Men's Senior

BIO

As England's record outfield cap-holder and goalscorer, it's fair to say Wayne Rooney will go down as one of his country's all-time greats.

The Liverpool-born striker began his career with boyhood club Everton and after appearing for England's U17s and U20s, he was fast-tracked into the senior team after bursting onto the scene in the Premier League at Goodison Park.

He made his debut against Australia at Upton Park at the age of 17 years and 111 days to become the youngest senior England player and he was an almost ever-present after that until he announced his international retirement in August 2017.

After his debut, he became England's youngest goalscorer when he netted against Macedonia in his sixth appearance as he helped the Three Lions to qualify for Euro 2004.

It was in that competition in Portugal where he secured his tag as one of the world's most exciting teenage talents when he scored his first major tournament goals, with a brace against Switzerland and he bagged again against Croatia.

By now, he'd secured a switch to Manchester United where he went on to win every domestic honour in the English game as well as the Champions League in 2008.

Despite featuring at the World Cups of 2006 and 2010, he had to wait until his third Finals of 2014 to register his first goal on that stage, when he scored against Uruguay in the group stage in Brazil.

The caps and goals kept flowing though, he celebrated his 50th cap against Ukraine in 2009 with a goal and then took the armband for the first time against Brazil in Doha later that year.

He was named as the permanent England captain by Roy Hodgson following Steve Gerrard's retirement in 2014 after the World Cup in Brazil and proceeded to lead his nation to the next Euro Finals in France two years later.

It was during the qualification phase for that tournament when he broke Sir Bobby Charlton's long-standing goal record, by registering his 50th goal for England from the penalty spot against Switzerland at Wembley in September 2015.

He went on to score three more goals after that before calling time on his international career in August 2017, following his return to Everton.

As well as his appearance and goalscoring record, Rooney was also named as England's player of the year on four occasions in 2008, 2010, 2014 and 2015.