Rio Ferdinand Biography

Rio Ferdinand Biography

English Football Player
Soccer player
Rio Gavin Ferdinand born November 7, 1978 in Peckham, London
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position Centre Back

Career
App (Gls)
West Ham United 127 (2)
Bournemouth (loan) 10 (0)
Leeds United 54 (2)
Manchester United 149 (4)

England U21 5 (0)
England 59 (1)

Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 13:39, 5 May 2007
National team caps and goals correct
as of 28 March 2007.

English footballer of mixed St Lucian and Anglo-Irish descent. He has played as a centre back for Man United, West Ham United, Leeds United, in the FA Premier League and at the international level for the England national football team. He has achieved more than 50 caps for the English national team, and has been selected for three FIFA World Cup squads.

Ferdinand's cousin is former English international striker Les Ferdinand, while his brother Anton plays for West Ham United.

West Ham United
Ferdinand signed as a schoolboy for West Ham United in 1992 while a student at Blackheath Bluecoat school and became a player under their youth system. He showed immense promise, and was likened to Bobby Moore, a former West Ham and England captain. He made a first team debut on 5 May 1996 as a substitute in 1-1 home draw against Sheffield Wednesday.

Leeds United
Ferdinand joined FA Premier League football club Leeds United in November 2000 for £18 million, then a British transfer record, as well as becoming the world's most expensive defender. In August 2001, he became captain of Leeds.

Manchester United
On 22 July 2002, Ferdinand joined another Premier League club, Manchester United, on a five year deal to become the most expensive British footballer in history, the world's most expensive defender again ( title he had lost in 2001 to Lilian Thuram) and also a premier league's second most expensive player after the arrival of Andriy Shevchenko to Chelsea (transfer price also about £30 million but believed that Shevchenko's price is greater). The fee included a basic element in the high twenty millions, and some conditional elements, which allowed Leeds to tell fans that the were selling him for over thirty million. Leeds took a single payment in place of all the contingent elements when they were desperate for cash during their financial crisis. The final book value of Ferdinand's contract in Manchester United's accounts was £31.12 million. This included agents' fees of £400k, with Leeds receiving £30.72 million.

Ferdinand went to win the Premier League championship with ManUnited in his first season. He also collected a winner's medal in the League Cup (2006) and runners-up medals in the League Cup (2003) and the FA Cup (2005).

Before 14 December 2005, he never scored a goal for United, despite Ferdinand coming up for nearly every corner kick and attacking free kick. It was only against Wigan Athletic, where he scored, en route to a 4-0 victory over their opponents. He followed this up with a powerfully headed goal against West Brom. He then scored a last minute winner against Liverpool at Old Trafford, possibly his most important Manchester United goal to date. In the corresponding fixture in the following season on 22 October 2006, Rio scored again in a 2-0 victory. Ferdinand and his brother held an informal competition on how many goals they could score during the 2005-06 season, which Rio won 3-2.

Following impressive and consistent performances in the league, Rio Ferdinand was named in the 2006/07 PFA Premiership Team of the Season alongside seven of his fellow Manchester United teammates.

International career
Ferdinand earned his full England cap as a substitute in a friendly against Cameroon on 15 November 1997 making him the youngest defender to play for England, a record broken in 2006 by Micah Richards. At the age of 19, he was selected for the 1998 FIFA World Cup squad as back up defender and didn't play, but was a first choice player at the 2002 and 2006 tournaments. Ferdinand has played ten World Cup matches for England, the team in these games have kept seven clean sheets and conceded just four goals whilst he was on the pitch (he was substituted before Henrik Larsson scored for Sweden in the 2006 World Cup).

Ferdinand fulfilled his promise as a world-class defender during the 2002 World Cup, where his partnership with Sol Campbell helmed the stingiest defence during the tournament and was immediately hailed as the finished product as a result for his confident marshalling of the English defence. It was his performance during this tournament - along with Leeds United's spiralling debts, which prompted ManUnited to buy him.

The Duran Duran song "Rio" has been used in football chants both for and against Ferdinand; in fact in 2002, fan Simon Le Bon (Duran Duran's lead singer) promised to re record one of the football chants if the team won.

TV presenter
In June 2006, on the day of the England national team's opening World Cup group match against Paraguay, Ferdinand made his debut appearance as a television presenter. Hosting 'Rio's World Cup Wind-Ups,' the England defender found himself in a Jeremy Beadle style role, playing tricks on his fellow England World Cup squad members including David Beckham and popularized the phrase, "You got merked!" They played tricks on Gary Neville, Wayne Rooney, Crouch.

The player won support for a anti youth crime appeal. To appeal to people to stay away from tunring to crime. It is also reported Ferdinand is presently filming a documentary about the murder of schoolboy Damilola Taylor. Ferdinand grew up close to the estate where the 10-year-old was killed in 2000. The programme is the first in a series to be fronted by Ferdinand to persuade youngsters away from a crime.

In 2003 he failed to attend a drugs test, claiming he had forgotten because he was preoccupied with moving houses. Ferdinand was banned for missing the test. The FA imposed an eight month ban from January 2004 at club and international level and a £50,000 fine, meaning he would miss the rest of the league season and some of the next along with all of Euro 2004. Manchester United's appeals to have the ban reduced were turned down. John Terry replaced him in the England side until his return on 9 October 2004 in their World Cup qualifier against Wales.

The Ferdinand drug test saga caused a huge debate over how footballers found guilty of drug offences should be treated. One of Man United's reasons for appealing against the ban was a Man City player had also missed a drugs test but escaped with just a £2,000 fine. However, the case was fairly different, as the player was only late for his test, taking the test two hours later. Several seasons earlier, Ipswich midfielder Adam Tanner had been banned for just three months after failing a drugs test, Adrian Mutu was also banned for only seven months after failing a drugs test which was after Rio's ban was handed out. These precedents led some to claim that Ferdinand had been made an example, and that the lengthening of his ban to cover Euro 2004 is evidence of this.

It should be noted that Ferdinand was paid in full during his ban by the club, around £4 million pounds.

Personal
Ferdinand's girlfriend Rebecca Ellison gave birth to Lorenz in 2006.

Honours
FA Premier League: 2003, 2007
League Cup: 2006
PFA Team of the Year, with Manchester United : 2006/2007

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