93 Facts About Ryan Giggs

Ryan Joseph Giggs is a Welsh football coach and former player.

The son of rugby union and Wales international rugby league footballer Danny Wilson, Ryan Giggs was born in Cardiff but moved to Manchester at the age of six when his father joined Swinton RLFC.

Ryan Giggs made his professional debut for the club in 1991 and spent the next 23 years in the first team.

At international level, Ryan Giggs played for the Wales national team 64 times between 1991 and 2007 and was named as the captain of the Great Britain team that competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Ryan Giggs is one of only 28 players to have made over 1,000 career appearances.

Ryan Giggs left Manchester United in July 2016, following the appointment of Jose Mourinho.

Ryan Giggs was linked with a number of clubs, including Swansea City on two occasions, before being named the new manager of the Wales national team in January 2018.

Ultimately, Ryan Giggs did not end up managing the team at the tournament, which was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as he was arrested on suspicion of assault.

Ryan Giggs is one of the most decorated footballers of all time.

Ryan Giggs was the first player in history to win two consecutive PFA Young Player of the Year awards, though he did not win the PFA Player of the Year award until 2009.

Ryan Giggs was the only player to play in each of the first 22 seasons of the Premier League, as well as the only player to score in each of the first 21 seasons.

Ryan Giggs was elected into the PFA Team of the Century in 2007, the Premier League Team of the Decade in 2003, as well as the FA Cup Team of the Century.

Ryan Giggs holds the record for the most assists in Premier League history, with 162.

Ryan Giggs was named as BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2009.

Ryan Giggs was born at St David's Hospital in Canton, Cardiff, to Danny Wilson, a rugby union player for Cardiff RFC, and Lynne Ryan Giggs.

Ryan Giggs's younger brother, Rhodri, is a former manager of EFL League Two club Salford City.

Ryan Giggs spent much time with his mother's parents and playing football and rugby league on the roads outside their house in Pentrebane.

In 1980, when Ryan Giggs was six years old, his father switched from rugby union to rugby league, and signed for Swinton RLFC, forcing the whole family to move north to Swinton, a town in Salford, Greater Manchester.

The move was a traumatic one, as Ryan Giggs was very close to his grandparents in Cardiff, but he would often return there with his family at weekends or on school holidays.

Meanwhile, Ryan Giggs continued to play for Salford Boys, who went on to reach the final of the Granada Schools Cup competition at Anfield in 1987.

Ryan Giggs captained the Salford team to victory over their Blackburn counterparts, was man of the match, and the trophy was presented to him by Liverpool chief scout Ron Yeats.

Wood spoke personally to Alex Ferguson who sent a scout, and Ryan Giggs was eventually offered a trial over the 1986 Christmas period.

Ryan Giggs played in a match for Salford Boys against a United Under-15s side at The Cliff and scored a hat-trick, with Ferguson watching from his office window.

Ryan Giggs changed his surname to that of his mother at the age of 16, when his mother remarried, two years after his parents' separation.

Ryan Giggs was offered his first professional contract on 29 November 1990.

Ryan Giggs accepted the contract and became a professional two days later.

Wallace had failed to shine at Old Trafford, and by the time Ryan Giggs turned professional Wallace was contending with 19-year-old Lee Sharpe for the role of first-choice left winger.

Giggs paved the way as the first of many Manchester United youth players to rise into the first team under Ferguson but as the youngest member of the United first-team squad, Giggs looked to the older players such as Bryan Robson for advice.

That season, Ryan Giggs played in the team that finished as runners-up to Leeds United in the final year of the old First Division before the advent of the Premier League.

Ryan Giggs collected his first piece of silverware on 12 April 1992 as United defeated Nottingham Forest in the League Cup Final after Ryan Giggs had set up Brian McClair to score the only goal of the game.

Ryan Giggs was recognised as one of English football's two best emerging young wingers, alongside Steve McManaman, who were notable for being a throwback to the Stanley Matthews era of the 1950s winger.

Ryan Giggs helped United to their first top-division title win for 26 years.

Ryan Giggs was part of the Premier League's attempt to market itself globally, and he featured on countless football and lad mag covers, becoming a household name and fuelling the era where footballers started to become celebrity idols on a par with pop stars, in and around the mid to late 1990s.

Ryan Giggs proved to be a scorer of great goals, with many of them being shortlisted for various Goal of the Season awards.

Ryan Giggs famously whipped off his shirt during his goal celebration as he ran over to his teammates.

Ryan Giggs was in the side for United's FA Cup final win over Liverpool on 11 May 1996, though Eric Cantona scored the only goal of the game.

Ryan Giggs became United's longest-serving player when Denis Irwin left in May 2002, and he became a pivotal part of the club, despite still being in his 20s.

Ryan Giggs continued to excel in the four years that followed the Treble triumph of 1999.

However, this was one of the most disappointing seasons United had endured since Ryan Giggs made his debut, as a dismal run of form in early winter ultimately cost them the league title and they were surprisingly knocked out of the Champions League on away goals in the semi-finals by German underdogs Bayer Leverkusen.

Ryan Giggs was forced to defend his poor form, insisting that he was not finished.

Ryan Giggs played in his fourth FA Cup triumph on 22 May 2004, making him one of only two players to have won the trophy four times while playing for Manchester United.

Ryan Giggs has finished with a runners-up medal three times.

Ryan Giggs was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of his contribution to the English game.

In 2005, Ryan Giggs' form had improved and was no longer suffering with the hamstring injuries which had plagued his career, which he attributed to taking up yoga.

Ryan Giggs signed a two-year contract extension with United when chief executive David Gill relented on his normal policy of not signing players over 30 to contracts longer than one year.

Ryan Giggs benefited from being largely injury-free aside from a series of hamstring problems.

In February 2007, Ryan Giggs scored the final three goals of his season.

Ryan Giggs later said he was amazed by the situation, as no rule had been broken.

In doing so, Ryan Giggs set a new record of nine league titles, beating the previous record of eight he shared with Alan Hansen and Phil Neal.

Ryan Giggs scored the second goal in that match, sealing his, and United's, 10th Premier League title.

Ten days later, on 21 May 2008, Ryan Giggs broke Bobby Charlton's appearance record for United when coming on as an 87th-minute substitute for Paul Scholes in the UEFA Champions League Final against Chelsea.

Ryan Giggs scored his first Manchester United hat-trick in a pre-season friendly against Hangzhou Greentown after coming on as a second-half substitute.

On 12 September 2009, Ryan Giggs made his 700th start for United.

Ryan Giggs scored his 150th goal for United, only the ninth player to do so for the club, against Wolfsburg in his first UEFA Champions League game of the season.

On 12 December 2009, Ryan Giggs' surpassed countryman Gary Speed's outfield record of 535 Premier League games.

On 31 December 2009, Ryan Giggs was named the Manchester United Player of the Decade.

On 17 January 2011, Ryan Giggs reached 600 league appearances, as he played in their goalless draw against Tottenham at White Hart Lane.

Ryan Giggs signed a one-year contract extension with Manchester United on 18 February, keeping him at the club until June 2012.

On 6 March 2011, Ryan Giggs surpassed the Manchester United league appearance record of Bobby Charlton by playing his 607th game against Liverpool.

Ryan Giggs became the first man ever to score in 16 different Champions League campaigns, moving clear of Raul who was tied with Giggs on 15 seasons.

On 10 February 2012, Ryan Giggs signed a one-year contract extension with Manchester United.

Ryan Giggs marked the occasion by scoring the winning goal in the 90th minute, scoring from a cross by Ashley Young.

On 19 October 2012, Ryan Giggs told The Daily Telegraph that he would like to move into management when he retires as a player.

Ryan Giggs said that he was still undecided on whether he would still be playing after the current football season ends.

Ryan Giggs signed a new one-year contract with Manchester United on 1 March 2013, keeping him at Old Trafford until June 2014.

Ryan Giggs became interim player-manager when Moyes was sacked in April 2014.

Ryan Giggs announced his retirement from professional football on 19 May 2014 in an open letter to all Manchester United fans posted on the club website.

In October 2009, new rules were introduced for the Home Nations' associations that would have enabled Ryan Giggs to represent England had he not already represented Wales in an official competition, but Ryan Giggs has always maintained that he would have chosen to play for Wales anyway; he stated in 2002, "I'd rather go through my career without qualifying for a major championship than play for a country where I wasn't born or which my parents didn't have anything to do with".

Ryan Giggs announced his retirement from international football on Wednesday, 30 May 2007, at a press conference held at The Vale of Glamorgan Hotel, drawing the curtain on a 16-year international career.

Ryan Giggs cited concentrating on his United career as the main reason for stepping down.

Ryan Giggs later clarified his position to BBC Radio Manchester, saying that he would only return to Wales duty in an emergency.

On 28 June 2012, Ryan Giggs was confirmed as one of the three over-age players selected for Great Britain to compete at 2012 Summer Olympics alongside Craig Bellamy and Micah Richards, and he was named the team captain.

Ryan Giggs was appointed as a player-coach at Manchester United on 4 July 2013, as part of the coaching staff under new manager David Moyes.

When Louis van Gaal was announced as Moyes' permanent replacement on 19 May 2014, Ryan Giggs was appointed as Van Gaal's assistant manager.

However, following the appointment of Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho, Ryan Giggs announced his departure from the club on 2 July 2016.

Ryan Giggs was appointed manager of the Wales national team on 15 January 2018 on a four-year contract, succeeding Chris Coleman, who had left the role to take up the manager's position at Sunderland the previous November.

The resulting tournament was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the next time that Ryan Giggs would manage the national team was behind closed doors during the UEFA Nations League campaign.

Ryan Giggs was never sent off in his 24-season playing career for Manchester United and was only once sent off when playing for Wales, on 5 September 2001 in a World Cup qualifier against Norway; Ryan Giggs received a second yellow card in the 86th minute.

The offence was missed by referee Lucilio Batista, but Ryan Giggs was later charged using video evidence.

Ryan Giggs has been featured in adverts for Reebok, Citizen Watches, Givenchy, Fuji, Patek Phillipe, Quorn Burgers, ITV Digital and Celcom.

Ryan Giggs had the million-pound boot deal, the lucrative sponsorship deals in the Far East and the celebrity girlfriends at a time when Beckham was being sent on loan to Preston North End.

Ryan Giggs was included in the FIFA 16 and 17 Ultimate Team Legends.

Ryan Giggs is the son of former rugby union and Wales international rugby league footballer Danny Wilson.

Ryan Giggs is said to have inherited his balance and athleticism from his father.

Ryan Giggs is a distant cousin of the Barbados international footballer Curtis Hutson.

Ryan Giggs married his long-time partner, Stacey Cooke, in a private ceremony on 7 September 2007.

Ryan Giggs conducted an eight-year affair with his brother Rhodri's wife, Natasha.

The affair resulted in members of Giggs' family repudiating their former ties to Ryan; after Ryan was appointed as manager of the Wales national team, his father Danny said he was "ashamed" of him and that "I can't even bring myself to use his name".

In September 2017, along with former United teammates including Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs proposed a university in Greater Manchester, named University Academy 92 which would offer "broader courses than traditional degrees" and attract students who "otherwise might not go on to higher education".

In November 2017, it was reported that Ryan Giggs had signed a consultancy deal with the Promotion Fund of Vietnamese Football Talents FC.

In May 2011, it was reported in non-UK media sources that Ryan Giggs was the identity of CTB in CTB v News Group Newspapers, a footballer who had obtained an anonymised gagging order in relation to an alleged extra-marital affair with model Imogen Thomas.

Ryan Giggs took legal action against the social networking site Twitter after he was named by a user in a list of identities of individuals who had allegedly taken out so-called "super-injunctions".

On 3 November 2020, Ryan Giggs was arrested on suspicion of two counts of assault against his ex-girlfriend, Kate Greville, and her younger sister, Emma.