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 noted for his lengthy career at Manchester United.

Nationality: Wales

Giggs 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 Manchester United fans after Malcolm Glazer's takeover of United.

Spectacular Career in Manchester 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. Since 1992, he has collected seven Premier League winning medals, 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.

His Awards and Honours

Giggs 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 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.

Royal to His Country

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 was appointed captain of Wales in 2004.

As of 2006, Giggs has won 59 caps and scored 11 goals for the Welsh national football team. However, his international career has been nothing short of frustrating. As of 2006, he has not played a single match in either a European Championship or a World Cup, because Wales failed to qualify. Giggs has also received criticism for his reluctance to participate in friendly international matches. Since his debut in 1991 against West Germany, Giggs failed to attend a friendly international until some nine years later, missing a massive 18 consecutive friendly games. Officially he was "injured" for these games, though there is no doubt that was just an excuse in most instances.

There was much comment during the 1990s in England that Ryan Giggs should have played for England; however, Giggs was born in Wales to Welsh parents and had no eligibility or desire to play for England.



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