Ryan Giggs

Ryan Joseph Giggs OBE (born Ryan Joseph Wilson; 29 November 1973) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays for Manchester United.

Giggs is the most decorated player in English football history, having 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 made his first appearance for the club during the 1990–91 season and has been a regular player since the 1991–92 season. He holds the club record for competitive appearances, and the club record for team trophies won by a player (23).

Since 1992, he has collected 11 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 runner-up medals from the Champions League, three FA Cup finals and two League Cup finals, as well as being part of five United teams to have finished second in the 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.

On 16 May 2009, he became the first footballer to collect 11 top division English league title medals. Giggs was the first player in history to win two consecutive PFA Young Player of the Year awards (1992 and 1993) and is the only player to have played and scored in every season of the Premier League.

Giggs has had a long-lasting domestic and continental career and is the first player in UEFA Champions League history to have scored in 11 successive seasons, on top of being 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.

He is also the only United player to have played in all 11 Premier League winning teams and the first three League Cup-winning teams. At the 2008 UEFA Champions League Final, held on 21 May 2008, Giggs surpassed Sir Bobby Charlton's record of 758 appearances for Manchester United to become the club's all-time leader in appearances. 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 world wide poll conducted by United's official magazine and website. Sir Alex Ferguson presented him with the award.

Family

Giggs married his long-term 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 recent years,when Giggs has become a UNICEF representative, launching a campaign in 2002 to prevent landmines from killing children. 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 license.

Records

Ryan Giggs with the Premier League trophy

Has won a record 11 top division English league titles as a player, and only Manchester United player to have winner's medals from all 11 Premier League title wins.

Most Premier League appearances for an outfield player.

Most Premier League assists (accurate records are only available from 2002 onwards).

Only player to have scored in all 19 Premier League campaigns since its inception.

Only player to have scored in eleven consecutive Champions League tournaments (1996–97 to 2006–07) Raúl is the only who has scored in fourteen consecutive Champions League tournaments (1997–98 to 2010–11).

Only Manchester United player to have scored in fifteen different Champions League tournaments.

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.

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, 148 days) player to score in the Champions League, when he scored against Schalke 04 on 26 April 2011.

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."

Giggs has said that he deliberately shunned the media fuss. "Nothing could have prepared me for the limelight I was thrust into at 17," said Giggs. "I was in newspapers, magazines, on TV, and everyone in the street knew me. It was strange for me and I dealt with it by trying not to create a fuss. I've just tried to keep it that way ever since. At the height of his celebrity, Giggs' relationships caused him to change his media approach. Giggs has spoken about this decided shift away from publicity —- a route he seemed destined to take as celebrity pin up —- as occurring sometime in the mid 1990s. "The high-profile relationship I had with the TV presenter Dani Behr was the turning point for me", said Giggs. "Before I knew it, we were being photographed outside my house and cameramen followed us everywhere. It was very uncomfortable. At that point I decided the celebrity lifestyle wasn't for me. Around that time I felt my commercial work was affecting my work, too. I thought 'no, football is my bread and butter. It has to, and always will, come first'", he told the Daily Mirror.