Rio Gavin Ferdinand (born on November 7, 1978 in Peckham, South London) is a Manchester United and an England international football player. His usual position is central defence.
Ferdinand signed as a schoolboy for West Ham United in 1992 and became a professional player under their youth training scheme and showed immense promise, and was likened to the late Bobby Moore, the former West Ham and England captain. He made his first team debut on 5 May 1996 as a substitute in 1-1 home draw against Sheffield Wednesday. The following season he spent three months on loan to Bournemouth, for whom he made 10 appearances. Ferdinand earned his full England cap as a substitute in a friendly against Cameroon in 1998. He played for his country at the 1998 and 2002 World Cup, and as of 14 November 2005 he has 44 caps.
|
|
He joined FA Premier League football club Leeds United on November 2000 for £18 million, then a British record. In August 2001, he became the captain of Leeds.
Ferdinand fulfilled his promise as a world-class defender during the 2002 World Cup, where his partnership with Sol Campbell boasts the stingiest defence during the tournament and he was immediately hailed as the finished product as a result for his confident marshalling of the English defence. On 22 July 2002, Ferdinand joined another Premier League club, Manchester United, on a £30 million fee with a five year deal to become the most expensive British footballer in history. He went on to win the Premier League championship with Manchester United in his first season. He has also collected runners-up medals in the League Cup (2003) and the FA Cup (2005).
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. (They didn't.)
Rio's cousin is former English international striker Les Ferdinand, while his brother Anton is currently a first choice central defender for West Ham.
Despite Rio coming up for nearly every corner kick and attacking free-kick, he has never scored a goal for Manchester United. The moment he thought he had broken his United duck was in the 2005 FA Cup Final against arch-rivals Arsenal, however his effort was correctly ruled offside. Replays showed Ferdinand was at least 1 yard offside. His last club goal came in the 2000/2001 season for Leeds.
Drug test controversy
In 2003 he failed to attend a drugs test, claiming he had forgotten because he was preoccupied with moving house. The FA imposed an eight month ban from January 2004 at club and international level, 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.
It has been said that the officials responsible for dealing Ferdinand his punishment were 'bullied' into making sure he missed Euro 2004 so that more of an example could be made of him. This seemed unfair to some and people have called for a guideline to be made of the lengths of suspensions in these circumstances, as their has been much variation on the severity of punishments.
The Rio Ferdinand drugs test saga has caused a huge debate over how footballers found guilty of drug offences (failing or missing tests) should be treated. One of Manchester United's reasons for appealing against the ban was that a Manchester City player had also missed a drugs test but escaped with just a £2,000 fine. Several seasons earlier, Ipswich midfielder Adam Tanner had been banned for just three months after failing a drugs test. In March 1995, Chris Armstrong had become the first Premiership footballer to fail a drugs test yet had returned to the game within a month after attending a brief rehab programme.
|
|
|
Comments |
|
Rio is simply a class act, sublime skills that will make a ballerina and a gymnast green with envy ! I have never seen any other central play so clean and still get the desired result, he will be hard to follow.-Abu-Atik (Nigeria) |
|
Text and images from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. under the GNU Free Documentation License - Disclaimers. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that all information included in our website is accurate, users are advised that they should take appropriate precautions to verify such information. Y2U.co.uk expressly disclaims all liability for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage occasioned by the user's reliance on any statements, information, or advice contained in this web site. This Site is neither endorsed or connected in any way with Manchester United Football Team. Published by Y2U.co.uk Site Map
|
|
