Gareth Bale

Gareth Frank Bale was born in Cardiff, Wales, on 16 July 1989, and became one of the most successful Welsh footballers in history. He joined Southampton's academy as a teenager and made his first-team debut in April 2006, aged sixteen, against Millwall. Initially used at left back, he scored his first senior goal from a free kick against Derby County that August. Bale moved to Tottenham Hotspur in May 2007 for a fee reported at about £5 million. His early Spurs career was difficult: the team went through a sequence without winning a Premier League match in which he appeared. Under Harry Redknapp, Bale developed into an outstanding attacking winger and forward. In the 2010-11 UEFA Champions League, he scored a hat-trick against Inter Milan at San Siro, although Tottenham lost 4-3, before helping Spurs beat the Italian club 3-1 at White Hart Lane. During 2012-13 he scored 21 Premier League goals and won both the PFA Players' Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year awards. In September 2013, Real Madrid signed him for a then world-record transfer fee, widely reported as €100 million. He scored on his Madrid debut against Villarreal and became a key player. At Real Madrid, Bale won five Champions League titles in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2022. In the 2014 final against Atlético Madrid, he scored Madrid's second goal in extra time as they won 4-1 and secured La Décima, the club's tenth European Cup. He also scored in the 2014 Copa del Rey final, sprinting past Marc Bartra before finishing against Barcelona. Bale's most famous Madrid goal came in the 2018 Champions League final: introduced as a substitute against Liverpool, he scored an overhead kick and later added a long-range goal in a 3-1 victory. He won two Spanish league titles. For Wales, Bale became captain and the national team's leading men's goalscorer. He was central to Wales reaching the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2016, their first major tournament since the 1958 World Cup; he scored three goals in France. In June 2022, his penalty against Ukraine in the World Cup play-off final helped Wales qualify for its first World Cup in sixty-four years. After a loan return to Tottenham in 2020-21, he joined Los Angeles FC in 2022. His headed equaliser in the 128th minute of the MLS Cup final preceded LAFC's penalty-shootout win. Bale announced retirement in January 2023.