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Gareth Bale
MBE
Personal information
\n Bale playing for Wales in 2022
Full name	\nGareth Frank Bale^[1]
Date of birth	\n (1989-07-16) 16 July 1989 (age 35)^[1]
Place of birth	\nCardiff, Wales
Height	\n6 ft 1 in (1.86 m)^[1]
Position(s)	\nRight winger, forward
Youth career
	\nCardiff Civil Service
1999\u20132006	\nSouthampton
Senior career\"
Years	\nTeam	\nApps	\n(Gls)
2006\u20132007	\nSouthampton	\n40	\n(5)
2007\u20132013	\nTottenham Hotspur	\n146	\n(42)
2013\u20132022	\nReal Madrid	\n176	\n(81)
2020\u20132021	\n\u2192 Tottenham Hotspur (loan)	\n20	\n(11)
2022\u20132023	\nLos Angeles FC	\n12	\n(2)
Total	\n	\n394	\n(141)
International career
2005\u20132006	\nWales U17	\n7	\n(1)
2006	\nWales U19	\n1	\n(1)
2006\u20132008	\nWales U21	\n4	\n(2)
2006\u20132022	\nWales	\n111	\n(41)
\n\"Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gareth Frank Bale MBE (born 16 July 1989) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a right winger, most notably for Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid, and the Wales national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation and the greatest Welsh player of all time.\n

Bale began his professional career at Southampton, playing as a left-back before moving to Tottenham in 2007. From the 2009\u201310 season, under coach Harry Redknapp, Bale transformed into a winger. He received several individual awards in England, including two PFA Players' Player of the Year awards and three PFA Team of the Year inclusions. He won both the PFA Player of the Year and PFA Young Player awards in the 2012\u201313 season, becoming the second Premier League player to achieve this feat after Cristiano Ronaldo in 2006\u201307.^[2] In September 2013, Real Madrid signed Bale for a then world-record transfer fee of \u00a385.1 million (\u20ac100.8 million). Being part of the trio dubbed BBC alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, Bale helped Madrid to win the Copa del Rey and the Champions League in 2014, and he scored in both finals. Bale was among the top three nominees for the 2015\u201316 UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award. He had multiple Ballon D\u2019Or nominations, with five top 20 finishes and even finishing 6th place in 2016.\n

He scored what is widely regarded as the greatest goal in a Champions League final,^[3] an overhead kick in Real Madrid's win of the 2018 Champions League final. He was awarded the FIFA Club World Cup Golden Ball in 2018. In 2020\u201321, he returned to Tottenham on loan, before playing his final season in Madrid. In his nine-year tenure, Bale won 15 trophies, including three La Liga titles and five Champions Leagues. He joined MLS club Los Angeles FC in July 2022 before retiring in January 2023, aged 33.\n

Bale made his international debut for Wales in May 2006. He had 111 caps for the nation and scored 41 goals, making him Wales' most capped player and top goalscorer of all time. He was the top goalscorer for Wales in the qualifying rounds for UEFA Euro 2016, scoring seven times; he played every match for Wales in the actual tournament and led Wales to the semi-finals, scoring three goals. He also played in Euro 2020 and helped Wales qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, ending a 64-year appearance drought at the World Cup for Wales. He was named Welsh Footballer of the Year a record six times.\n

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Club\n	Season\n	League\n	National cup^[a]\n	League cup^[b]\n	Continental\n	Other\n	Total\n
Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals\n
Southampton\n	2005\u201306^[321]\n	Championship\n	2	0	0	0	0	0	\u2014	\u2014	2	0\n
2006\u201307^[322]\n	Championship\n	38	5	1	0	3	0	\u2014	1^[c]	0	43	5\n
Total\n	40	5	1	0	3	0	\u2014	1	0	45	5\n
Tottenham Hotspur\n	2007\u201308^[323]\n	Premier League\n	8	2	0	0	1	1	3^[d]	0	\u2014	12	3\n
2008\u201309^[324]\n	Premier League\n	16	0	2	0	5	0	7^[d]	0	\u2014	30	0\n
2009\u201310^[325]\n	Premier League\n	23	3	8	0	3	0	\u2014	\u2014	34	3\n
2010\u201311^[326]\n	Premier League\n	30	7	0	0	0	0	11^[e]	4	\u2014	41	11\n
2011\u201312^[327]\n	Premier League\n	36	9	4	2	0	0	2^[f]	1	\u2014	42	12\n
2012\u201313^[328]\n	Premier League\n	33	21	2	1	1	1	8^[f]	3	\u2014	44	26\n
Total\n	146	42	16	3	10	2	31	8	\u2014	203	55\n
Real Madrid\n	2013\u201314^[329]\n	La Liga\n	27	15	5	1	\u2014	12^[e]	6	\u2014	44	22\n
2014\u201315^[330]\n	La Liga\n	31	13	2	0	\u2014	10^[e]	2	5^[g]	2	48	17\n
2015\u201316^[331]\n	La Liga\n	23	19	0	0	\u2014	8^[e]	0	\u2014	31	19\n
2016\u201317^[332]\n	La Liga\n	19	7	0	0	\u2014	8^[e]	2	0	0	27	9\n
2017\u201318^[333]\n	La Liga\n	26	16	2	1	\u2014	7^[e]	3	4^[h]	1	39	21\n
2018\u201319^[334]\n	La Liga\n	29	8	3	0	\u2014	7^[e]	3	3^[i]	3	42	14\n
2019\u201320^[335]\n	La Liga\n	16	2	1	1	\u2014	3^[e]	0	0	0	20	3\n
2021\u201322^[336]\n	La Liga\n	5	1	0	0	\u2014	2^[e]	0	0	0	7	1\n
Total\n	176	81	13	3	\u2014	57	16	12	6	258	106\n
Tottenham Hotspur (loan)\n	2020\u201321^[337]\n	Premier League\n	20	11	2	1	2	1	10^[f]	3	\u2014	34	16\n
Los Angeles FC\n	2022\n	MLS\n	12	2	\u2014	\u2014	\u2014	1^[j]	1	13	3\n
Career total\n	394	141	32	7	15	3	98	27	14	7	553	185\n

National team	Year	Apps	Goals\n
Wales\n	2006	4	1\n
2007	7	1\n
2008	5	0\n
2009	7	0\n
2010	4	1\n
2011	6	3\n
2012	5	3\n
2013	5	2\n
2014	5	3\n
2015	6	5\n
2016	11	7\n
2017	3	0\n
2018	6	5\n
2019	9	2\n
2020	4	0\n
2021	13	3\n
2022	11	5\n
Total	111	41\n

Authority control databases $\"Edit$
International	ISNI VIAF FAST WorldCat
National	Germany United States Czech Republic Netherlands Poland

Early life and career

Club career

Southampton

Tottenham Hotspur

2007\u20132009

2009\u20132011

2011\u20132013

Real Madrid

2013\u20132015

2015\u20132017

2017\u20132021

2020\u20132022: Loan to Tottenham Hotspur and departure

Los Angeles FC and retirement

International career

Wales

Euro 2016 campaign

Euro 2020 campaign

World Cup 2022 campaign

Great Britain

Player profile

Style of play

Reception

Outside football

Personal life

Endorsements

Philanthropy

Golf

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

See also

References

External links

Gareth Bale

Talks

9 February, 2019