Asda Stores Ltd. is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, (via the Vodafone Network), Asda Mobile. Its head office is at Asda House in Leeds, West Yorkshire.^[1]

Asda became a subsidiary of the American retail giant Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer,^[2] in 1999,^[3] and is the UK's second largest chain by market share after Tesco.^[4] In December 2010, Asda's share of the UK grocery market stood at 16.5%.^[5]

Asda's marketing promotions are usually based solely on price, with Asda promoting itself under the slogan Britain's Lowest Priced Supermarket, 14 Years Running. As a wholly owned division of Wal-Mart, Asda is not required to declare quarterly or half-yearly earnings. It submits full accounts to Companies House each October.

History[link]

Asda's Headquarters, Asda House in Leeds

Asda, West Bridgford, Nottingham

Asda in Bury St Edmunds

Asda Stores Limited was founded as Associated Dairies & Farm Stores Limited in 1949 in Leeds. The adoption of the Asda name occurred in 1965 with the merger of the Asquith chain of three supermarkets and Associated Dairies; Asda is an abbreviation of Asquith and Dairies, often capitalised.^[6] For a short time in the 1980s Asda Stores Ltd was a subsidiary of Asda-MFI plc following a merger between the two companies. Other companies in the group were Associated Dairies Limited, the furniture retailer MFI and Allied Carpets. After the sale of MFI and Allied Carpets the company name changed to Asda Group plc. The dairy division was sold in a management buyout and renamed Associated Fresh Foods,^[7] meaning that Asda has since had no connection with one of the firms its name was derived from.

With stores mainly based in the North of England, the newly focused food retail group expanded further south in 1989 by buying the large format stores of rival Gateway Superstores for £705 million. This move overstretched the company and it found itself in trouble trying to sell too many different products.^[8] As a result it was forced to raise money from shareholders in both 1991 and 1993. It revived under the leadership of Archie Norman, who later became a front bench Conservative MP. CEO from 1991, Norman was chairman of the company during the period 1996–99, and replicated the store on the basis of United States retail giant Wal-Mart, even sending protégé Allan Leighton to Bentonville, Arkansas to assess and photograph the systems and marketing which Wal-Mart had deployed.^[9]

In 1997, the Spice Girls licensed their name and image to Asda in which they created over 40 different Spice Items for Christmas 1997 developing goods such as party supplies, official merchandise, and even Spice Girl branded kids meals in the stores' restaurants. The Spice Girls earned £1 million for this sponsorship deal.

When Norman left the company to pursue his political career, he was replaced by Leighton. Wal-Mart wanted to enter the UK market so CEO Bob Martin lobbied British Prime Minister Tony Blair on planning issues.^[10] Asda, which at the time owned 230 stores and had planned to merge with Kingfisher plc, was purchased by Wal-Mart on 26 July 1999 for £6.7 billion.^[3]

After the takeover Asda continued to maintain its headquarters at the then newly opened "Asda House". This building was one of the first of the new large office blocks to open as part of the redevelopment of the huge area south of the River Aire in Leeds city centre, in the Holbeck district, West Yorkshire.

In 2005, amid reported concerns within Wal-Mart about a slippage in market share, partially due to a resurgent Sainsbury's, Asda's chief executive, Tony De Nunzio left, and was replaced by Andy Bond. In 2005, Asda expanded into Northern Ireland by purchasing 12 Safeway stores from Morrisons.^[11][12]

In November 2008 there were reports that Asda was to buy Irish retailer Dunnes.^[13]

In 2009 Wal-Mart 'sold' Asda for £6.9 billion to their Leeds-based investment subsidiary Corinth Services Limited.^[14] The deal, which took place in August, was described as part of a “group restructuring” and means Asda remains under the control of the Wal-Mart, since Corinth are themselves a subsidiary of Wal-Mart.^[15]

On 11 May 2010 Andy Clarke, a former manager of an Asda store, who was also the Chief Operating Officer, was appointed as Chief Executive Officer.^[16]

In May 2010, it was announced that Asda would buy all of Netto's UK Operations in a £778 million deal. The deal will see Asda move into the smaller, more localised store market with most Netto stores being only one fifth the size of the average Asda supermarket. In September 2010 it was announced that Asda will be forced to sell 47 of the existing 194 Netto stores due to a ruling by the Office of Fair Trading. The rebranding of Netto stores to Asda began in early 2011.^[17]

In February 2011, Asda announced the purchase of 6 stores from Focus DIY, which will be converted into supermarkets subject to approvals and local planning consents.^[18]

Marketing[link]

A smaller older Asda in Holt Park, Leeds, which anchors the district's main shopping centre

Asda is known for memorable famous marketing campaigns. In the "Asda price" campaign,^[19] customers tap their trouser pocket twice, producing a 'chinking' sound as the coins that Asda's low prices have supposedly left in their pockets knock together. The pocket tap ads were launched in 1977 and over the next 30 years a range of celebrities have been "tappers", including Julie Walters, Michael Owen, sitcom actor Leonard Rossiter and Carry On actress Hattie Jacques.^[20] In the late 1980s and early 1990s, prior to the reintroduction of the tap pocket campaign, advertising for Asda had featured the Fairground Attraction song Perfect. In 2004, Sharon Osbourne was selected to be part of a new marketing campaign by Asda; her last advert was aired in August 2005.

From 1990 to 1992, they were the sponsors of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. during arguably their two most successful seasons in modern times – when they won promotion from the Football League Second Division as Football League Cup winners and finished third in the Football League First Division (last season before the creation of the FA Premier League).

In the smiley face "rollback" campaign, also used in Wal-Mart advertisements, a CGI smiley face bounced from price tag to price tag, knocking them down as customers watch. The focus of these campaigns is to portray Asda as the most affordable supermarket in the country, a claim that was challenged by competitors, especially Aldi. In 2006, Asda advertising was themed around singing children and the slogan "More for you for less", and the previous tap of the trouser pocket advertising was reduced to a double-tap on a stylised 'A', still producing the 'chinking' sound. This included an advert during the 2006 FIFA World Cup featuring the England football player Michael Owen in an advert with the children singing Vindaloo. In 2007, the advertising campaign abandoned the rollback hook in favour of featuring celebrities including Victoria Wood and Paul Whitehouse working as Asda employees.

For Christmas 2007, Asda reintroduced the "That's Asda price" slogan^[21] as well as the famous 'jingle' to some of its adverts, this can also be heard on its in-store radio station 'Asda FM'.

Starting in 2008, Asda has been returning to its roots and is now re-focusing on price with its new "Why Pay More?" campaign both on TV and in stores. Current Asda TV commercials in April 2009 focus on price comparisons between Asda and its rivals, using information from "MySupermarket" to suggest that Asda is Britain's most affordable supermarket. The music being used in these adverts is the Billy Childish version of the classic Dad's Army theme tune. The old Asda jingle is not included in these,^[22] but appeared in a 2008 Christmas advert.^[23] Asda returned to the traditional pocket tap adverts in March/April 2009, with the slogan "Saving You Money Every Day!"

Asda has been winner of The Grocer magazine "Lowest Price Supermarket" Award for the past 14 years,^[24] and uses this to promote itself across the UK. In August 2005, rival supermarket chain Tesco challenged Asda's ability to use the claim that it was the cheapest supermarket in the country, by complaining to the Advertising Standards Agency. The A.S.A upheld the complaint^[25] and ordered Asda to stop using it, citing that The Grocer magazine survey was based on limited and unrepresentative evidence as it examined the price of just 33 products, and that the survey did not study low-cost supermarkets such as Aldi, and that their price checker, My Supermarket, doesn't include Morrisons, which was mentioned a few times. As a result Asda no longer cites itself as "Officially Britain's lowest priced supermarket", instead using "Winner: Britain's lowest price supermarket award".

Throughout the year, Asda has asked pricing strategics company Skuuudle to assist them in their campaign against rivals Argos for the Christmas season to produce price listings so shoppers can see transparent pricing on children's toys on the key Christmas lines, helping people save money though out the season.

Corporate social responsibility[link]

Energy efficiency

Asda was the top performing supermarket in the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme Performance League Table, coming in at 37 and beating Morrisons at 56, Tesco at 93, and Sainsburys at 164.^[26]

Ethical trading

Asda has signed up to the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) which respects workers' rights for freedom of association and a living wage. Implementing this initiative is difficult, however, because the concept of a living wage varies between countries and the buying strategies of a major importer like Asda have an indirect impact on national minimum wages by obliging governments to set them low enough to stop businesses from going elsewhere.^[27] Industry pressure groups such as Labour Behind the Label and War on Want have argued that Asda and other budget retailers use unethical labour practices in the developing world to keep UK prices low.^[28][29] The National Farmers' Union, representing UK farmers and growers, has argued that Asda and other major supermarkets have made large profits and kept consumer prices low "by squeezing suppliers' margins to the point where many of them have gone out of business".^[30]

More recently, Asda's Valentine's Day roses, sold at £2 for a dozen, were said to be ethically sourced by the supermarket. This claim went against research carried out by War on Want.^[31]

Sponsorships

• Asda sponsored English football team Sheffield Wednesday during the early 1990s. Also Asda sponsored Accrington Stanley in the 1998–1999 season
• Asda currently sponsor a stand in Prenton Park, home of English football team Tranmere Rovers.^{[citation needed]}
• Asda sponsors Kwik cricket for Kids.^[32]

Call for boycott

In October 2010, Chairman Andy Bond was a signatory to a controversial letter to The Daily Telegraph^[33] which claimed that "The private sector should be more than capable of generating additional jobs to replace those lost in the public sector, and the redeployment of people to more productive activities will improve economic performance, so generating more employment opportunities." This prompted calls for a boycott of Asda, as well as the companies represented by the other signatories to the letter on the grounds that "Companies that support the CSR [Comprehensive Spending Review] are failed corporate citizens.".^[34]

Asda Smart Price[link]

Asda's Smart Price logo

Asda Smart Price is a no-frills private label trade name. The equivalents from the three other big supermarkets are Tesco Everyday Value^[35], Sainsbury's Basics and Morrisons M Savers.

The Smart Price brand can trace its origins to Asda's Farm Stores brand launched in the mid 1990s, which consisted of products that were offered at a lower price than the equivalent famous name brand product and Asda's own brand equivalent. The Farm Stores brand originally consisted of a small number of food only products, largely frozen such as frozen chips and a small range of ready meals, this range later expanded to include fresh food.

Smart Price products are almost always the lowest price option (known as Our Lowest Price) in a product category in Asda stores. Occasionally this difference is only a few pence, however in others it is a marked difference. For example, a box of Smart Price Biological Washing Powder costs 50 pence while the equivalent Asda brand washing powder costs £1.50 and well known name brand alternatives cost from £2 upwards.

The Smart Price label was originally a food only brand, however over the years it has expanded to cover almost every product range in the store, including clothing and furnishings with the George Smart Price brand. Like early generic products in the US some Smart Price products lack what can be thought of as 'frills' in the modern brand name or supermarket own brand, for example the Smart Price toothpaste has an old fashioned screw cap rather than the now more common flip cap and the Smart Price range of crisps come in traditional clear plastic bags rather than the foil bags common to most name brand versions.

In 2012, Asda changed the Smart Price Label once again to fit in with the remodelling of its product ranges.

George clothing[link]

Asda has its own range of clothing known as George which was created in 1990.^[36] This is marketed as quality fashion clothing at affordable prices. Wal-Mart also sells the George brand in Argentina, Canada, China, India, Japan, Mexico, and the US (and in South Korea until Wal-Mart pulled out of that market). This George label was named after George Davies, the founder of Next, who was its original chief designer. He is no longer associated with the brand, although it has aimed to remain true to the high quality, low price business model that he established.

In 2005, Asda stated that the George range was a £1.75 billion business, including sales from Wal-Mart stores in the USA and Germany. Mintel estimate that George is the fourth largest retailer of clothing in the United Kingdom, after Marks & Spencer, the Arcadia Group and Next.^[37]

Asda was the first supermarket to stock wedding dresses. Part of the George line, they cost just £60 while adult bridesmaid dresses ranged between £30 and £35, at launch.^[38]

Stores[link]

Current stores[link]

An Asda Wal-mart Supercentre

Asda originally had a "simple and fresh" store format, which under Archie Norman's team and the focus on a Wal-Mart style strategy became even more emphasised. The stores are generally white and green, with simplistic layout but built on a Wal-Mart larger footprint format – Asda's average store is almost 20% bigger than its rivals, but stocks 20% fewer lines.

However, the preferred large-format stores have brought problems to Asda's growth beyond its spurts in both the 1990s and immediate post Wal-Mart era. With the UK's tight planning restrictions, the opportunity to increase retail space via new store builds has been limited. Rather than follow rivals Tesco and Sainsbury's into "local" format smaller-footprint stores, Asda has chosen to adapt its format to niche stores to retain longer term growth.

On 16 April 2010, Asda announced plans to open over 100 new non-food stores as part of an ambitious five-year plan.^[39]

In February 2011, Asda announced the purchase of 6 stores from Focus DIY, which will be converted into supermarkets subject to approvals and local planning consents.^[18]

Asda Supercentres

Following the takeover by Wal-Mart, several "Asda Wal-Mart Supercentres" have been opened, creating some of the largest hypermarkets in the United Kingdom. From around 2008 onwards all new Supercentres have been solely branded as Asda Supercentre without the Wal-Mart branding. The first Supercentre opened in Livingston, Scotland, in June 2000. The Minworth, Birmingham, store is currently the largest Asda Supercentre with a nett sales floor of over 120,000sqft.^[40] The Milton Keynes store is currently the second largest Asda Supercentre and the third largest is located in Huyton, Merseyside. There are currently 25 Supercentres in the UK.

The interior of the Asda store in Liscard, Wirral, taken from the store's staff and visitor reception area.

The interior of the Asda store in Liscard, Wirral, taken from the store's staff and visitor reception area.

Asda superstores

Asda superstores are large supermarkets with a non food offer slightly smaller than a Asda Supercentre. As of 2011 there are 231 superstores in the UK.

Asda Supermarket

The Supermarket division was formed in 2009. As of July 2010, there are 26 small format supermarkets some of which were acquired from the Co-operative. The first three acquisition stores opened mid 2009 in Wellington, Lancing and Pershore followed by Cumnock, Tweedmouth and Kingsheath in 2010.

In May 2010, Asda announced the purchase of the 193 UK stores of Danish discount retailer Netto in a £778 million deal. The stores will continue to trade as Netto stores until early 2011, when Asda plans to integrate the stores into its supermarkets division, designated for shops smaller than 25,000 square feet (2,300 m²).^[41]

Asda Living

An Asda Living branch in Leeds.

In October 2003 Asda launched a new format called 'Asda Living'. This is the company's first "general merchandise" store, containing all its non-food ranges including clothing, home electronics, toys, homewares, health, and beauty products. With these stores they have linked up with Compass Group who operate the coffee shop Caffe Ritazza within some of the stores. The first store with this format opened in Walsall, West Midlands, and at the time of writing has been followed by ten further stores.

George Stores

In 2011 Asda announced its intention to establish a small number of pilot George stores.^[42] In January 2012 Asda announced that it had agreed to terms with two franchise partners to open international George stores. Through the agreement with SandpiperCI, based in the Channel Islands, the company will be responsible for opening George franchises in both Jersey and Guernsey, and through the Azadea Group, headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon, the George franchise stores would open in the Middle East.^[43][44] The opening of the first George stores in both regions are expected before the end of 2012.

Former stores[link]

George clothing stores

In 2004, the George clothing brand was extended to a number of standalone George stores on the high street, with the first George standalone store to open was in Preston. In 2008, all George standalone stores were closed due to high rental costs resulting in low profitability,^[45] The Falkirk and Crewe branch were kept open as they are located next to the Asda store. The Manchester Fort store was converted into a 'ASDA Living' store.

Asda Essentials

In April 2006, Asda launched a new format called 'Asda Essentials' in a former Co-op store in Northampton, followed by another in Pontefract a month later. This was modelled on the French Leaderprice chain, with a smaller floorplate than Asda's mainstream stores. Essentials focuses primarily on own-brand products, only stocking branded items that are perceived to be at the "core" of a family's weekly shop. This style of retailing is an attempt to address competition from discount supermarkets such as Aldi, Lidl and Netto. On 6 December 2006 The Guardian newspaper reported that further planned store openings were under review following poor sales in the existing outlets. It was also revealed that the range of branded products has been expanded.^[46] In early January 2007 it was announced that the initial trial Essentials store would close within a month after only 10 months of trading.^[47]

Distribution[link]

Asda also has 26 depots all across the UK which distribute across the network of stores. There are depots for chilled foods, clothing and ambient products, such as carbonated drinks and cereals.^[48]

Other interests[link]

On 10 June 2008 Wal-Mart announced that it has agreed to sell Gazeley Limited Group, the property development subsidiary of Asda, to Economic Zones World (EZW), a Dubai World company. Gazeley is involved in the development of distribution warehousing in the UK, mainland Europe and China and has extended its operations to India and Mexico. Its customers include many of the world's leading companies, third-party logistics providers, original equipment manufacturers, retailers and their suppliers. Gazeley is also a preferred developer of distribution space for Wal-Mart International, including Asda in the UK and Wal-Mart China.^[49]

Asda Financial Services

Asda has established a financial services division, following in the footsteps of Tesco, Sainsbury's and other retailers. Asda simply attaches its own brand to products provided by other companies. Services they offer include insurance (provided by Norwich Union), credit cards (provided by Grupo Santander) and loans (provided by the Funding Corporation). The Financial Services division of the organisation does not directly sell these services in store and instead uses the supplier of that product by telephone or online/postal application. Until June 2009 selected stores had Credit Card Representatives provided by GE Capital Bank and then Grupo Santander. Marketing and management of Financial Services is co-ordinated in house and many stores have a Financial Services Co-ordinator, responsible for promoting the products and ensuring legal compliance. The Financial Services division is also responsible for Gift Cards, Christmas Saver and Business Rewards.^[50]

Loyalty card[link]

The company does not run a loyalty card scheme, stating that "we prefer to invest the money we'd use to set up such a scheme into driving down prices for our customers".^[51] The Asda-branded Credit Card (provided by Grupo Santander) offers a points scheme; points can be earned on all spending.^[52]

Internet operations[link]

An Asda Mercedes-Benz Sprinter delivery van.

Asda launched its online retailer service in 1998, but from the start had over-estimated demand. It began with a dedicated depot based in Croydon, South London, but this was closed with a number of redundancies shortly after as sales were lower than expected. It continued the online service, but emulated the Tesco store-based model instead.

Since the roll-out of the grocery delivery operation Asda has moved into non-food online retailing. Current categories include entertainment, contact lenses, furniture, travel, electricals, gifts, mobile phones and flowers, with more categories being launched each year.

In May 2004 it announced a major expansion of the service which would increase coverage from 30% of the UK population to 35%. In January 2007, Asda launched www.asda-electricals.co.uk to compete with Tesco's highly successful Tesco Direct. In October 2008, Asda launched direct.asda.com superseding its electricals website and also selling several additional product categories such as homeware, garden and toys. This new venture is part of its online business Asda Direct, with more than 3,000 domestic and home electrical products. Asda's long term ambition to capture 5% of the £1.9 billion market by 2012. Recently, the company sold its Durabrand 1005 DVD player for only £9, the UK's lowest priced DVD player, which sold out in just two days from start of the promotion.

Financial performance[link]

As of March 2009^[update], Tesco has a 30.4% share of the UK grocery market while Asda's share is 17.5%, followed by Sainsbury's at 16.1%, and Morrisons at 11.8%.^[53]

According to CACI, as of 2006, Asda has market dominance in 14 postcode areas; DY (Dudley), B (Birmingham), CH (Chester), L (Liverpool), WN (Wigan), BL (Bolton), BB (Blackburn), LA (Lancaster), HU (Kingston upon Hull), SR (Sunderland), DH (Durham), NE (Newcastle upon Tyne), G (Glasgow) and AB (Aberdeen).^[54]

Supermarket	Consumer Spend (£000s)	Market share March 2009	+/- from March 2009
Tesco	6,453,370	30.4%	4.3%
Asda	3,411,938	17.5%	8.5%
Sainsbury's	3,239,500	16.1%	5.7%
Morrisons	2,327,583	11.8%	7.2%

Employee relations[link]

Asda has 150,000 employees, whom it refers to as "colleagues" (90,000 part-time, 60,000 full-time). The company has featured prominently in lists of "Best companies to work for", appearing in second place in The Times newspaper list for 2005.^[55] It offers staff a discount of 10% on most items (exceptions include fuel, stamps, lottery, giftcards and tobacco related items).^[56]

There is, however, an eventful history in dealings with union bodies. The company was fined £850,000 in 2006 for offering 340 staff at a Dartford depot a pay rise in return for giving up a collective union agreement.^[57] Poor relations continued as Asda management attempted to introduce new rights and working practices shortly thereafter at another centre in Washington, Tyne and Wear.^[58]

Some compromise was reached by June of that year, when a five day strike was called off after Asda management and the GMB reached an agreement.^[59]

And it would appear that relations have thawed significantly since then, with both Asda and the GMB marking the death of a worker together on International Workers' Memorial Day ^[60]

Dairy price fixing[link]

In December 2007 Asda, Sainsbury's and other retailers admitted to price fixing dairy products between 2002 and 2003.

Asda commented, "Everyone at Asda regrets what happened, particularly as we are passionate about lowering prices. Our intention was to provide more money for dairy farmers, who were under severe financial pressure at the time." So far in total these retailers have been fined £116 million.

Tesco, Morrisons and dairy company Lactalis McLelland denied any involvement in price-fixing; however, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) says it will carry on its investigation. It was announced that the alleged price-fixing cost consumers £260 million.^[61]

Asda Mobile[link]

Asda also operates a mobile phone network called Asda Mobile, which was launched in April 2007.

Awards[link]

• 1997–present – Voted Britain's lowest price supermarket in a survey by Grocer 33 Magazine
• 2001, 2002, 2003 – Voted a top 10 UK employer by the Sunday Times Top 100 Best Employers Survey, although the merit of Asda being awarded such an award is contested by the GMB
• 2002 Nestlé Social Commitment Award, awarded by peers in the food industry
• March 2009 – Voted 'Innovative Employer of the Year' at the Oracle Retail Week Awards^[62]

See also[link]

	Yorkshire portal
	Food portal
	Companies portal

• 2007 UK petrol contamination
• Langley Mill
• List of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Asda

• Asda corporate website
• Irish newspaper article

v t e Key people Sam Walton David Glass Lee Scott Jim C. Walton Bud Walton Douglas Daft Assets Amigo Supermarkets Asda Líder Sam's Club Walmart Discount Stores Walmart Market Walmart Supercenter Marketside Project Impact Walmex · Walmart Canada Más Club Seiyu Bompreço See also Criticism of Walmart Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price History of Walmart List of assets owned by Walmart List of Walmart brands Why Wal-Mart Works; and Why That Drives Some People C-R-A-Z-Y Annual revenue: US$405.61 billion FY 2009 ($13.4 billion) · Employees: 2.1 million · Stock symbol: NYSE: WMT · Website: walmartstores.com

v t e Supermarkets in the United Kingdom Big 5 Asda The Co-operative Food Morrisons Sainsbury's Tesco Premium Marks & Spencer Waitrose Discount 99p Stores Aldi B & M Home Bargains Lidl Poundland Poundstretcher Quality Save UGO Frozen specialists Farmfoods Heron Foods Iceland Jack Fulton Regional Booths Dunnes Stores Filco Haldanes Shoprite Online Ocado Convenience Best-One Budgens Costcutter Happy Shopper Jones Convenience Stores Londis Mace McColl's Nisa-Today's Premier Stores SPAR Health and organic Holland & Barrett Whole Foods Market Category

Ryan Babel

Personal information
Full name	Ryan Guno Babel[1]
Date of birth	(1986-12-19) 19 December 1986 (age 25)
Place of birth	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[2]
Playing position	Striker / Winger
Club information
Current club	1899 Hoffenheim
Number	10
Youth career
1998–2004	Ajax
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2004–2007	Ajax	73	(14)
2007–2011	Liverpool	91	(12)
2011–	1899 Hoffenheim	40	(5)
National team‡
2002–2003	Netherlands U17	6	(3)
2003–2004	Netherlands U19	6	(2)
2004–2005	Netherlands U20	4	(2)
2005–2007	Netherlands U21	5	(2)
2008	Netherlands U23	5	(2)
2005–	Netherlands	42	(5)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16 March 2012. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 30 November 2011

Ryan Guno Babel (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈrɑjɐn ˈbaːbəl]; born 19 December 1986)^[3] is a Dutch football player who currently plays for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. He can play as a striker or left winger.

Babel began his career at AFC Ajax in 1998, working his way up through the youth team and into the senior squad. He played three seasons for the first team before he was transferred to Liverpool in mid-2007, where under three successive managers he failed to secure a regular first team position. Babel was sold to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in January 2011, for a sum around half of that which Liverpool paid for him. Babel has been part of the Dutch national football team since 2005, and has represented his country at all youth team levels.

Early career[link]

Babel grew up in Bijlmermeer, Amsterdam and was interested in football from an early age. Inspired by the local footballing talent, including Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard, Babel played for nearby youth-teams S.V Diemen, then Fortius.^[4] In 1997, he attended a youth selection day with AFC Ajax. He made it through the first selection round, but failed to progress any further.^[5] However, the next year Ajax accepted him and he played the 1999–2000 season for their D1 team.^[5] After having graduated through the C1, B1 and A1 teams, Babel signed his first professional contract in January 2004.^[5]

Club career[link]

Ajax[link]

Babel at a post-game press event for Ajax

Playing as a forward, on 1 February 2004, just one and a half months after his 17th birthday, Ajax coach Ronald Koeman gave Babel his first team debut in Ajax's 4–0 home win over ADO Den Haag in the Eredivisie.^[6] Ajax went on to win the Dutch league title, but Babel didn't feature again that season. Nine months later, on 20 November 2004 Babel scored his first senior goal against De Graafschap in a 5–0 victory.^[7]

In July 2003, Babel signed a new contract with Ajax. He started the new season by scoring the winning goal in Ajax's 2–1 defeat of PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch Super Cup. Babel scored in both legs of the Champions League third qualifying round against Brøndby as Ajax made it to the group stage. 2005–06 was a tougher season for Babel in general though as he managed only two league goals. He did however continue to feature for the national team, and scored his second goal against Italy in November. At the end of the season, Babel came on as a second-half substitute in Ajax's 2–1 victory over PSV in the Dutch Cup final.

Babel marked the start of 2006–07 with another Dutch Super Cup winners medal, as Ajax defeated PSV 3–1. Babel was linked with Arsenal and Newcastle United during the January transfer window of the 2006–07 season but no move materialised.^[8][9] Amidst the transfer speculation, Babel agreed to a new three-year deal with Ajax on 2 February 2007.^[6][10] In May, Babel got another Dutch Cup winners medal as Ajax successfully defended the title. The match against AZ went to a penalty shoot-out, but Babel was substituted off after 120 minutes.^[11]

Liverpool[link]

Ryan Babel

On 10 July 2007 it was reported that Liverpool had made a £14 million offer to the Amsterdam club.^[12] On 12 July it was reported that Liverpool and Ajax had agreed a fee in the region of £11.5 million, and later Liverpool confirmed that Babel would sign a five year contract on 13 July.^[13] He was unveiled on 13 July with Yossi Benayoun. Babel was handed the number 19 shirt. He made his debut on 17 July against Werder Bremen in a friendly. He was due to play in the first round of the Barclays Asia Trophy 2007 but for a delay in the granting of international clearance. This was sorted out in time for the final against Portsmouth.^[14]

He made his Premier League debut in the 2007–08 Premier League curtain raiser against Aston Villa away after coming on off the bench. A week later and he made his Anfield debut, coming off the bench against Chelsea. On 1 September Babel scored his first goal for Liverpool against Derby County.^[15] Babel scored his first Champions League goal for Liverpool on 6 November against Beşiktaş J.K. after coming on as a substitute. He netted twice in the game and almost completed a hat-trick, with a header from a Harry Kewell cross, but was denied by the crossbar.^[16] Babel scored the fourth and last goal in Liverpool's 2007–08 UEFA Champions League group stage match against Olympique de Marseille, which they needed to win.^[17] He came off the bench in the second leg of the quarter final against Arsenal in the Champions League and won a penalty and scored a goal, with Liverpool winning the game 4–2 (5–3 on aggregate).^[18] He also came on as a substitute against Chelsea in the semi-final and despite scoring a goal, Liverpool lost 3–2 in extra time.^[19]

Babel before Jamie Carragher Testimonial Match (2010)

Former Liverpool and Celtic player Kenny Dalglish has said that Babel has the ability to terrorise defenders in the Premier League with his pace and trickery with the ball.^[20] On 13 September 2008, Babel came off the bench to score the winner for Liverpool in a 2–1 victory over Manchester United, his first goal of the 2008–09 season^[21] Babel scored his second goal of the season in Liverpool's 5–1 victory over Newcastle United on 28 December 2008.^[22]

On 20 September 2009, against West Ham, Babel came off the bench for Dirk Kuyt. At this stage the score was 2–2. Babel picked up the ball and did well to beat the full-back and sent in a delightful cross for Fernando Torres to head home the winner. Babel, who has been criticized in the past for his work rate and attitude, earned praise for his efforts in the West Ham game.^[23] On 27 September 2009, Babel scored two goals against Hull City coming off the bench for Fernando Torres to round up a match which ended 6–1 for Liverpool.^[24] On 4 November 2009, Babel scored the opening goal against Lyon in a Champions League game, a strike from 25 yards in a 1–1 draw. Former Liverpool player Alan Hansen called upon Babel to play like he did against Lyon, as he still possessed the ability to be a 'top player'.^[25]

On 6 January 2010, it was reported that Liverpool rejected an £8 million offer from Birmingham City for Babel.^[26] Babel was then disciplined by manager Benitez, over stating on his Twitter page that he had been dropped for the game against Stoke City, and was fined two weeks wages of £120,000. He was frequently linked with a move away from Anfield but Rafael Benitez stated his desire for Babel to stay. On 15 March 2010 he scored against Portsmouth in a 4–1 win. On 1 April 2010, he was sent off for the first time in his Liverpool career in the 30th minute of the first leg of the Europa League quarter-final against S.L. Benfica after an altercation with Luisão. He scored in Liverpool's 4–0 win over Burnley at Turf Moor, subsequently relegating Burnley to the Championship. On 19 August 2010, Babel scored the winner against Trabzonspor in the Europa League qualifier first leg, it was his first game of the 2010–11 season.^[27] He started his first match in the Premier League at Anfield against Aston Villa and scored his first goal in the Premier League with a right-footed volley that beat former Liverpool goalkeeper Brad Friedel.

Babel was one of the Premier League players that used Twitter to communicate with fans. In January 2011, Babel posted an image on twitter of referee Howard Webb in a Manchester United shirt after Liverpool's 1–0 defeat in the FA Cup, and was charged by the F.A. with improper conduct and fined £10,000.^[28]

On 18 January, Liverpool agreed a fee believed to be in the region of £7 million for Babel from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.^[29]

On 24 January, Kenny Dalglish said that Ryan would be staying at Liverpool,^[30] but the next day Babel flew to Germany to finalize the deal to sign with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.^[31] During his time at Liverpool Babel gained cult status among many of the Liverpool fans for antics on popular social networking website Twitter.^{[citation needed]}

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim[link]

On 25 January 2011, it was confirmed that Babel had left Liverpool to join German side TSG 1899 Hoffenheim for a reported fee of £8 million pounds, signing a deal for two-and-a-half-years.^[32]

His first competitive match was on 26 January 2011 in the DFB Cup quarter final match against FC Energie Cottbus.^[33] He is well known for his 'left little finger out' celebration, in support of disadvantaged youths in Amsterdam. On 9 April 2011, Babel scored his first goal for Hoffenheim, in a 3–2 loss to SC Freiburg.^[34]

International career[link]

Babel playing for the Netherlands in August 2007

Babel took part in the 2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Babel scored two goals in four games as the Netherlands reached the quarter-finals. There they were defeated by Nigeria, 10–9 in a penalty shoot-out (Babel scored his penalty).^[35]

Later that season, Babel made his international debut on 26 March 2005, away against Romania. He entered the game as a first-half substitute for Arjen Robben and went on to score the second goal in a 2–0 victory.^[7] The goal made Babel the youngest goalscorer in 68 years for the Netherlands^[7] and the fourth-youngest of all time.^[36] Babel had been a first team regular with Ajax in 2004–05 and finished with seven league goals in 22 appearances.

In 2006, Marco van Basten included Babel in the Dutch squad for 2006 FIFA World Cup. Due to a knee injury however,^[37] Babel only featured once, as a second-half substitute for Ruud van Nistelrooy in the group match against Argentina.^[38] Van Basten has been quoted as saying Babel "has all the potential to become the next Thierry Henry".^[36]

In June 2007, Babel was part of the Netherlands under-21 team competing in the UEFA Under-21 Championship, being held in the Netherlands. In the group stage, Babel scored a penalty against Portugal, helping the Dutch to secure a semi-final spot and thus qualifying for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. His second tournament goal came during his man of the match performance in the final as the Netherlands defeated Serbia 4–1 to retain their title.^[39]

In May 2008, Babel was selected for the Dutch squad which will compete in the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament. On 31 May, it was announced that Babel had been withdrawn from the squad after tearing ankle ligaments in training. Van Basten added then-Chelsea defender Khalid Boulahrouz to his squad in place of Babel.^[40]

2010 World Cup[link]

Babel was included in the preliminary squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.^[41] On 27 May 2010, Netherlands manager Bert van Marwijk announced that the player would be part of the final squad of 23 participating in the competition.^[42] Though the Netherlands reached the final, Babel did not appear in any of the matches during the tournament.

2012 Euro[link]

Babel returned in Oranje after an absence of almost a year on 11 November 2011 as a starter in the pre Euro 2012 0–0 drawn friendly against Switzerland.^[43]

Career statistics[link]

International goals

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	26 March 2005	Romania	2–0	Won	WC 2006 Qual.
2	12 November 2005	Italy	1–3	Loss	Friendly
3	1 June 2006	Mexico	2–1	Won	Friendly
4	7 February 2007	Russia	4–1	Won	Friendly
5	24 May 2008	Ukraine	3–0	Won	Friendly
Last updated 24 May 2008[44]

Career honours[link]

Ajax

• Eredivisie: 2003–04
• Dutch Cup: 2005–06, 2006–07
• Dutch Super Cup: 2005, 2006

Netherlands

• Winner
  • 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship
• Runner-up
  • 2010 FIFA World Cup

Individual

• Man of the Match: UEFA U-21 2007 finals
• UEFA U-21 Team of the Tournament: 2007
• 2006–2007 AFC Ajax Young Player of the Season
• 2007–2008 Liverpool FC Young Player of the Season

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ryan Babel

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ryan Babel

• Ryan Babel – FIFA competition record
• Ryan Babel career stats at Soccerbase
• Ryan Babel profile and stats at Wereld van Oranje (Dutch)
• Liverpoolfc.tv Profile
• LFCHistory.net Profile
• ESPN Profile

Netherlands squads v t e Netherlands squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Van der Sar (c) 2 Jaliens 3 Boulahrouz 4 Mathijsen 5 Van Bronckhorst 6 Landzaat 7 Kuyt 8 Cocu 9 Van Nistelrooy 10 Van der Vaart 11 Robben 12 Kromkamp 13 Ooijer 14 Heitinga 15 De Cler 16 Maduro 17 Van Persie 18 Van Bommel 19 Vennegoor of Hesselink 20 Sneijder 21 Babel 22 Timmer 23 Stekelenburg Coach: Van Basten v t e Netherlands squad – 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Winners (2nd Title) 1 Waterman 2 Zuiverloon 3 Vlaar (c) 4 Kruiswijk 5 Pieters 6 Maduro 7 Jenner 8 Drenthe 9 Babel 10 Aissati 11 De Ridder 12 Bruins 13 Rigters 14 Beerens 15 Schilder 16 Vermeer 17 Medunjanin 18 Donk 19 Jong-a-Pin 20 Janssen 21 van der Struijk 22 Bakkal 23 Krul Coach: De Haan v t e Netherlands squad – 2008 Summer Olympics 1 Velthuizen 2 Zuiverloon 3 Marcellis 4 Jaliens 5 Pieters 6 Luyckx 7 de Guzmán 8 Emanuelson 9 Makaay 10 Sibon 11 Babel 12 Maduro 13 Jong-a-Pin 14 Sno 15 Drenthe 16 Beerens 17 Bakkal 18 Vermeer Coach: de Haan v t e Netherlands squad – 2010 FIFA World Cup Runners-Up 1 Stekelenburg 2 Van der Wiel 3 Heitinga 4 Mathijsen 5 Van Bronckhorst (c) 6 Van Bommel 7 Kuyt 8 De Jong 9 Van Persie 10 Sneijder 11 Robben 12 Boulahrouz 13 Ooijer 14 De Zeeuw 15 Braafheid 16 Vorm 17 Elia 18 Schaars 19 Babel 20 Afellay 21 Huntelaar 22 Boschker 23 Van der Vaart Coach: Van Marwijk