Rio Ferdinand

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Rio Ferdinand
Personal information
Full name Rio Gavin Ferdinand
Height 6 ft 2.5 in (1.89 m)[1]
Position(s) Centre back
Team information
Current team
 Manchester United
Number 5
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19:13, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Rio Gavin Ferdinand (born 7 November 1978 in Peckham, London) is an English footballer. He plays at centre-back for Manchester United in the Premier League and at the international level for the England national football team. He has achieved 70 caps for the English national team while being selected for three FIFA World Cup squads. He is currently the vice-captain of the England national team.

He began his career with West Ham United and was then transferred to Leeds United for a record-breaking fee. However, a mere twenty months afterwards, he joined Manchester United, breaking the same transfer fee record in the process.

Career

West Ham United

After initially being scouted at Queens Park Rangers, Ferdinand started as a striker then he later moved into the centreback position. Ferdinand signed as a schoolboy for West Ham United in 1992 while a student at Blackheath Bluecoat school and became a professional player under their youth system. On 5 May 1996, Ferdinand made his senior team debut as he came on as a substitute for Tony Cottee in a 1-1 home draw against Sheffield Wednesday.[2] In the 97-98 season, Ferdinand won the Hammer of the Year award at the young age of just 20.[3]

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 the 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 (a title he had lost in 2001 to Lilian Thuram). The fee included a basic element in the high twenty millions, and some conditional elements, which allowed Leeds to tell their fans that they were selling him for over thirty million. Leeds United later 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 £33 million.[4] This included agents' fees, with Leeds receiving in the region of £30 million. Ferdinand's early Man Utd form was very poor, which culminated in his horror show against Real Madrid in the Champions League. Ferdinand is often criticised for his tendency to make crucial errors and have lapses in concentration. Most notably, Franco Baresi labelled him as a poser.

Ferdinand in a Manchester United shirt.

Ferdinand went on to win the Premier League title with Manchester United in his first season. He has also collected a winner's medal in the 2006 Carling Cup, with runners-up medals in the 2003 Carling Cup and the 2005 FA Cup.

On 14 December 2005, in a game against Wigan Athletic, Ferdinand scored his first goal for United, en-route to a 4-0 victory. This was his first goal after more than three years at Old Trafford. He followed this up with a powerfully headed goal against West Bromwich Albion. 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, though neither are prolific goal scorers, which Rio won 3-2.[citation needed]

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.[5]

Ferdinand started the 07–08 season well, he was part of a United defence that managed to keep 6 clean sheets in a row in the Premier League, before conceding an early goal to Aston Villa at Villa Park on 20 October 2007. It was also during this game where Ferdinand scored his first goal of the season, which was United's 3rd goal of that game, with a left foot strike which took a very strong deflection off one of Villa's defenders. Just 3 days later, Ferdinand scored his first European goal for United by opening the scoring against Dynamo Kyiv, with a superb header. United dominated the game and won 4-2.

On 12 January 2008 Ferdinand bagged a rare Premier League goal in a 6-0 hammering of Newcastle United at Old Trafford.

In their FA Cup quarter-final match against Portsmouth on 8 March 2008 when Manchester United dominated, Ferdinand made a rare appearance as a goalkeeper, after Edwin van der Sar left the pitch with a groin injury and the replacement keeper, Tomasz Kuszczak, was sent off after conceding a penalty. Despite diving the right way, he was unable to save Sulley Muntari's spot kick, and Manchester United were eliminated from the FA Cup.[6]

On 6 April 2008, against Middlesbrough, Ferdinand limped out of the match due to a foot injury. He was rated doubtful whether he would face A.S. Roma in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg on 9 April 2008. He would play the full 90 minutes, though he received three stitches at half-time.[7]

Despite having been linked with a move to Barcelona, it was announced on 16 April 2008 that, along with Michael Carrick and Wes Brown, Ferdinand had agreed to sign a new five-year contract, worth around £130,000 a week, which would keep him with United until 2013. The contract was finally signed on 15 May 2008.[8]

On 21 May 2008, Ferdinand captained Manchester United to a Champions League Final victory versus Chelsea.[9] He accepted the trophy together with Ryan Giggs, as Giggs was the on field captain for most of the matches during that season during Gary Neville's absence due to injury.

In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live he criticised FIFA's approach to tackling racism in football, stating that not enough was being done to punish those guilty of homophobic or racist abuse at matches. Regarding taunts aimed at Emile Heskey in England's 4–1 victory against Croatia in Zagreb, Ferdinand remarked:

"Croatia were fined a few thousand quid. What's that going to do? That is not going to stop people shouting racist or homophobic abuse...If things like this keep happening you have to take points off them. Then the punters will realise the team is going to be punished."

[10]

International career

At the age of 19 years and 8 days, Ferdinand earned his first full England cap as a substitute in a friendly against Cameroon on 15 November 1997, making him the youngest defender to play for England at the time, a record broken in 2006 by Micah Richards. At the age of 20, he was selected for the 1998 FIFA World Cup squad as a back-up defender, but was excluded from the final squad by manager Glenn Hoddle after being charged with drink-driving. Ferdinand was selected as 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). On 25 March 2008, Ferdinand was named captain of England for the friendly against France on 26 March 2008.

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. However, the team failed to win and the promise never had the chance to come to fruition.

Ferdinand has scored two goals for England, the first in the Second round of the 2002 World Cup match against Denmark. The other was a near post strike that beat the Russian goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev in England's Euro 2008 qualifier against Russia on 12 September 2007 at Wembley Stadium.

On 25 March 2008 it was announced that Rio would wear the captain's armband for Fabio Capello's second game in charge of the national team,[11] ahead of John Terry, Steven Gerrard or David Beckham, who some believed would be named captain to mark his 100th cap for his country. An FA statement suggested that the decision to name Ferdinand as captain was part of Capello's plans of rotating the captaincy before naming an official captain for September's World Cup qualifiers.

On 19 August 2008 Rio lost out in the race to be captain of England with John Terry retaining the captains armband on a permanent basis. Ferdinand was, however, named vice captain by Fabio Capello.

Controversies

Missed drug test

In 2003, he failed to attend a drug test, claiming he had forgotten because he was preoccupied with moving houses and instead went shopping. The FA Disciplinary Committee chaired by Barry Bright 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.[12] Manchester United appealed against the verdict and sought to draw parallels to the case of Manchester City player Christian Negouai, who was fined £2,000 for missing a test. However, FIFA president Sepp Blatter stated that such comparisons are inappropriate due to differences between the two cases. Negouai had been stuck in traffic and was willing to take the test, while Ferdinand was charged with "failure or refusal" to attend the test.[13] Both the FA and FIFA sought to have the ban increased to 12 months (half the possible maximum). In the end, the original verdict was upheld.[14]

John Terry replaced Ferdinand in the England side until his return on 9 October 2004 in their World Cup qualifier against Wales.

Driving offences

Ferdinand has committed a string of driving offences and has been banned from driving on four separate occasions. In the most recent instance he was caught driving at an average speed of 105.9 mph (170.4 km/h) and fined £1,500. Most famously he was convicted of drunk driving in 1997, forcing England manager Glenn Hoddle to drop him from a World Cup qualifier that would have been his international debut.[15]

Homophobic remark

In October 2006, Ferdinand caused controversy by calling BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles a 'faggot' live on air, just days after team-mate Paul Scholes was also in trouble for an alleged homophobic remark about him being gay with a funny hair do. Moyles jokingly asked Ferdinand: "If you had to, who would you rather go out with - Smudger or Scholesy?" referring to Alan Smith and Paul Scholes. Ferdinand replied: "That is not my bag that, that is not my game, talking about going out with geezers" and when Moyles suggested he would always prefer Smith, Ferdinand declared: "You’re a faggot." He quickly apologised for what he had said, stating "I'm not homophobic".[16]

Tunnel melee

After United's 2-1 loss to Chelsea in the FA Premier League in April 2008 Ferdinand, angry at the defeat, swore at Chelsea stewards and tried to kick a wall in the tunnel, but instead kicked a female steward, Tracy Wray. Ferdinand claimed to have merely brushed her with his foot, but in reality her injuries required hospital treatment.[17] Ferdinand said he apologised and sent the steward some flowers.

Outside of football

Ferdinand celebrating a goal with teammate Cristiano Ronaldo

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 Wayne Rooney, David Beckham and Gary Neville. Several members of the squad were merked. A follow-up series was planned, entitled 'Rio's All-Star Wind-Ups', however this was cancelled following a number of filming disasters.[18]

It is also reported that Ferdinand is presently filming a documentary about the murder of 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 life of crime.[19]

Record label

In 2005, Ferdinand, along with an old school friend, created record label White Chalk Music.[20] To date, there are two artists signed to the label; Melody Johnston and Nia Jai, the latter being due to release an album on 6 October which features Ferdinand rapping.[21]

Personal

Ferdinand grew up in Peckham. He has several brothers and sisters, a brother and sister from his mother's remarriage. One of his brothers is Anton Ferdinand, the Sunderland defender, while former England striker Les Ferdinand is his cousin. On 15 March 2008, it was reported that Rio's half brother Jeremiah had been training with the United first team under the eye of Alex Ferguson.[22]

In 2006 in Manchester, Ferdinand's girlfriend Rebecca Ellison gave birth to their son Lorenz.[23] In Las Vegas, Rio Ferdinand proposed to Ellison in July 2007. In August 2008, Rio welcomed his second child, son Tate.

He currently lives in Tatton, Altrincham, England.[citation needed]

Before the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Ferdinand played pranks on fellow England squad members David James, Peter Crouch, Ashley Cole, Shaun Wright-Phillips (it was originally John Terry but Terry discovered the prank), David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Gary Neville. The program, in which Ferdinand set up his teammates into amusing situations without their knowledge, always started with Ferdinand introducing the teammate and ended with him saying 'You got merked'.

Honours

Manchester United

Individual honours and awards

PFA Premier League Team of the Year:

Career statistics

Club Season League Cup League Cup Europe Other[24] Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
West Ham United 1995–96 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
1996–97 15 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 2
Bournemouth (loan) 1996–97 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0
West Ham United 1997–98 35 0 6 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 46 0
1998–99 31 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 33 0
1999–2000 33 0 0 0 4 0 10 0 0 0 47 0
2000–01 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 0
Total 127 2 8 0 10 0 10 0 0 0 155 2
Leeds United 2000–01 23 2 1 0 2 0 7 0 0 0 33 2
2001–02 31 0 1 0 1 0 7 0 0 0 40 0
Total 54 2 2 0 3 0 14 0 0 0 73 2
Manchester United 2002–03 28 0 3 0 4 0 11 0 0 0 46 0
2003–04 20 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 1 0 27 0
2004–05 31 0 5 0 1 0 5 0 0 0 42 0
2005–06 37 3 2 0 5 0 8 0 0 0 52 3
2006–07 33 1 7 0 0 0 9 0 0 0 49 1
2007–08 35 2 4 0 0 0 11 1 1 0 51 3
2008–09 6 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 10 0
Total 190 6 21 0 10 0 52 1 4 0 277 7
Career total 381 10 31 0 23 0 76 1 4 0 515 11

Statistics accurate as of match played 4 October 2008[25]

References

  1. ^ White, Jim (2008). Manchester United: The Biography. London: Sphere. pp. p.425. ISBN 978-1-84744-088-4. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  2. ^ "West Ham 1(0) - 1(0) Sheff Wed". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
  3. ^ "Hammer of the Year". West Ham United Supporters Club E&OE. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
  4. ^ http://dps.twiihosting.net/manutd/doc/content/doc_10_139.pdf
  5. ^ "Ronaldo secures PFA award double". BBC Sport. 2007-04-22. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  6. ^ "Man Utd 0-1 Portsmouth". BBC Sport. 2008-03-08. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  7. ^ "Manchester United 1-0 AS Roma Result". Premiership Latest. 2008-04-09. Retrieved 2008-06-26. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ "Ferdinand signs new Man Utd deal". BBC Sport. 2008-05-15. Retrieved 2008-05-15. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Gemma Thompson (2008-05-21). "Report: MU 1 (6) Chelsea 1 (5)". ManUtd.com. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  10. ^ "Ferdinand condemns Fifa on racism". BBC Sport. 2008-10-08. Retrieved 2008-10-08.
  11. ^ "England squad finalised". TheFA.com. 2008-03-22. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
  12. ^ "Ferdinand banned for eight months". BBC Sport. 2003-12-19. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
  13. ^ "Motive is always considered in deciding guilt". 2003-12-18. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
  14. ^ "Ferdinand ban upheld". BBC Sport. 2004-03-18. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
  15. ^ "Rio Ferdinand banned for speeding". BBC News. 2005-05-25. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
  16. ^ "Ferdinand brands DJ 'a faggot' on air". The Guardian. 2006-10-02. Retrieved 2008-08-26. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ Ian McGarry (2008-04-28). "How United lost the plot". The Sun. Retrieved 2008-08-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ Ferdinand's prank show axed by ITV
  19. ^ RIO DOCU ON DAMI - Sunday Mirror
  20. ^ "The record doctor: Rio Ferdinand". The Observer. 2005-06-19. Retrieved 2008-08-26. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. ^ "Rio Ferdinand makes his rapping debut". 2008-08-07. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
  22. ^ "Rio's bro checked by Fergie". Retrieved 2008-03-24.
  23. ^ Ferdinand, Rio (2007). Rio: My Story. Headline Book Publishing. ISBN 0755315332. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  24. ^ Includes other competitive competitions, including the FA Community Shield, UEFA Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup, FIFA Club World Cup
  25. ^ "Rio Ferdinand". StretfordEnd.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-10-05.

See also

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Rio Ferdinand.
Sporting positions
Preceded by Leeds United Captain
2001 – 2002 		Succeeded by


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