Rio Ferdinand Stats-Full Name: Darryl Rio Ferdinand
-Birthplace: Peckham, London, England
-Date of Birth: 07/11/1978
-Height: 189cm (6ft 2ins)
-Weight: 180lbs (12st 12lbs)
-Position: C. Back
-Squad Number: 5
International Football
-England U-21
-England (1997 -)
Introduction
Rio Ferdinand is one of the best footballing centre backs of a generation and his skills wouldn't look out of place in Brazil's famous Gold kit.
Ferdinad's reading of the game along with his arial ability have improved vastly since moving to Old Trafford and is now quite rightly regarded as one of the greatest defenders in the club's illustrious history.
This improvement in his game has not gone unrecognised by Sir Alex Ferguson or Fabio Capello who both see Rio as captain material for both club and country respectively.
West Ham and Leeds United
Rio Ferdinand started his foootballing life playing as a Striker for Queens Park Rangers where he was spotted by West Ham United's scouts. The Hammers moved quickly in persuading him to join their more than impressive academy.
At West Ham, Ferdinand was converted into a midfielder and then into a footballing centre Back, a role which earned him his senior debut on 5 May 1996, coming on for Hammers legend Tony Cottee in the 1-1 home draw against Yorkshire outfit Sheffied Wednesday.
Two years after making his West Ham United debut Rio was picking up his first personal honour as he won the Hammer of the Year Award (West Ham Unied Player of the Season accolade), pipping established stars such as Paulo Di Canio, Steve Lomas, Neil Ruddock,Trevor Sinclair and fellow youngster Frank Lampard jnr in the process.
In November 2000, Champions League chasing Leeds United smashed Alan Shearer's British transfer record when they swooped to sign Rio in an £18m deal.
Just eight months after he had joined Leeds as the World's most expensive defender he was made club captain by then manager David O'Leary.
Manchester United Career
On 22 July 2002 - after a superb World Cup - Alex Ferguson decided to splash the cash on the defender, eventually agreeing to fork out £29.1m to secure the player's services. The cash shelled for Ferdinand at the time, again broke the British transfer record eclipsing the fee paid by Manchester United to Lazio for Argentinian flop Seba Veron.
The huge fee paid by United seemed to be justified as in Ferdinand's first season United pipped rivals Arsenal to the Premier League title conceeding just 34 goals in the process.
On 23 September 2003 Rio's United career hit crisis point as the player failed to attend a mandatory drugs test at Manchester United's Carrington training ground, citing frogetfulness as the reason. Rio Ferdinand subsequently received a "savage" 8 month ban from playing football. Many people felt that the player was harshly treated after Dutch trio Frank De Boer, Edgar Davids and Jaap Stam only recieved 4 month bans for testing positive for the banned substance nandrolone.
Ferdinand eventually started his lengthy ban on 12 January 2004 missing 31 of United's matches - including the 2004 F.A. Cup Final - and England's flop at Euro 2004.
Ferdinand returned to Manchester United's starting line-up in the 2-1 home victory over arch-rivals Liverpool on 20 September 2004 and was given a somewhat mixed reception by the 67,857 crowd. Although before the match it was Rio who was hogging the limelight, post match some of the attention was taken away from the player by fellow centre-back Mikael Silvestre who's brace had put Liverpool to the sword.
Rio had to wait three-and-a-half years to score his first goal for the Red Devils, doing so on 14 December 2005 in the 4-0 victory over Lancashire rivals Wigan Athletic.
In the 2007-08 season Rio Ferdinand finally finished his long journey from foolish villain to ultimate hero as in the abscence of club captain and talisman Gary Neville led Manchester United to the fantastic Premier League and Champions League double. A feat which was said to be as great as the 1999 treble win due to marked improvement of London rivals Chelsea and Arsenal.
Rio Ferdinad Honours
Manchester United
-FA Premier League: 2002-03, 2006-07, 2007-08
-UEFA Champions League: 2008
-League Cup: 2006
-FIFA Club World Cup: 2008
The huge fee paid by United seemed to be justified as in Ferdinand's first season United pipped rivals Arsenal to the Premier League title conceeding just 34 goals in the process.
On 23 September 2003 Rio's United career hit crisis point as the player failed to attend a mandatory drugs test at Manchester United's Carrington training ground, citing frogetfulness as the reason. Rio Ferdinand subsequently received a "savage" 8 month ban from playing football. Many people felt that the player was harshly treated after Dutch trio Frank De Boer, Edgar Davids and Jaap Stam only recieved 4 month bans for testing positive for the banned substance nandrolone.
Ferdinand eventually started his lengthy ban on 12 January 2004 missing 31 of United's matches - including the 2004 F.A. Cup Final - and England's flop at Euro 2004.
Ferdinand returned to Manchester United's starting line-up in the 2-1 home victory over arch-rivals Liverpool on 20 September 2004 and was given a somewhat mixed reception by the 67,857 crowd. Although before the match it was Rio who was hogging the limelight, post match some of the attention was taken away from the player by fellow centre-back Mikael Silvestre who's brace had put Liverpool to the sword.
Rio had to wait three-and-a-half years to score his first goal for the Red Devils, doing so on 14 December 2005 in the 4-0 victory over Lancashire rivals Wigan Athletic.
In the 2007-08 season Rio Ferdinand finally finished his long journey from foolish villain to ultimate hero as in the abscence of club captain and talisman Gary Neville led Manchester United to the fantastic Premier League and Champions League double. A feat which was said to be as great as the 1999 treble win due to marked improvement of London rivals Chelsea and Arsenal.
Rio Ferdinad Honours
Manchester United
-FA Premier League: 2002-03, 2006-07, 2007-08
-UEFA Champions League: 2008
-League Cup: 2006
-FIFA Club World Cup: 2008
Rio Ferdinand Personal Honours
-PFA Team of the Year: 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008
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