England's record goalscorer Wayne Rooney
England's record goalscorer Wayne Rooney
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Sept 8 (Reuters) - Factbox on striker Wayne Rooney who set an all-time England scoring record of 50 goals in a Euro 2016 qualifier against Switzerland at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday. Born: Oct. 24, 1985 in Liverpool. CLUB CAREER: After coming through Everton 's youth academy, Rooney made his first-team debut as a 16-year-old against Tottenham Hotspur in August 2002. He scored his first Premier League goal for Everton on Oct.19 with a last minute match-winner against Arsenal, five days before his 17th birthday. Manchester United signed the 18-year-old for 25.6 million pounds ($39.42 million) in August 2004. He made his United debut on Sept.28 scoring a hat-trick in a 6-2 home win over Fenerbahce in the Champions League to become the youngest player to score a hat-trick in the competition, aged 18 years 335 days.
Rooney has won five Premier League titles, two League Cups and one Champions League with United. He was England's Footballer of the Year in 2010. Rooney was handed a five-year contract by David Moyes in February 2014 and given the captain's armband after Louis van Gaal took charge at Old Trafford ahead of the 2014-15 season. Rooney is third on United's record all-time scoring list with 233 goals in 485 appearances. He is 16 behind Bobby Charlton's record of 249. ENGLAND: Made his debut aged 17 years 111 days on Feb.12 2003, coming on as a halftime substitute in a 3-1 defeat to Australia at Upton Park to become England's then-youngest ever player, breaking a record that had stood since 1879.
Scored his first senior international goal in his sixth international on Sept.6 2003 against Macedonia in Skopje in England's 2-1 Euro 2004 qualifying win to become the country's youngest scorer at 17 years 317 days. Rooney scored four times in the Euro 2004 finals before England bowed out in the quarter-finals to Portugal. Almost missed the 2006 World Cup finals after suffering a foot injury two months before the tournament. Despite recovering in time, Rooney looked far from his best and failed to score against Trinidad & Tobago and Sweden before his tournament ended in misery after being sent off in the quarter-final defeat by Portugal. LACKLUSTRE PERFORMANCES: After England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, Rooney had to wait until the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to play in another major international tournament. However, the striker's lacklustre, goalless performances were criticised and England were eliminated in the second round. Rooney helped England secure their place at Euro 2012 but was sent off in their last qualifier against Montenegro and was banned for three matches, which was reduced to two on appeal. Missed England's opening two games of Euro 2012 against France and Sweden but scored on his return against Ukraine before England were knocked out on penalties in the quarter-finals by Italy. BECOMING CAPTAIN: Having endured two disappointing World Cup campaigns, Rooney was determined to make amends at last year's tournament in Brazil but he was played out of position in England's opening match against Italy. Rooney did score his first ever World Cup goal in England's 2-1 defeat by Uruguay before they were knocked out of the tournament without a win in the group stage. After England's poor World Cup showing, Steven Gerrard retired from international duty and relinquished the captaincy. Coach Roy Hodgson named Rooney as captain in August ahead of the start of England's Euro 2016 qualifying campaign. Rooney scores his 50th goal for England in 107 appearances with a penalty against Switzerland in a Euro 2016 qualifier at Wembley and has overtaken Bobby Charlton's record of 49.
($1 = 0.6494 pounds) (Writing by Mike Collett, Editing by Ken Ferris)
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