semi-final and shared rights to the final. ESPN took over the package Setanta held for the FA Cup from the 2010/11 season. The 2011 final was also shown live on Sky 3D in addition to ESPN (who provided the 3D coverage for Sky 3D) & ITV.

BBC Radio Five Live provide radio coverage including several full live commentaries with additional commentaries broadcast on BBC local radio stations.

Until the 2008/09 season, the BBC and Sky Sports shared television coverage, with the BBC showing three matches in the earlier rounds. Some analysts argued the decision to move away from the Sky and, in particular, the BBC undermined the FA Cup in the eyes of the public.

The FA Cup 2008–09 early rounds were being covered for the first time by ITV's online property, ITV Local. The first match of the season, between Wantage Town and Brading Town, was broadcast live online. Highlights of eight games of each round were being broadcast as catch up on ITV Local. Since the end of the ITV Local service, it is unknown whether or not this coverage will continue.

The FA sells overseas rights separately from the domestic contract. In Australia, FA Cup games from the 1st Round to the Semi-Finals are broadcast exclusively by Setanta Sports Australia, and the final is co-broadcast with SBS. Due to Australian anti-siphoning laws, the FA Cup Final is one of a select few sporting events of national significance, that must be shown on free-to-air commercial television. Meanwhile FOX Soccer Channel owns the rights in the United States. Supersport broadcasts the tournament in Africa, and Sony Pix in India.

See also

FA Cup Final

FA Cup Semi-finals

List of FA Cup winning managers

FA Cup records

References

==External links==

The FA Cup Archive – England's official Football Association site, all results with dates, including all qualifying rounds

The official FA Cup website

Thomas Fattorini Ltd. makers of the 1911 FA Cup – manufacturers of the 1911 FA Cup and other sporting trophies

FA Cup going under the hammer – BBC News story on the sale of the second trophy

FA Supporters – Independent FA Cup Supporters Club

Category:Recurring sporting events established in 1871 Category:National association football cups Category:1871 establishments in England

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name	Thierry Henry
fullname	Thierry Daniel Henry
birth date	August 17, 1977
birth place	Les Ulis, Essonne, France
height
position	Striker
currentclub	New York Red Bulls
clubnumber	14
youthyears1	1983–1989
youthclubs1	CO Les Ulis
youthyears2	1989–1990
youthclubs2	US Palaiseau
youthyears3	1990–1992
youthclubs3	Viry-Châtillon
youthyears4	1992
youthclubs4	Clairefontaine
youthyears5	1992–1994
youthclubs5	Monaco
years1	1994–1999
clubs1	Monaco
caps1	105
goals1	20
years2	1999
clubs2	Juventus
caps2	16
goals2	3
years3	1999–2007
clubs3	Arsenal
caps3	254
goals3	174
years4	2007–2010
clubs4	Barcelona
caps4	80
goals4	35
years5	2010–
clubs5	New York Red Bulls
caps5	45
goals5	25
years6	2012
clubs6	→ Arsenal (loan)
caps6	4
goals6	2
nationalyears1	1997
nationalteam1	France U20
nationalyears2	1997–2010
nationalcaps1	5
nationalgoals1	3
nationalteam2	France
nationalcaps2	123
nationalgoals2	51
pcupdate	20:50, 29 April 2012 (UTC)
ntupdate	16:56, 11 February 2012 (UTC) }}

Thierry Daniel Henry (; born 17 August 1977) is a French footballer who plays as a striker for New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer.

Henry was born in Les Ulis, Essonne (a suburb of Paris) where he played for an array of local sides as a youngster and showed great promise as a goal-scorer. He was spotted by AS Monaco in 1990 and signed instantly, making his professional debut in 1994. Good form led to an international call-up in 1998, after which he signed for the Serie A defending champions Juventus. He had a disappointing season playing on the wing, before joining Arsenal for £11 million in 1999.

It was at Arsenal that Henry made his name as a world-class footballer. Despite initially struggling in the Premier League, he emerged as Arsenal's top goal-scorer for almost every season of his tenure there. Under long-time mentor and coach Arsène Wenger, Henry became a prolific striker and Arsenal's all-time leading scorer with 227 goals in all competitions. The Frenchman won two league titles and three FA Cups with the Gunners; he was nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year twice, was named the PFA Players' Player of the Year twice, and the FWA Footballer of the Year three times. Henry spent his final two seasons with Arsenal as club captain, leading them to the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final.

In June 2007, after eight years with Arsenal, he transferred to Barcelona for a fee of €24 million. His first honours with the Catalan club came in 2009 when they won the La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League treble. He went on to achieve an unprecedented sextuple by also winning the Supercopa de España, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. In total, Henry has been named in the UEFA Team of the Year five times. In 2010, he joined the New York Red Bulls of the Major League Soccer, and won the Eastern Conference title with them in 2010. He returned to Arsenal on loan for two months in 2012.

Henry enjoyed similar success with the French national team, having won the 1998 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2000 and 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. In October 2007, he surpassed Michel Platini's record to become France's top goal-scorer of all time. Henry retired from international football after the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Off the pitch, Henry is an active spokesperson against racism in football, partially due to his own experiences. He married English model Nicole Merry in 2003 and had a daughter with her, but they divorced in 2007. Henry was also one of the top commercially marketed footballers; he was ranked ninth in the world in 2006.

Early years

Henry is of Antillean heritage: his father, Antoine, is from Guadeloupe (La Désirade island), and his mother, Maryse, is from Martinique. He was born and raised in Les Ulis suburb of Paris which, despite sometimes being seen as a tough neighbourhood, provided good footballing facilities. As a seven-year-old, Henry showed great potential, prompting Claude Chezelle to recruit him to the local club CO Les Ulis. His father pressured him to attend training, although the youngster was not particularly drawn to football. He joined US Palaiseau in 1989, but after a year his father fell out with the club, so Henry moved to ES Viry-Châtillon and played there for two years. US Palaiseau coach Jean-Marie Panza, Henry's future mentor, followed him there.

Club career

Monaco (1992–1999) and Juventus (1999)

In 1990, Monaco sent scout Arnold Catalano to watch Henry, then at the age of 13 in a match. Henry scored all six goals as his side won 6–0. Catalano asked him to join Monaco without even attending a trial first. Catalano requested that Henry complete a course at the elite Clairefontaine academy, and despite the director's reluctance to admit Henry due to his poor school results, he was allowed to complete the course and joined Arsène Wenger's Monaco as a youth player. Subsequently, Henry signed professional forms with Monaco, and made his professional debut on 31 August 1994, in a 2–0 loss against Nice. Although Wenger suspected that Henry should be deployed as a striker, he put Henry on the left wing because he believed that his pace, natural ball control and skill would be more effective against full-backs than centre-backs.

After a tentative start to his Monaco career, Henry was named the French Young Footballer of the Year in 1996, and in the 1996–97 season, his solid performances helped the club win the Ligue 1 title. During the 1997–98 season, he was instrumental in leading his club to the UEFA Champions League semi-final, setting a French record by scoring seven goals in the competition. By his third season, he had received his first cap for the national team, and was part of the winning team in the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He continued to impress at his tenure with Monaco, and in his five seasons with the French club, the young winger scored 20 league goals in 105 appearances.

Henry left Monaco in January 1999, one year before his friend and teammate David Trezeguet, and moved to Italian Serie A club Juventus for £10.5 million. He played on the wing, but he was ineffective against the Serie A defensive discipline in a position uncharacteristic for him, and scored just three goals in 16 appearances.

Arsenal (1999–2007)

Unsettled in Italy, Henry transferred from Juventus on 3 August 1999 to Arsenal for an estimated fee of £11 million, reuniting with his former manager Arsène Wenger. It was at Arsenal that Henry made his name as a world-class footballer, and although his transfer was not without controversy, Wenger was convinced he was worth the transfer fee. Brought in as a replacement for fellow French forward Nicolas Anelka, Henry was immediately moulded into a striker by Wenger, a move that would pay rich dividends in years to come. However, doubts were raised about his ability to adapt to the quick and physical English game when he failed to score in his first eight games. After several difficult months in England, Henry even conceded that he had to "be re-taught everything about the art of striking." These doubts were dispelled when he ended his first season at Arsenal with an impressive goal tally of 26. Arsenal finished second in the league behind Manchester United, and lost in the UEFA Cup Final against Turkish side Galatasaray.

Coming off the back of a victorious UEFA Euro 2000 campaign with the national team, Henry was ready to make an impact in the 2000–01 season. Despite recording fewer goals and assists than his first season, Henry's second season with Arsenal proved to be a breakthrough, as he became the club's top goalscorer. Armed with one of the league's best attacks, Arsenal closed in quickly on perennial rivals Manchester United for the league title. Henry remained frustrated, however, by the fact that he had yet to help the club win honours, and frequently expressed his desire to establish Arsenal as a powerhouse.

Success finally arrived during the 2001–02 season. Arsenal finished seven points above Liverpool to win the league title, and defeated Chelsea 2–0 in the FA Cup Final. Henry became the league's top goal-scorer and netted 32 goals in all competitions as he led Arsenal to a double and his first silverware with the club. There was much expectation that Henry would replicate his club form for France during the 2002 FIFA World Cup, but the defending champions suffered a shock exit at the group stage.

2002–03 proved to be another productive season for Henry, as he scored 32 goals in all competitions while contributing 23 assists—remarkable returns for a striker. In doing so, he led Arsenal to another FA Cup triumph (where he was man-of-the-match in the Final), although Arsenal failed to retain their Premier League crown. Throughout the season, he competed with Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy for the league scoring title, but the latter edged Henry to the title by a goal. Nonetheless, Henry was named both the PFA Players' Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year. His rising status as one of the world's best footballers was affirmed when he emerged runner-up for the 2003 FIFA World Player of the Year award.

Entering the 2003–04 season, Arsenal were determined to reclaim the Premier League crown. Henry was again instrumental in Arsenal's exceptionally successful campaign; together with the likes of Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira and Robert Pirès, Henry ensured that ''the Gunners'' became the first team in more than a century to go through the entire domestic league season unbeaten, claiming the league title in the process. Apart from being named for the second year running as the PFA Players' Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year, Henry emerged once again as the runner-up for 2004 FIFA World Player of the Year award. With 39 goals scored in all competitions, the Frenchman led the league in goals scored and won the European Golden Boot. However, as was the case in 2002, Henry was unable to lead the national side to honours during UEFA Euro 2004.

This dip in success was compounded when Arsenal failed again to secure back-to-back league titles when they lost out to Chelsea in the 2004–05 season, although Arsenal did win the FA Cup (the Final of which Henry missed through injury). Henry maintained his reputation as one of Europe's most feared strikers as he led the league in scoring, and with 31 goals in all competitions, he was the co-recipient (with Diego Forlán) of the European Golden Boot, and is currently the only player to have officially won the award twice in a row (Ally McCoist also had two Golden Boots in a row, but both were deemed unofficial). The unexpected departure of compatriot Vieira in mid-2005 led to Henry being awarded club captaincy, a role which many felt was not naturally suited for him; the captaincy is more commonly given to defenders or midfielders, who are better-placed on the pitch to read the game. Along with being chief goal-scorer, he was responsible for leading a very young team which had yet to gel fully. The 2005–06 season proved to be one of remarkable personal achievements for Henry. On 17 October 2005, Henry became the club's top goal-scorer of all time; two goals against Sparta Prague in the Champions League meant he broke Ian Wright's record of 185 goals. On 1 February 2006, he scored a goal against West Ham United, bringing his league goal tally up to 151, breaking Arsenal legend Cliff Bastin's league goals record. Henry scored his 100th league goal at Highbury, a feat unparalleled in the history of the club, and a unique achievement in the Premier League. He completed the season as the league's top goal-scorer, and for the third time in his career, he was voted the FWA Footballer of the Year.

Nevertheless, Arsenal failed to win the league title again, but hopes of a trophy were revived when Arsenal reached the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final. The Gunners eventually lost 2–1 to Barcelona, and Arsenal's inability to win the Premier League for two consecutive seasons combined with the relative inexperience of the Arsenal squad caused much speculation that Henry would leave for another club. However, he declared his love for the club and accepted a four-year contract, and said he would stay at Arsenal for life. Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein later claimed the club had turned down two bids of £50 million from Spanish clubs for Henry before the signing of the new contract. Had the transfer materialized, it would have surpassed the then world record £47 million paid for Zinédine Zidane.

Henry's 2006–07 season was marred by injuries. Although he scored 10 goals in 17 domestic appearances for Arsenal, Henry's season was cut short in February. Having missed games due to hamstring, foot, and back problems, he was deemed fit enough to come on as a late substitute against PSV in a Champions League match, but began limping shortly after coming on. Scans the next day revealed that he would need at least three months to heal from new groin and stomach injuries, missing the rest of the 2006–07 season. Wenger attributed Henry's injuries to a protracted 2005–06 campaign, and reiterated that Henry was keen on staying with the Gunners to rebuild for the 2007–08 season.

Barcelona (2007–2010)

On 25 June 2007, in an unexpected turn of events, Henry was transferred to Barcelona for €24 million. He signed a four-year deal for a reported €6.8 (£4.6) million per season. It was revealed that the contract included a release clause of €125 (£84.9) million. Henry cited the departure of Dein and continued uncertainty over Wenger's future as reasons for leaving, and maintained that "I always said that if I ever left Arsenal it would be to play for Barcelona." Despite their captain's departure, Arsenal got off to an impressive start for the 2007–08 campaign, and Henry admitted that his presence in the team might have been more of a hindrance than a help. He stated: "Because of my seniority, the fact that I was captain and my habit of screaming for the ball, they would sometimes give it to me even when I was not in the best position. So in that sense it was good for the team that I moved on." Henry left Arsenal as the club's leading all-time league goal-scorer with 174 goals and leading all-time goal-scorer in Europe with 42 goals; in July 2008, Arsenal fans voted him as Arsenal's greatest player ever in Arsenal.com's Gunners' Greatest 50 Players poll. At Barcelona, Henry was given the number 14 jersey, the same as he had worn at Arsenal. He scored his first goal for his new club on 19 September 2007 in a 3–0 Champions League group stage win over Lyon, and he recorded his first hat-trick for Barça in a league match against Levante ten days later. But with Henry mostly deployed on the wing throughout the season, he was unable to reproduce the goal-scoring form he achieved with Arsenal. He expressed dissatisfaction with the move to Barcelona in the initial year, amidst widespread speculation of a return to the Premier League. In an interview with Garth Crooks on BBC Football Focus, Henry described missing life "back home" and even "the English press". However, Henry concluded his debut season as the club's top scorer with 19 goals in addition to nine league assists, second behind Lionel Messi's 10.

Henry went on to surpass this tally in a more integrated 2008–09 campaign, winning the first trophy of his Barcelona career on 13 May 2009 when Barcelona defeated Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final. Barcelona won the league and Champions League soon after, completing a treble for the Frenchman, who had combined with Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto'o to score 100 goals between them that season. The trio was also the most prolific trio in Spanish league history, scoring 72 goals and surpassing the 66 goals of Real Madrid's Ferenc Puskás, Alfredo Di Stéfano and Luis del Sol of the 1960–61 season. Later in 2009, Henry helped Barcelona win an unprecedented sextuple, consisting of the aforementioned treble, the Supercopa de España, the UEFA Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup.

The following season, the emergence of Pedro Rodríguez meant that Henry only started 15 league games. Before the La Liga season ended, and with a year still left on his contract, club president Joan Laporta stated on 5 May 2010 that Henry "may go away in the summer transfer window if that's what he wants". After Henry returned from the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Barcelona confirmed that they had agreed to the sale of Henry to an unnamed club, with the player still to agree terms with the new club.

New York Red Bulls (2010–present)

In July 2010, Henry signed a multi-year contract with Major League Soccer (MLS) club New York Red Bulls for the 2010 season as its second designated player. He made his full MLS debut on 31 July in a 2–2 draw against Houston Dynamo, assisting both goals to Juan Pablo Angel. His first MLS goal came on 28 August in a 2–0 victory against San Jose Earthquakes. The Red Bulls eventually topped the MLS Eastern Conference by one point over Columbus Crew before losing 3–2 on aggregate against San Jose Earthquakes in the quarterfinals of the 2010 MLS Cup Playoffs. The next season, the Red Bulls were 10th overall in the league, and bowed out in the Conference Semi-finals of the 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs.

After training with Arsenal during the MLS off-season, Henry re-signed for the club on a two-month loan deal on 6 January 2012. This was to provide cover for Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh, who were unavailable due to their participation in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. Henry made his second Arsenal debut as a substitute against Leeds United in the FA Cup third round and scored the only goal. On 4 February 2012 he scored his first league goal since his return against Blackburn Rovers in a 7–1 win. The following week, in his last league game on loan, he scored the winning goal in stoppage time in a 2–1 win against Sunderland. The loan expired on 17 February 2012 and Henry returned to Red Bulls to prepare for the 2012 season.

On 31 March 2012, Henry scored his first MLS hat-trick in a 5–2 Red Bulls win over Montreal Impact.

International career

Henry enjoyed a successful career with the France national team, winning the first of his 123 caps in June 1997, when his good form for Monaco was rewarded with a call-up to the Under-20 French national team, where he played in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship alongside future teammates William Gallas and David Trézéguet. Within four months, France head coach Aimé Jacquet called Henry up to the senior team. The 20-year-old made his senior international debut on 11 October 1997 in a 2–1 win against South Africa. Jacquet was so impressed with Henry that he took him to the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Although Henry was a largely unknown quantity at international level, he ended the tournament as France's top scorer with three goals. He was scheduled to appear as a substitute in the final, where France beat Brazil 3–0, but Marcel Desailly's sending off forced a defensive change instead. In 1998, he was made ''Chevalier'' (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur, France's highest decoration.

Henry was a member of France's UEFA Euro 2000 squad, again scoring three goals in the tournament, including the equaliser against Portugal in the semi-final, and finishing as the country's top scorer. France later won the game in extra time following a converted penalty kick by Zinédine Zidane. France went on to defeat Italy in extra-time in the Final, earning Henry his second major international medal. During the tournament, Henry was voted man-of-the-match in three games, including the final against Italy.

The 2002 FIFA World Cup featured a stunning early exit for both Henry and France as the defending champions were eliminated in the group stage after failing to score a goal in all three games. France lost their first match in group play and Henry was red carded for a dangerous sliding challenge in their next match against Uruguay. In that game, France played to a 0–0 draw, but Henry was forced to miss the final match due to suspension; France lost 2–0 to Denmark.

Henry returned to form for his country at the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. Despite playing without team stalwarts Zidane and Patrick Vieira, France won, in large part owing to Henry's outstanding play, for which he was named Man of the Match by FIFA's Technical Study Group in three of France's five matches. In the final, he scored the golden goal in extra time to lift the title for the host country after a 1–0 victory over Cameroon. Henry was awarded both the adidas Golden Ball as the outstanding player of the competition and the adidas Golden Shoe as the tournament's top goal-scorer with four goals.

In UEFA Euro 2004, Henry played in all of France's matches and scored two goals. France beat England in the group stages but lost to the eventual winners Greece 1–0 in the quarter-finals. During the 2006 FIFA World Cup Henry remained as one of the automatic starters in the squad. He played as a lone striker, but despite an indifferent start to the tournament, became one of the top players of the World Cup. He scored three goals, including the winning goal from Zidane's free kick against defending champions Brazil. However, France subsequently lost to Italy on penalties (5–3) in the final. Henry did not take part in the penalty shoot-out, having been substituted in extra time after his legs had cramped. Henry was one of 10 nominees for the Golden Ball award for Player of the Tournament, an award which was ultimately presented to his teammate, Zidane and was named a starting striker on the 2006 FIFPro World XI team.

On 13 October 2007, Henry scored his 41st goal against the Faroe Islands, joining Michel Platini as the country's top goal-scorer of all time. Four days later at the Stade de la Beaujoire, he scored a late double against Lithuania, thereby setting a new record as France's top goal-scorer. On 3 June 2008, Henry made his 100th appearance for national team in match against Colombia, becoming the sixth French player ever to reach that milestone.

Henry missed the opening game of France's short-lived UEFA Euro 2008 campaign, where they were eliminated in the group stages after being grouped together with Italy, the Netherlands and Romania. He scored France's only goal in the competition in a 4–1 loss to the Netherlands.

The French team struggled during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and finished second in their group behind Serbia. During the play-offs against the Republic of Ireland, Henry was involved in a controversy in the second leg of the game at the Stade de France on 18 November 2009. With the aggregate score tied at 1–1 and the game in extra time, he used his hand twice to control the ball before delivering a cross to William Gallas who scored the winner. This sparked a barrage of criticism against the Frenchman, while national team coach Raymond Domenech and Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger defended him. The Football Association of Ireland lodged a formal complaint with FIFA, seeking a replay of the game, which FIFA declined. Henry said that he contemplated retiring from international football after the reactions to the incident, but maintained that he was not a "cheat"; hours after FIFA had ruled out a replay, he stated that "the fairest solution would be to replay the game". FIFA President Sepp Blatter described the incident as "blatant unfair play" and announced an inquiry into how such incidents could be avoided in future, and added that the incident would be investigated by the Disciplinary Committee. Blatter also said Henry told him that his family had been threatened in the aftermath of the incident. In January 2010, FIFA announced that there was no legal basis to sanction Henry.

Henry did not feature in the starting line-up for France at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. France drew in their first game against Uruguay, and lost 2–0 in their second against Mexico. The team was thrown into disarray when Nicolas Anelka was expelled from the team, and captain Patrice Evra led a team protest by refusing to train. In the final group game against host-nation South Africa in which Henry came on as a second-half substitute, France lost 2–1 and were eliminated from the tournament. He then announced his retirement from international football, having won 123 caps and scored 51 goals for ''Les Bleus''.

Style of play

Although Henry played up front as a striker during his youth, he spent his time at Monaco and Juventus playing on the wing. When Henry joined Arsenal in 1999, Wenger immediately changed this, switching Henry to his childhood position, often pairing him with Dutch veteran Dennis Bergkamp. During the 2004–05 season, Wenger switched Arsenal's formation to 4–5–1. This change forced Henry to adapt again to fit into the Arsenal team, and he played many games as a lone striker. Still, Henry remained Arsenal's main offensive threat, on many occasions conjuring spectacular goals. Wenger once said of his fellow Frenchman: "Thierry Henry could take ball in the middle of park and score a goal that no one else in the world could score".

One of the reasons cited for Henry's impressive play up front is his ability to calmly score from one-on-ones. This, combined with his exceptional pace, means that he can get in behind defenders regularly enough to score. When up front, Henry is occasionally known to move out wide to the left wing position, something which enables him to contribute heavily in assists: between 2002–03 and 2004–05, the striker managed almost 50 assists in total and this was attributed to his unselfish play and creativity. Henry would also drift offside to fool the defence then run back onside before the ball is played and beat the offside trap, although he never provided Arsenal a distinct aerial threat. Given his versatility in being able to operate as both a winger and a striker, the Frenchman is not a prototypical "out-and-out striker", but he has emerged consistently as one of Europe's most prolific strikers. In set pieces, Henry was the first-choice penalty and free kick taker for Arsenal, having scored regularly from those positions.

Awards and honours

Club

;Monaco

Ligue 1 (1): 1996–97

Trophée des champions (1): 1997

;Arsenal

Premier League (2): 2001–02, 2003–04

FA Cup (3): 2002, 2003, 2005

FA Community Shield (2): 2002, 2004

;Barcelona

La Liga (2): 2008–09, 2009–10

Copa del Rey (1): 2008-09

Supercopa de España (1): 2009

UEFA Champions League (1): 2008-09

UEFA Super Cup (1): 2009

FIFA Club World Cup (1): 2009

;New York Red Bulls

MLS Eastern Conference (1): 2010

National

;France

FIFA World Cup

::Winner: France 1998 ::''Runners-up'': Germany 2006

UEFA European Football Championship

::Winner: Belgium & Netherlands 2000

FIFA Confederations Cup

::Winner: France 2003

King Hassan II International Cup Tournament

::Winner: Morocco 2000

Individual

Henry has received many plaudits and awards in his football career. He was runner-up for the 2003 and 2004 FIFA World Player of the Year awards; in those two seasons, he also won back-to-back PFA Players' Player of the Year titles. Henry is the only player ever to have won the FWA Footballer of the Year three times (2003, 2004, 2006), and the French Player of the Year on a record four occasions. Henry was voted into the Premier League Overseas Team of the Decade in the 10 Seasons Awards poll in 2003, and in 2004 he was named by football legend Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers.

In terms of goal-scoring awards, Henry was the European Golden Boot winner in 2004 and 2005 (sharing it with Villarreal's Diego Forlán in 2005) and is the first ever player to retain the award. Henry was also the top goal-scorer in the Premier League for a record four seasons (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006). In 2006, he became the first player to score more than 20 goals in the league for five consecutive seasons (2002 to 2006). Henry is currently third in the list of all-time Premier League goal-scorers, behind Alan Shearer and Andy Cole. Given his accomplishments, France's all-time goal-scorer was in his prime regarded by many coaches, footballers and pundits as one of the best footballers in the world. In November 2007, he was ranked 33rd on the Association of Football Statisticians' compendium for "Greatest Ever Footballers". Arsenal fans honoured their former player in 2008, declaring Henry the greatest Arsenal player. In two other 2008 surveys, Henry emerged as the favourite Premier League player of all time among 32,000 people surveyed in the Barclays 2008 Global Fan Report. In 2009, Henry was voted the best Premier League player of the 2000s. On 10 December 2011, Arsenal unveiled a bronze statue of Henry at the Emirates Stadium as part of its 125th anniversary celebrations.

A summary of Henry's individual awards is as follows:

UNFP Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year (1): 1996–97

PFA Players' Player of the Year (2): 2002–03, 2003–04

PFA Team of the Year (6): 2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06

FWA Footballer of the Year (3): 2002–03, 2003–04, 2005–06

Premier League Golden Boot (4): 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06.

Golden Boot Landmark Award 10 (1): 2004–05

Golden Boot Landmark Award 20 (1): 2004–05

Premier League Player of the Month (4): April 2000, September 2002, January 2004, April 2004

Goal of the Season (1): 2002–03

UEFA Team of the Year (5): 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006

MLS Best XI (1): 2011

MLS Player of the Month (1): March 2012

Onze d'Or (2): 2003, 2006

European Golden Boot (2): 2003-04, 2004-05

French Player of the Year (5): 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006

IFFHS World's Top Goal Scorer of the Year (1): 2003

FIFA FIFPro World XI (1): 2006

FIFA World Cup All-Star Team (1): Germany 2006

FIFA Confederations Cup Golden Ball (1): France 2003

FIFA Confederations Cup Golden Shoe (1): France 2003

UEFA European Football Championship Team of the Tournament (1): 2000

FIFA 100 : 2004

Time 100 Heroes & Pioneers no.16 : 2007

English Football Hall of Fame : 2008

Premier League 10 Seasons Awards (1992–93 – 2001–02)

* Overseas Team of the Decade

Légion d'Honneur : 1998

Career statistics

Club

3 3 9 4 1 3 17 17 24 24 30 25 27 10 9 19 4 2 14 9 2

Club	Season	League	Cup	Continental	Total
!Apps!!Goals!!Assists!!Apps!!Goals!!Assists!!Apps!!Goals!!Assists!!Apps!!Goals!!Assists
rowspan=6 valign="center"	Monaco		8	|	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	3	1
Division 1 season 1995–96	1995–96	18	|	5	3	0	1	1	0	0	22	3	6
Division 1 season 1996–97	1996–97	36	|	8	3	0	1	9	1	4	48	10	13
Division 1 season 1997–98	1997–98	30	|	9	5	0	2	9	7	1	44	11	12
Division 1 season 1998–99	1998–99	13	|	3	1	0	0	5	0	2	19	1	5
!Total	!105!!20!!26!!12!!0!!4!!24!!8!!7!!141!!28!!37
rowspan=2 valign="center"	Juventus		16	|	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	19	3	2
!Total	!16!!3!!2!!3!!0!!0!!0!!0!!0!!19!!3!!2
rowspan=9 valign="center"	Arsenal		31	|	9	5	1	0	11	8	2	47	26	11
2000–01 Arsenal F.C. season	2000–01	35	|	3	4	1	0	14	4	0	53	22	3
2001–02 Arsenal F.C. season	2001–02	33	|	5	5	1	2	11	7	0	49	32	7
2002–03 Arsenal F.C. season	2002–03	37	|	23	6	1	0	12	7	1	55	32	24
2003–04 Arsenal F.C. season	2003–04	37	|	9	4	4	2	10	5	3	51	39	14
2004–05 Arsenal F.C. season	2004–05	32	|	15	2	0	1	8	5	1	42	30	17
2005–06 Arsenal F.C. season	2005–06	32	|	7	2	1	0	11	5	2	45	33	9
2006–07 Arsenal F.C. season	2006–07	17	|	6	3	1	1	7	1	0	27	12	7
	Total	! 254!!174!!77!!31!!10!!6!!84!!42!!9!!369!!226!!92
rowspan=4 valign="center"	Barcelona		30	12	|	7	4	0	10	3	2	47	19	11
2008–09 FC Barcelona season	2008–09	29	|	8	1	1	0	12	6	4	42	26	12
2009–10 FC Barcelona season	2009–10	21	|	2	3	0	0	8	0	1	32	4	3
!Total	!80!!35!!19!!11!!5!!0!!30!!9!!7!!121!!49!!26
rowspan=4 valign="center"	New York Red Bulls		11	|	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	12	2	3
2011 New York Red Bulls season	2011	26	|	4	3	1	1	0	0	0	29	15	5
2012 New York Red Bulls season	2012	8	|	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	9	5
!Total	!45!!25!!12!!4!!1!!1!!0!!0!!0!!49!!26!!13
rowspan=2 valign="center"	Arsenal (loan)		4	|	0	2	1	0	1	0	0	7	3	0
!Total	!258!!176!!77!!33!!11!!6!!85!!42!!9!!376!!229!!92
Career total	!501!!259!!135!!63!!17!!11!!139!!59!!23!!706!!332!!171

International

National team!!Season!!Apps!!Goals
rowspan=1 valign="center"	France U20	1996–97	5	3
colspan=2	Total!!5!!3
rowspan=14 valign="center"	France	1997	1	0
1998	10
1999	0
2000	14
2001	7
2002	10
2003	14
2004	13
2005	6
2006	16
2007	6
2008	11
2009	9
2010	6
Total!!123!!51

;Note Includes one appearance from the match against FIFA XI on 16 August 2000 which FIFA and the French Football Federation count as an official friendly match.

International goals

Under–20

:''Scores and results list France U–20's goal tally first.

rowspan=2> 22 June 1997

#
1.		Sarawak Stadium, Kuching	|	1–0	4–2	rowspan=2
2.	3–0
3.	|	Sarawak Stadium, Kuching		3–1	4–2	1997 World Youth Championship

Senior team

:''Scores and results list France's goal tally first.

Stade Vélodrome, Marseille rowspan=2>Stade de France, Saint-Denis 29 March 2000 6 June 2000 11 June 2000 16 June 2000 28 June 2000 24 March 2001 25 April 2001 6 October 2001 27 March 2002 rowspan=2>Ta' Qali National Stadium, Valletta rowspan=2 rowspan=2>Stade de France, Saint-Denis 18 June 2003 22 June 2003 26 June 2003 29 June 2003 6 September 2003 11 October 2003 15 November 2003 rowspan=2>Estádio Cidade de Coimbra, Coimbra 13 October 2004 17 August 2005 7 September 2005 9 November 2005 31 May 2006 7 June 2006 18 June 2006 23 June 2006 1 July 2006 6 September 2006 11 October 2006 15 November 2006 22 August 2007 13 October 2007 rowspan=2>Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes 21 November 2007 13 June 2008 10 September 2008 rowspan=2>Stade de France, Saint-Denis 5 September 2009 9 September 2009 14 October 2009

#
1.	12 June 1998	|		3–0	3–0	1998 FIFA World Cup Group C#France vs South Africa>1998 FIFA World Cup
2.		|		1–0	4–0	1998 FIFA World Cup
3.	3–0
4.	|	Hampden Park, Glasgow	<		1–0	2–0	Exhibition game>Friendly
5.	|	Stade Mohamed V, Casablanca		1–0	5–1	Friendly
6.	|	Jan Breydel Stadium, Bruges		2–0	3–0	UEFA Euro 2000 Group D>UEFA Euro 2000
7.	|	Jan Breydel Stadium, Bruges		1–0	2–1	UEFA Euro 2000
8.	|	King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels		1–1	2–1	UEFA Euro 2000
9.	|	Stade de France, Saint-Denis		2–0	5–0	Friendly
10.	|	Stade de France, Saint-Denis		3–0	4–0	Friendly
11.	|	Stade de France, Saint-Denis		3–0	4–1	Friendly
12.	|	Stade de France, Saint-Denis		3–0	5–0	Friendly
13.		|		1–0	4–0	rowspan=2
14.	2–0
15.		Stade Félix-Bollaert, Lens ||	<		2–0	6–0	Friendly
16.	3–0
17.		|		1–0	5–0	Friendly
18.	2–0
19.	|	Stade de Gerland, Lyon	<		1–0	1–0	2003 FIFA Confederations Cup#Group A>2003 FIFA Confederations Cup
20.	|	Stade de France, Saint-Denis		2–0	5–0	2003 FIFA Confederations Cup
21.	|	Stade de France, Saint-Denis		1–0	3–2	2003 FIFA Confederations Cup
22.	|	Stade de France, Saint-Denis		1–0	1–0	2003 FIFA Confederations Cup
23.	|	Stade de France, Saint-Denis		4–0	5–0	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifier
24.	|	Stade de France, Saint-Denis		1–0	3–0	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifier
25.	|	Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen		1–0	3–0	Friendly
26.		|		2–1	3–1	rowspan=2
27.	3–1
28.	|	GSP Stadium, Nicosia	<		2–0	2–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 4>2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier
29.	|	Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier		3–0	3–0	Friendly
30.	|	Lansdowne Road, Dublin		1–0	1–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier
31.	|	Stade d'Honneur de Dillon, Fort-de-France		3–2	3–2	Friendly
32.	|	Stade Félix-Bollaert, Lens		1–0	2–0	Friendly
33.	|	Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne		3–1	3–1	Friendly
34.	|	Red Bull Arena (Leipzig)>Zentralstadion, Leipzig		1–0	1–1	2006 FIFA World Cup Group G#France vs Korea Republic>2006 FIFA World Cup
35.	|	RheinEnergieStadion>FIFA WM Stadion Köln, Cologne		2–0	2–0	2006 FIFA World Cup
36.	|	Commerzbank-Arena>FIFA WM-Stadion Frankfurt, Frankfurt		1–0	1–0	2006 FIFA World Cup knockout stage#Brazil vs France>2006 FIFA World Cup
37.	|	Stade de France, Saint-Denis		2–0	3–1	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group B>UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier
38.	|	Stade Auguste Bonal, Montbéliard		2–0	5–0	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier
39.	|	Stade de France, Saint-Denis		1–0	1–0	Friendly
40.	|	Štadión Antona Malatinského, Trnava		1–0	1–0	Friendly
41.	|	Tórsvøllur, Tórshavn		2–0	6–0	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier
42.		|		1–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier
43.	2–0
44.	|	Olimpiysky National Sports Complex, Kiev	<		1–1	2–2	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier
45.	|	Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf>Stade de Suisse, Bern		1–2	1–4	UEFA Euro 2008 Group C#Netherlands vs France>UEFA Euro 2008
46.	|	Stade de France, Saint-Denis		1–0	2–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 7>2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier
47.		|		1–1	3–1	Friendly
48.	2–1
49.	|	Stade de France, Saint-Denis		1–0	1–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier
50.	|	Stadion FK Crvena Zvezda, Belgrade		1–1	1–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier
51.	|	Stade de France, Saint-Denis		2–0	3–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier

Career totals

Professional career totals
! Teams	! Appearances	! Goals	!Assists	! Goals per game
Clubs	702	328	169
	123	51	29
Total	825	379	198

Outside football

Personal and family life

Henry married English model Nicole Merry, real name Claire, on 5 July 2003. The ceremony was held at Highclere Castle, and on 27 May 2005 the couple celebrated the birth of their first child, Téa. Henry dedicated his first goal since Téa's birth to her by holding his fingers in a "T" shape and kissing them after scoring in a match against Newcastle United. When Henry was still at Arsenal, he also purchased a home in Hampstead, North London. However, shortly after his transfer to Barcelona, it was announced that Henry and his wife would divorce; the decree nisi was granted in September 2007. Their separation concluded in December 2008 when Henry paid Merry a divorce settlement close to her requested sum of £10 million.

As a fan of the National Basketball Association (NBA), Henry is often seen with his friend Tony Parker at games when not playing football. Henry stated in an interview that he admires basketball, as it is similar to football in pace and excitement. Having made regular trips to the NBA Finals in the past, he went to watch Parker and the San Antonio Spurs in the 2007 NBA Finals; and in the 2001 NBA Finals, he went to Philadelphia to help with French television coverage of the Finals as well as to watch Allen Iverson, whom he named as one of his favourite players.

Social causes

UNICEF

Henry is a member of the UNICEF-FIFA squad, where together with other professional footballers he appeared in a series of TV spots seen by hundreds of millions of fans around the world during the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups. In these spots, the players promote football as a game that must be played on behalf of children.

Stand Up Speak Up

Having been subjected to racism in the past, Henry is an active spokesperson against racism in football. The most prominent incident of racism against Henry was during a training session with the Spanish national team in 2004, when a Spanish TV crew caught coach Luis Aragonés referring to Henry as "black shit" to José Antonio Reyes, Henry's team mate at Arsenal. The incident caused an uproar in the British media, and there were calls for Aragonés to be sacked. Henry and Nike started the Stand Up Speak Up campaign against racism in football as a result of the incident. Subsequently, in 2007, ''Time'' featured him as one of the "Heroes & Pioneers" on "The Time 100" list.

Other work

Along with 45 other football players, Henry took part in FIFA's "Live for Love United" in 2002. The single was released in tandem with the 2002 FIFA World Cup and its proceeds went towards AIDS research. Henry also supports the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

Endorsements

In 2006, Henry was valued as the ninth most commercially marketable footballer in the world, as well as being the eighth richest Premier League player, with £21 million.

Renault

Henry featured in the Renault Clio advertisements in which he popularised the term ''va-va-voom'', meaning "life" or "passion". His romantic interest in the commercial was his then-girlfriend, later his wife (now divorced), Claire Merry. ''"Va-va-voom"'' was subsequently added to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary.

Nike

In 2004, Henry signed with sportswear giant Nike. In one of the advertisements, Henry pits his wits against football stars such as Claude Makélélé, Edgar Davids and Freddie Ljungberg in locations such as his bedroom and living room. The advertisement was partly inspired by Henry himself, who revealed that he always has a football nearby, even at home. Henry was also featured in Nike's "Secret Tournament" advertisement along with 24 superstar football players including Ljungberg, Ronaldinho, and Francesco Totti. In tandem with the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Henry also featured in Nike's Joga Bonito campaign, Portuguese for "beautiful game".

Reebok

Henry's deal with Nike ended after the 2006 FIFA World Cup, when he signed a deal with Reebok to appear in their "I Am What I Am" campaign. As part of Reebok Entertainment's "Framed" series, Henry was the star of a half-hour episode that detailed the making of a commercial about Henry directed by Spanish actress Paz Vega.

Puma

In 2011 Henry switched to Puma boots, first wearing the brand in the 2011 MLS All Star game against Manchester United, before announcing a multi-year partnership for Puma to be his performance and lifestyle footwear and apparel sponsor. His first official game with Puma was in the Emirates Cup against former club Arsenal.

Gillette

In February 2007, Henry was named as one of the three ambassadors of Gillette's "Champions Program," which purported to feature three of the "best-known, most widely respected and successful athletes competing today" and also showcased Roger Federer and Tiger Woods in a series of television commercials. For reasons of recognition, Derek Jeter appears in Henry's place in the advertisements broadcast in North America. In reaction to the handball controversy following the France-Ireland 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier, Gillette faced a boycott and accusations of doctoring French versions of their Champions poster, but subsequently released a statement backing Henry.

Pepsi

Henry was part of Pepsi's "Dare For More" campaign in 2005, alongside the likes of David Beckham and Ronaldinho.

Notes and references

External links

MLS player profile

Thierry Henry profile at fcbarcelona.cat

Thiery Henry biography at jockbio.com

Thierry Henry at Internet Movie Database

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name	Ryan Giggs
fullname	Ryan Joseph Giggs
birth date	November 29, 1973
birth place	Cardiff, Wales
height
position	Midfielder
currentclub	Manchester United
clubnumber	11
youthyears1	1985–1987 |youthclubs1 Manchester City
youthyears2	1987–1991 |youthclubs2 Manchester United
years1	1991– |clubs1 Manchester United |caps1 636 |goals1 112
nationalyears1	1989 |nationalteam1 England U16 |nationalcaps1 1 |nationalgoals1 1
nationalyears2	1989 |nationalteam2 Wales U18 |nationalcaps2 3 |nationalgoals2 0
nationalyears3	1990 |nationalteam3 Wales U21 |nationalcaps3 2 |nationalgoals3 0
nationalyears4	1991–2007 |nationalteam4 Wales |nationalcaps4 64 |nationalgoals4 12
pcupdate	23:33, 13 April 2012 }}

Ryan Joseph Giggs OBE (born Ryan Joseph Wilson on 29 November 1973) is a Welsh footballer who plays for Manchester United. Giggs made his first appearance for the club during the 1990–91 season and has been a regular player since the 1991–92 season. He established himself as a left winger during the 1990s, and continuing in this position well into the 2000s, though he has been increasingly used in a deeper playmaking role in his latter years. Giggs is known for his tireless running, ball possession and ability to create goalscoring opportunities for those around him.

Giggs is the most decorated player in English football history. He also holds the club record for competitive appearances. During his time at United, he has won 12 Premier League winner's medals, four FA Cup winner's medals, three League Cup winner's medals and two Champions League winner's medals. He has two runner-up medals from the Champions League, three FA Cup finals and two League Cup finals, as well as being part of the team five times when it finished second in the Premier League. In recent years, Giggs has captained the team on numerous occasions, particularly in the 2007–08 season when regular captain Gary Neville was ruled out with various injuries.

Giggs has a number of personal achievements. He was the first player in history to win two consecutive PFA Young Player of the Year awards (1992 and 1993), though he did not win the PFA Player of the Year award until 2009. He is the only player to have played and scored in every season of the Premier League and he also holds the longest run of successive scoring seasons in UEFA Champions League history (11). He has been elected into the PFA Team of the Century in 2007, the Premier League Team of the Decade, in 2003, as well as the FA Cup Team of the Century. Giggs holds the record for the most assists in Premier League history, with 271.

At international level, Giggs played for the Welsh national team prior to his retirement from international football on 2 June 2007, and was once the youngest player to ever represent his country.

In addition to the many honours Giggs has received within football such as being named in the Football League 100 Legends (the last active player in the list), he was appointed an OBE in the Queen's 2007 Birthday Honours List, and was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2005, for his services to English Football. He was named as BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2009. On 31 January 2011, Giggs was named Manchester United's greatest ever player by a worldwide poll conducted by United's official magazine and website. On 10 October 2011, Giggs was honoured with the 2011 Golden Foot Award.

Early years

Born as Ryan Joseph Wilson (he later adopted his mother's maiden name as his professional surname) at St David's Hospital in Canton, Cardiff, to Danny Wilson, at the time a rugby union player for Cardiff RFC who would go on to become a Wales international representative in rugby league, and Lynne Giggs (now Lynne Johnson). As a child Giggs grew up in Ely, a suburb of western Cardiff. His younger brother, Rhodri, manages non-league Salford City.

He spent much time with his mother's parents and playing football on the roads outside their house in Pentrebane. In 1980, when Giggs was six years old, his father switched rugby codes and signed for Swinton RLFC, forcing the whole family to move north to Swinton, a town in Salford, Greater Manchester. The move was a traumatic one, as Giggs was very close to his grandparents in Cardiff, but he would often return there with his family at weekends or on school holidays. Giggs is mixed race – his paternal grandfather is from Sierra Leone – and has spoken of the racism he faced as a child.

After moving to Salford, Giggs appeared for the local team, Deans FC, who were coached by Manchester City scout Dennis Schofield. Schofield recommended Giggs to Manchester City, and he was signed up to their School of Excellence. Meanwhile, Giggs continued to play for Salford Boys, who went on to reach the final of the Granada Schools Cup competition at Anfield in 1987. Giggs captained the Salford team to victory over their Blackburn counterparts, and the trophy was presented to him by Liverpool chief scout Ron Yeats.

While playing for Deans, Giggs was observed regularly by local newsagent and Old Trafford steward Harold Wood. Wood spoke personally to Alex Ferguson who sent a scout, and Giggs was eventually offered a trial over the 1986 Christmas period. Giggs played in a match for Salford Boys against a United Under-15s side at The Cliff and scored a hat trick, with Ferguson watching from his office window. On 29 November 1987 (his 14th birthday), Ferguson turned up at Giggs's house with United scout Joe Brown and offered him two years on associate schoolboy forms. They offered to waive YTS forms, and persuaded Giggs to sign by offering the opportunity to turn professional in three years. Using the name Ryan Wilson, Giggs captained England at schoolboy level, playing at Wembley Stadium against Germany in 1989. He changed his surname at the age of 16, when his mother remarried. His parents had separated two years earlier.

Manchester United first team

1990-1995: Debut and early career

Giggs was offered his first professional contract on 29 November 1990 (his 17th birthday). He accepted the contract and became a professional two days later (1 December 1990).

At this time, United had recently won the FA Cup – their first major trophy since the appointment of Alex Ferguson as manager in November 1986. After two seasons in the league where they had finished mid table, they were finally starting to threaten the dominance of Liverpool and Arsenal, though they only managed to finish sixth that season. Ferguson's quest for a successful left winger had not been an easy one since the departure of Jesper Olsen two years earlier; he had initially signed Ralph Milne, but the player was not a success at United and lasted just one season in the first team before Ferguson secured the Southampton winger Danny Wallace in September 1989. Wallace had failed to shine at Old Trafford, and by the time Giggs turned professional Wallace was contending with 19-year-old Lee Sharpe for the role of first choice left winger.

Giggs made his League debut against Everton at Old Trafford on 2 March 1991, as a substitute for the injured full-back Denis Irwin in a 2–0 defeat. In his first full start, Giggs was credited with his first ever goal in a 1–0 win in the Manchester derby on 4 May 1991, though it appeared to be a Colin Hendry own goal. However, he was not included in the squad of 16 that defeated Barcelona in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final 11 days later. Lee Sharpe, who had won the race to displace Danny Wallace, took to the field as United's left winger, while Wallace was selected as a substitute. Giggs became a first-team regular early in the 1991–92 season, yet remained active with the youth system and captained the team, made up of many of "Fergie's Fledglings", to an FA Youth Cup triumph in 1992.

Giggs broke into the first team even though he was still aged only 17, and paved the way as the first of many Manchester United youth players to rise into the first team under Ferguson. As the youngest member of the United first team squad, Giggs looked to the older players such as Bryan Robson for advice. Robson recommended that Giggs sign up with Harry Swales, the agent that he himself had inherited from Kevin Keegan.

That season, Giggs played in the team that finished as runners-up to Leeds United in the final year of the old First Division before the advent of the Premier League. United had led the table for much of the season before a run of dismal results in April saw them overtaken by the West Yorkshire side. Giggs collected his first piece of silverware on 12 April 1992 as United defeated Nottingham Forest in the League Cup Final, after Giggs had set up Brian McClair to score the only goal of the game. At the end of the season, he was voted PFA Young Player of the Year – the award which had been credited to his colleague Lee Sharpe a year earlier.

By the start of the 1992–93 season, the first season of the newly formed Premier League, Giggs had ousted Sharpe to become United's first-choice left winger. He was recognised one of English football's two best emerging young wingers, alongside Steve McManaman, who were notable for being a throwback to the Stanley Matthews era of the 1950s' wingers.. Giggs helped United to their first top division title win for 26 years.

His emergence and the arrival of Eric Cantona heralded the dominance of United in the Premier League. Ferguson was protective of him, refusing to allow Giggs to be interviewed until he turned 20, eventually granting the first interview to the BBC's Des Lynam for ''Match of the Day'' in the 1993–94 season. United won the double that season, and Giggs was one of their key players alongside the likes of Eric Cantona, Paul Ince and Mark Hughes. Giggs also played for United in the Football League Cup final, where they lost 3–1 to Aston Villa.

Off the pitch, newspapers claimed Giggs had "single-handedly revolutionised football's image" when he appeared as teenager "with pace to burn, a bramble patch of black hair bouncing around his puppy popstar face, and a dazzling, gluey relationship between his impossibly fleet left foot and a football." As a result of this, he was afforded many opportunities not normally offered to footballers at his young age, such as hosting his own television show, ''Ryan Giggs' Soccer Skills'', which aired in 1994, and also had a book based on the series. Giggs was part of the Premier League's attempt to market itself globally, and he featured on countless football and lad mag covers, becoming a household name and fuelling the era where footballers started to become celebrity idols on a par with pop stars, in and around the mid to late 1990s. Despite his aversion to attention, Giggs also became a teenage pin-up and was once described as the "Premiership's First Poster Boy", and the "boy wonder",. He was hailed as the first football star to capture the public imagination in a way unseen since the days of George Best; the irony was that Best and Bobby Charlton used to describe Giggs as their favourite young player, turning up at The Cliff training ground just to watch him. Best once quipped, "One day they might even say that I was another Ryan Giggs."

At the end of the 1993–94 season, Giggs won a second title in a row, and became the first player in history to win two consecutive PFA Young Player of the Year awards, a feat equalled by Robbie Fowler and Wayne Rooney.

Giggs proved to be a scorer of great goals, with many of them being shortlisted for various Goal of the Season awards. Widely regarded as among his best were those against Queens Park Rangers in 1993, Tottenham in 1994, Everton in 1995, Coventry in 1996, and his solo-goal against Arsenal in the replay of the 1999 FA Cup semi-final. During extra time, Giggs picked up possession after Patrick Vieira gave the ball away, then ran from the half-way line, dribbled past the whole Arsenal back line, including Tony Adams, Lee Dixon and Martin Keown before launching his left-footed strike just under David Seaman's bar and beyond his reach. He famously whipped off his shirt as he ran to celebrate with his teammates. It also has the distinction of being the last ever goal scored in an FA Cup semi-final replay as, from the following season, the FA Cup semi-finals are decided in a single game, with extra time and a penalty shootout if required.

1995-2000

1994–95 saw Giggs restricted through injury to 29 Premier League games and only 1 goal. Later in the season he recovered his form and fitness, though it was too late to help United to any major trophies. A failure to beat West Ham United on the final day of the season saw them lose the Premier League title to Blackburn Rovers. A week later, Giggs came on as a substitute in the FA Cup final against Everton, but United lost 1–0.

On a more positive side in the 1994–95 season, Giggs did get on the scoresheet twice in the opening Champions League game against IFK Gothenburg (a 4–2 win, although United ultimately failed to progress to the quarter-finals) and also managed a goal in the FA Cup fourth around victory over Wrexham, meaning that he had managed four goals in all competitions that season.

In 1995–96 Giggs returned to full form and played a vital part in United's unique second double, with his goal against Everton at Goodison Park on 9 September 1995 being shortlisted for the "goal of the season" award, though it was eventually beaten by a goal by Manchester City's Georgi Kinkladze. In November that season, Giggs scored two goals in a Premier League match against Southampton, where United won 4–1 to keep up the pressure on a Newcastle United side who actually went 10 points clear on 23 December but were finally overhauled by United in mid March. Giggs was also in the side for United's FA Cup final win over Liverpool on 11 May 1996, though Eric Cantona scored the only goal of the game. By now, Giggs had several new key colleagues in youngsters Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Nicky Butt, David Beckham and Paul Scholes. Beckham took over from Andrei Kanchelskis on the right wing and Butt succeeded Paul Ince in central midfield to complete a new look United midfield along with Giggs and Roy Keane.

The following season, Giggs had his first real chance to shine in Europe. Having played a key role in United winning their third league title in four seasons, he helped them reach the UEFA Champions League semi-finals, the first United side in 28 years to achieve this. However, their hopes of European glory were ended by Borussia Dortmund, who edged them out by winning each leg of the semi-final 1–0. At the end of this season, Juventus' Alessandro Del Piero told Italian media that Giggs was one of his two favourite players, and gave the following memorable quote:"This is embarrassing to say but I have cried twice in my life watching a football player; the first one was Roberto Baggio and the second was Ryan Giggs."

In 1997–98, United were pipped to the Premier League title by Arsenal, following a dismal run of form in March and early April, leaving them without a trophy for only the second time since 1989. The following season, Giggs missed a lot of games through injury, but when he was fit his form was excellent and he played in both of United's cup finals that season. Memorable moments were his extra-time goal in the FA Cup semi-final against arch-rivals Arsenal giving United a 2–1 win, and his 90th minute equaliser in the home leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final against Juventus.

The highpoint in the 1998–99 season was when Giggs set up the equalising goal scored by Teddy Sheringham in the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final that set United on their way to the Treble.

Giggs was also the Man of the Match as United beat Palmeiras 1–0 to claim the Intercontinental Cup later that year.

2000–2005

Giggs became United's longest serving player when Denis Irwin left in May 2002, and he became a pivotal part of the club, despite still being in his twenties. Giggs continued to excel in the four years that followed the Treble triumph of 1999. United were Premier League champions in three of the four seasons following the treble, as well as reaching the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals three times and the semi-finals once. He celebrated his 10-year anniversary at Old Trafford with a testimonial match against Celtic at the start of the 2001–02 campaign. However, this was one of the most disappointing seasons United had endured since Giggs made his debut for them, as a dismal run of form in early winter ultimately cost them the league title and they were surprisingly knocked out of the Champions League on away goals in the semi finals by German underdogs Bayer Leverkusen. A year later, in the autumn of 2002, he bagged his 100th career goal in a draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

He played in his fourth FA Cup triumph on 22 May 2004, making him one of only two players (the other being Roy Keane) to have won the trophy four times while playing for Manchester United. He has also finished with a runners-up medal three times (1995, 2005 and 2007). His participation in the victory over Liverpool in September 2004 made him the third player to play 600 games for United, alongside Sir Bobby Charlton and Bill Foulkes. He was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of his contribution to the English game.

2005-present

Giggs signed a two-year contract extension with United when chief executive David Gill relented on his normal policy of not signing players over 30 to contracts longer than one year. Giggs benefited from being largely injury-free aside from a series of hamstring problems.

On 6 May 2007, with Chelsea only able to manage a 1–1 draw with London rivals Arsenal, Manchester United became the champions of England. In doing so, Giggs set a new record of nine league titles, beating the previous record of eight he shared with Alan Hansen and Phil Neal (who won all of their titles with Liverpool). Giggs played a starring role in United's 2007 Charity Shield victory after netting in the first half to bring the game to a 1–1 draw, which led to penalty triumph for the Red Devils after keeper Edwin van der Sar saved all of Chelsea's first three penalties.

In the 2007–08 season, Alex Ferguson adopted a rotation system between Giggs and newcomers Nani and Anderson.

Giggs scored his 100th league goal for United against Derby County on 8 December 2007, which United won 4–1. More landmarks have been achieved: on 20 February 2008 he made his 100th appearance in the UEFA Champions League in a game against Lyon and on 11 May 2008 he came on as a substitute for Park Ji-Sung to equal Sir Bobby Charlton's record of 758 appearances for United. Giggs scored the second goal in that match, sealing his, and United's, tenth Premier League title. Ten days later, on 21 May 2008, Giggs broke Bobby Charlton's appearance record for United when coming on as an 87th minute substitute for Paul Scholes in the Champions League Final against Chelsea. United won the final, defeating Chelsea 6–5 on penalties after a 1–1 draw after extra time, with Giggs converting the winning penalty in sudden-death.

At the start of Manchester United's 2008–09 campaign, Sir Alex Ferguson began placing Giggs at central midfield, behind the forwards, instead of his favoured wing position. Sir Alex Ferguson said in an interview, "(Giggs) is a very valuable player, he will be 35 this November but at 35, he can be United's key player. At 25, Ryan would shatter defenders with his run down the flank, but at 35, he will play deeper." Giggs has begun taking his coaching badges and Ferguson has hinted that he would like Giggs to serve as his coaching staff after retirement like Ole Gunnar Solskjær did.

Following speculation earlier in the year, in February 2009, Giggs signed a one-year extension to his current contract – which was due to expire in June 2009. After a successful season, Giggs was short-listed along with four other Manchester United team mates for the PFA Player of the Year. On 26 April 2009, Giggs received the award, despite having started just twelve games throughout the 08/09 season (at the time of receiving the trophy). This was the first time in his career that Giggs had received the award. Prior to the awards ceremony, Alex Ferguson had given his backing for Giggs to win the award and stated that it would be fitting, given Giggs' long term contribution to the game. Giggs made his 800th appearance for Manchester United on 29 April 2009, in the 1–0 semi-final win over Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League. On 16 May 2009, Manchester United won the Premier League after a 0–0 draw against Arsenal, both United's and Giggs' 11th Premier League titles.

Giggs scored his first Manchester United hat-trick in a pre-season friendly against Hangzhou Greentown after coming on as a second-half substitute.

On 12 September 2009, Giggs made his 700th start for United. Giggs scored his 150th goal for United, only the ninth player to do so for the club, against Wolfsburg in his first Champions League game of the season. On 28 November 2009, the eve of his 36th birthday, Giggs scored his 100th Premier League goal – all for Manchester United – scoring the final goal in a 4–1 victory over Portsmouth at Fratton Park, and becoming only the 17th player to reach the milestone in the Premier League.

On 30 November 2009, the day after his 36th birthday, it was reported that Giggs would be offered an additional one-year contract which would run until the end of the 2010–11 season and see him past the 20th anniversary of his first game and first goal for United. On the same day, Giggs was nominated for BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2009, which he subsequently won.. On 12 December 2009, Giggs' surpassed countryman Gary Speed's outfield record of 535 Premier League games. On 18 December 2009, Giggs signed a one-year contract extension with United, keeping him at the club until June 2011, taking him past the 20th anniversary of his first professional contract and that of his first team debut – a rare occurrence of a player reaching the 20-year mark with the same club and with unbroken service. On 31 December 2009, Giggs was named the Manchester United Player of the Decade. On 24 April 2010, Giggs scored the first ever league penalties of his career, netting two penalties in a 3–1 home win over Tottenham Hotspur.

On 16 August 2010, Giggs kept up his record of scoring in every Premier League season since its inception as he netted United's third in their 3–0 home victory over Newcastle United in their opening fixture of the new campaign. As he found the net in the final two seasons of the old Football League First Division, he has now scored in 21 successive top division campaigns. On 17 January 2011, Giggs reached 600 league appearances (all for Manchester United), as he played in their goalless draw against Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Giggs signed a one-year contract extension with Manchester United on 18 February, keeping him at the club until June 2012. On 6 March 2011, Giggs surpassed the Manchester United league appearance record of Bobby Charlton by playing his 607th game against Liverpool. On 26 April, against Schalke 04 in the Champions League Semi-Final First Leg, Giggs scored the first goal from a Wayne Rooney pass, also making himself the oldest goalscorer in Champions League history to date. Giggs also played in the 2011 Champions League final, where Manchester United were defeated 3–1 by Barcelona.

Giggs made his first start of the 2011–12 season in the UEFA Champions League away at Benfica. He scored United's equalising goal in a 1–1 draw at the Estádio da Luz, in the process breaking his own record for the oldest goalscorer in Champions League history. He also became the first man ever to score in 16 different Champions League campaigns, moving clear of Raúl who was tied with Giggs on 15 seasons. On 19 November, Giggs played in a league game in his home country of Wales for the first time in his distinguished career against Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium in a United 1–0 win. Giggs maintained his record of scoring in each of the past 22 top-flight seasons by scoring United's third goal against Fulham at Craven Cottage in a 5-0 win on 21 December, his first of the season in the league. On 10 February 2012, Giggs signed a one-year contract extension with Manchester United.

On 26 February 2012, Giggs made his 900th appearance for Manchester United, in a 2-1 away win against Norwich City. He marked the occasion by scoring the winning goal in the 90th minute, scoring from a cross by Ashley Young. After the match, Alex Ferguson told BBC Sport he believed that a player playing in 900 games for one club "won't be done again". Ryan Giggs has since played with 140 different players in the first team.

International career

Born in Cardiff to Welsh parents, Giggs represented Wales at international level. As a youngster, Giggs captained England Schoolboys. Contrary to popular belief, he was never eligible for the full England team (eligibility at the schoolboy level depends solely upon the location of the school, in Giggs' case Moorside High School in Salford). He has stated that he would have chosen to play for Wales anyway. When he made his international debut in 1991, he broke the record as the youngest debutant for Wales and held it for some seven years when it was broken by Ryan Green in June 1998. He went on to win 64 caps, and scored twelve goals for the Welsh national team between 1991 and 2007. He was appointed captain of Wales in 2004. During a 2006 World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan on 12 October 2005, Giggs scored a rare double in a 2–0 win but Wales failed to reach the play-offs. In September 2006, he played in a friendly against Brazil at White Hart Lane. Such was his display that, following the 2–0 win for Brazil, Brazil coach Dunga paid Giggs the compliment by stating he would not look out of place playing for the five-time world champions alongside stars such as Kaká and Ronaldinho.

His first senior goal for Wales came on 31 March 1993 in a 3–0 win over Belgium in Cardiff in a World Cup qualifying game, the same game in which Ian Rush scored for Wales for a record 24th time.

After his international debut in 1991 against Germany, Giggs did not attend a friendly international until some nine years later, after which he missed a further 18 consecutive friendly games. Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson had a policy of refusing to release the player for friendly games.

Giggs announced his retirement from international football on Wednesday, 30 May 2007, at a press conference held at The Vale of Glamorgan Hotel, drawing the curtain on a 16-year international career. He cited concentrating on his United career as the main reason for stepping down. His final game for Wales, and as captain, was the Euro 2008 qualifier against the Czech Republic on 2 June at Cardiff. He earned his 64th cap in this game and won the Man of the Match award as Wales drew 0–0. In November, he was one of three players in the final nomination by the FAW for the Wales Player of the Year award, which was ultimately won by Craig Bellamy.

In an interview with the ''Western Mail'' on 26 March 2010, Giggs hinted that he might be tempted to come out of international retirement for his country's UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, in order to cover for the injured Aaron Ramsey. He later clarified his position to BBC Radio Manchester, saying that he would only return to Wales duty in an emergency.

International goals

Cardiff, Wales 8 September 1993 7 September 1994 2 June 1996 11 November 1997 4 September 1999 29 March 2000 29 March 2003 8 October 2005 rowspan="2" 21 May 2006 28 March 2007

# !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
1	31 March 1993	|		2–0	Win	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)>1994 FIFA World Cup Qual.
2	|	Cardiff, Wales		2–2	Draw	1994 FIFA World Cup Qual.
3	|	Cardiff, Wales		2–0	Win	UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying>UEFA Euro 1996 Qual.
4	|	Serravalle (San Marino)>Serravalle, San Marino		5–0	Win	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)>1998 FIFA World Cup Qual.
5	|	Brussels, Belgium		2–3	Loss	1998 FIFA World Cup Qual.
6	|	Minsk, Belarus		2–1	Win	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying>UEFA Euro 2000 Qual.
7	|	Cardiff, Wales		1–2	Loss	Friendly match>Friendly
8	|	Cardiff, Wales		4–0	Win	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying>UEFA Euro 2004 Qual.
9	|	Belfast, Northern Ireland		3–2	Win	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)>2006 FIFA World Cup Qual.
10	12 October 2005 ||	Cardiff, Wales		2–0	Win	2006 FIFA World Cup Qual.
11
12	|	Bilbao, Spain		1–0	Win	Non-FIFA football>Non-FIFA representative friendly
13	|	Cardiff, Wales		3–0	Win	2008 UEFA European Championship>UEFA Euro 2008 Qual.

Discipline

Giggs has never been sent off when playing for Manchester United and only once when playing for Wales, on 5 September 2001 in a World Cup qualifier against Norway; Giggs received a second yellow card in the 86th minute. In November 2003, he was found guilty of improper conduct by the FA due to his behaviour during the Battle of Old Trafford game against Arsenal (one of two United and six Arsenal players charged over the incident); Giggs received a £7,500 fine but avoided suspension. In the same week, Giggs received a two-match suspension from international football for deliberately elbowing Russian player Vadim Evseev in the face during the first leg of the Euro 2004 play-offs. The offence was missed by referee Lucílio Batista, but Giggs was later charged using video evidence.

Career statistics

Club

1 4 9 13 1 11 3 8 3 6 5 7 8 7 5 3 4 3 2 5 2 2

Club	Season	League	FA Cup	!colspan="2"	!colspan="2"	Other	Total
!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
rowspan="22"	Manchester United		2	|	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1
1991–92 Manchester United F.C. season	1991–92	38	|	7	0	8	3	1	0	1	0	51	7
1992–93 Manchester United F.C. season	1992–93	41	|	2	2	2	0	1	0	0	0	46	11
1993–94 Manchester United F.C. season	1993–94	38	|	7	1	8	3	4	0	1	0	58	17
1994–95 Manchester United F.C. season	1994–95	29	|	7	1	0	0	3	2	1	0	40	4
1995–96 Manchester United F.C. season	1995–96	33	|	7	1	2	0	2	0	0	0	44	12
1996–97 Manchester United F.C. season	1996–97	26	|	3	0	0	0	7	2	1	0	37	5
1997–98 Manchester United F.C. season	1997–98	29	|	2	0	0	0	5	1	1	0	37	9
1998–99 Manchester United F.C. season	1998–99	24	|	6	2	1	0	9	5	1	0	41	10
1999–2000 Manchester United F.C. season	1999–2000	30	|	–		0	0	11	1	3	0	44	7
2000–01 Manchester United F.C. season	2000–01	31	|	2	0	0	0	11	2	1	0	45	7
2001–02 Manchester United F.C. season	2001–02	25	|	1	0	0	0	13	2	1	0	40	9
2002–03 Manchester United F.C. season	2002–03	36	|	3	2	5	0	15	4	0	0	59	14
2003–04 Manchester United F.C. season	2003–04	33	|	5	0	0	0	8	1	1	0	47	8
2004–05 Manchester United F.C. season	2004–05	32	|	4	0	1	1	6	2	1	0	44	8
2005–06 Manchester United F.C. season	2005–06	27	|	2	1	3	0	5	1	0	0	37	5
2006–07 Manchester United F.C. season	2006–07	30	|	6	0	0	0	8	2	0	0	44	6
2007–08 Manchester United F.C. season	2007–08	31	|	2	0	0	0	9	0	1	1	43	4
2008–09 Manchester United F.C. season	2008–09	28	|	2	0	4	1	11	1	2	0	47	4
2009–10 Manchester United F.C. season	2009–10	25	|	1	0	2	1	3	1	1	0	32	7
2010–11 Manchester United F.C. season	2010–11	25	|	3	1	1	0	8	1	1	0	38	4
2011–12 Manchester United F.C. season	2011–12	23	|	2	0	1	1	5	1	0	0	31	4
Total	!636!!112!!70!!11!!38!!10!!145!!29!!18!!1!!907!!163

International

|- |1991||2||0 |- |1992||3||0 |- |1993||6||2 |- |1994||1||1 |- |1995||3||0 |- |1996||3||1 |- |1997||3||1 |- |1998||1||0 |- |1999||3||1 |- |2000||4||1 |- |2001||4||0 |- |2002||5||0 |- |2003||7||1 |- |2004||3||0 |- |2005||6||3 |- |2006||5||0 |- |2007||4||1 |- !Total||64||12 |}

Honours

Club

;Manchester United

Premier League (12): 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11

FA Cup (4): 1993–94, 1995–96, 1998–99, 2003–04

Football League Cup (4): 1991–92, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2009–10

FA Community Shield (8): 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010

UEFA Champions League (2): 1998–99, 2007–08

UEFA Super Cup (1): 1991

Intercontinental Cup (1): 1999

FIFA Club World Cup (1): 2008

Individual

PFA Young Player of the Year (2): 1991–92, 1992–93

PFA Team of the Year (6): 1992–93, 1997–98, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2006–07, 2008–09

PFA Team of the Century (1): 1997–2007

PFA Players' Player of the Year (1): 2008–09

FWA Tribute Award: 2007

Bravo Award (1): 1993

BBC Sports Personality of the Year (1): 2009

BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year (2): 1996, 2009

GQ Sportsman of the Year (1): 2010

Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year (1): 1997–98

Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year (2): 1990–91, 1991–92

Premier League 10 Seasons Awards (1992–93 to 2001–02): Overall Team of the Decade

Premier League 20 Seasons Awards (1992–93 to 2011–12): Most Player Appearances (596)

UEFA Champions League 10 Seasons Dream Team (1992 to 2002): 2002

Wales Player of the Year Award (2): 1996, 2006

Premier League Player of the Month (3): September 1993, August 2006, February 2007

Goal of the Season (1): 1998–99

English Football Hall of Fame Inductee: 2005

Golden Foot: 2011

Orders and special awards

OBE for services to football: 2007 Honorary Master of Arts degree from Salford University for contributions to football and charity work in developing countries: 2008 Freedom of the City of Salford: 7 January 2010. He is the 22nd person to receive the Freedom of the City of Salford.

Records

Has won a record 12 top division English league titles as a player, and only Manchester United player to have winner's medals from all 12 Premier League title wins.

Most Premier League appearances for a player, with 588. Most Premier League assists (accurate records are only available from 2002 onwards).

Only player to have played and scored in every Premier League campaign.

Only player to have scored in sixteen different Champions League tournaments. (Includes eleven consecutive tournaments, 1996–97 to 2006–07; only Raúl has a better record with 14.)

Most goals by a British player in the Champions League/European Cup proper history, and 14th overall (not including preliminary rounds).

Most appearances by a Manchester United player.

Most starts by a Manchester United player, started in 757 games.

First player to score 100 Premier League goals for Manchester United.

Second midfielder to have scored 100 goals in the Premier League for a single club (first being Matt Le Tissier).

One of four Manchester United players to win two Champions League Medals (others are Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Wes Brown).

Oldest (37 years, 289 days) player to score in the Champions League, when he scored against Benfica on 14 September 2011.

One of two Manchester United Players to win at least 10 Top division medals (the other one is Paul Scholes.)

Endorsements and public image

Giggs has been featured in adverts for Reebok, Sovil Titus, Citizen Watches, Givenchy, Fuji, Patek Phillipe, Quorn Burgers, ITV Digital and Celcom.

According to an article by BBC Sport: "In the early 1990s, Giggs was David Beckham before Beckham was even holding down a place in the United first team. If you put his face on the cover of a football magazine, it guaranteed you the biggest sales of the year. Why? Men would buy it to read about 'the new Best' and girls bought it because they wanted his face all over their bedroom walls. Giggs had the million-pound boot deal (Reebok), the lucrative sponsorship deals in the Far East (Fuji) and the celebrity girlfriends (Dani Behr, Davinia Taylor) at a time when Beckham was being sent on loan to Preston North End."

Personal life

Family

Giggs married his longtime partner, Stacey Cooke, in a private ceremony on 7 September 2007. They have two children, both born in Salford: Liberty Beau (known as Libby, born 2003) and Zachary Joseph (known as Zach, born 2006), and live in Worsley, Salford, Greater Manchester.

Activism

In August 2006 Giggs became an Ambassador for UNICEF UK, in recognition for his work with Manchester United's 'United for UNICEF' partnership with the children's organisation. Giggs visited UNICEF projects in Thailand and told the BBC: "As a footballer I can't imagine life without the use of one of my legs... Sadly this is exactly what happens to thousands of children every year when they accidentally step on a landmine."

Post-playing career

In October 2010, Giggs said he would "probably finish [his] career here [Old Trafford]", and that he could not see himself "dropping down leagues and playing at a lesser level." He said he wanted to go into coaching, calling managing Manchester United or Wales "the two ultimate jobs", and that he was halfway through his UEFA 'A' coaching licence.

Gagging order

In May 2011, it was reported in non-UK media sources that Giggs was the identity of ''CTB'' in ''CTB v News Group Newspapers'', a footballer who had obtained an anonymised gagging order in relation to an alleged extra-marital affair with model Imogen Thomas. Giggs took legal action against the social networking site Twitter after he was named by a user in a list of identities of individuals who had allegedly taken out so-called "super-injunctions". A blogger for ''Forbes'' magazine remarked that Giggs had "not heard of the Streisand effect", observing that mentions of his name had increased significantly after the case against Twitter had been reported.

On 22 May 2011, the ''Sunday Herald'', a Scottish newspaper, published a thinly disguised photograph of Giggs on its front page, with the word "CENSORED" covering his eyes. ''Sunday Herald'' editor Richard Walker stated that the London High Court ruling had no force in Scotland, unless copies of the paper were sold in England or Wales.

On 23 May 2011, the gagging order set off a political controversy, with Prime Minister David Cameron commenting that the law should be reviewed to "catch up with how people consume media today". On the same day, Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming used parliamentary privilege to name Giggs as ''CTB''.

Notes

References

External links

Photos & statistics at www.sporting-heroes.net

Profile at ManUtd.com

The National Football Museum Hall of Fame

Profile at Premier League

Ryan Giggs profile, Chris Whyatt, ''BBC News'', 23 May 2011, stats

BBC Your Paintings

Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:Association football wingers Category:BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners Category:BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year Category:British people of Sierra Leonean descent Category:English Football Hall of Fame inductees Category:Manchester United F.C. players Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:People from Cardiff Category:Premier League players Category:Sierra Leone Creole people Category:The Football League players Category:Wales international footballers Category:Wales youth international footballers Category:Wales under-21 international footballers Category:Welsh footballers Category:Black Welsh sportspeople Category:People educated at Moorside High School

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