Ryan Giggs
Ryan Joseph Giggs (born Ryan Joseph Wilson on 29 November 1973 in Cardiff) is a Welsh football player. He is often regarded as one of the best wingers in football history and heavily respected for his lengthy and loyal career at Manchester United.
He was born in Wales to father Danny Wilson, a noted Rugby League player, and mother Lynne Giggs, but was brought up in Salford, England and speaks with a Mancunian accent. Danny Wilson was of mixed race and Ryan Giggs has always expressed pride at his mixed heritage. His younger brother Rhodri Giggs, also a winger, plays for FC United of Manchester, the non-league club set up by disaffected United fans after Malcolm Glazer's takeover of United.
Giggs plays for Manchester United and is their longest-serving current player, having made his first appearance for the club during the 1990-91 season and been a regular player since the 1991-92 season. He has played the second highest number of competitive games for the club (second only to Bobby Charlton), and holds the club record of trophies won by a player (15). Since 1992, he has collected eight FA Premier League championship winning medals (a record he shares with Liverpool's Alan Hansen and Phil Neal), four FA Cup winning medals, two League Cup winning medals and one Champions League winning medal. He also has runners-up medals from two FA Cup finals and two League Cup finals, as well as being part of four United teams who have finished second in the league.
Giggs captained England Schoolboys (which all schoolboys in England are eligible to do, regardless of nationality), but plays for the Welsh national team as an adult. At the time of his debut in 1991, Giggs (still only 17 at the time) was the youngest player to represent his country at the highest level.
He also won the PFA Young Player of the Year award twice (1992 and 1993), making him the first player to win the award in consecutive years - a feat matched only by Robbie Fowler and current team-mate Wayne Rooney. Giggs holds many other records, including that of the top all-time scorer in the FA Premier League not to play regularly in the position of striker, and interestingly, as a non-striker, holds the record for scoring Manchester United's fastest goal (15 seconds), set in November 1995 against Southampton, and is one of only two players to have scored in every Premiership campaign (Gary Speed being the other). Also, having scored his first European goal of the season in United's 3-1 victory over Benfica, Giggs became the first player in Champions League history to score in 12 successive seasons.
He also has the honour of scoring Manchester United's greatest goal as voted by the fans. The goal in question was scored in the semi-final of the FA cup in 1999 against Arsenal where Giggs beat 4 defenders (Lee Dixon twice) to score. Giggs's squad number for both Manchester United and Wales is 11. He is known affectionately as The Welsh Wizard to the United faithful.
Giggs is today Vice Captain at Manchester United, playing deputy to Gary Neville.
Honours
With Manchester United (1990 - 2006)
FA Premier League - Champions (8): 1992-93, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2002-03
FA Premier League - Runners Up: 1991-92, 1994-95, 1997-98, 2005-06
FA Youth Cup Winner: 1992
FA Cup Winner (4): 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004
FA Cup Runners Up: 1995, 2005
League Cup Winner (2): 1992, 2006
UEFA Champions League Winner: 1998-99
Intercontinental Cup: 1999
UEFA Super Cup Winner: 1991
UEFA Super Cup Runner Up: 1999
Community Shield Winner (5): 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003
Community Shield Runner Up: 1998, 2000, 2001, 2004
Individual honours
Barclays Premiership Player of the Month for August, 2006
Intercontinental Cup Man of the Match (1999)
Manchester United Players Player of the Year Award 2005/2006
U-21 European Footballer of the Year (1993)
Wales Player of the Year Award 1996, 2006
Inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame 2005
Inducted into the Premiership Team of the Decade 2003
Inducted into the FA Challenge Cup Team of the Century 2006
Honoured with the greatest goal ever scored in the FA Challenge Cup 1999, 2005
Only Manchester United player to have played in all 8 Premiership title winning teams
Only Manchester United player to have played in both League Cup winning teams
