Rio Ferdinand's Biography

Who is Rio Ferdinand?

Rio Ferdinand is best known for playing as a centre back for England. His cousin is former English international striker Les Ferdinand, while his brother Anton is one of the central defenders for West Ham.

In 1992, Rio Ferdinand signed as a West Ham schoolboy, and showed incredible talent and was immediately compared to Bobby Moore. He made his first team debut in 1996 against Sheffield Wednesday at Upton Park. He played his first England game as a substitute in a friendly against Cameroon in 1988.

In November 2000, he became the British record transfer when he signed for the premiership side Leeds United, for £18million. Within a year at Leeds he became the captain of the side.

Rio Ferdinand certainly proved his class in the 2002 World Cup when he partnered Sol Campbell at the heart of the England defence. On 22nd July, 2002, Ferdinand broke the British transfer record again when he was bought by Sir Alex Ferguson for Manchester United for £30million. In his first season at Old Trafford he won the Premiership with United.

In 2003, Rio Ferdinand almost ruined his career by failing to turn up for a routine drugs test, claiming that he forgot as he was pre-occupied with moving house. The FA imposed an 8 month ban from January 2004 which applied to all matches, at club and international level.

During the ban he missed all of Euro 2004, in which John Terry took his place.

Rio Ferdinand was part of the England squad at the 2006 World Cup, in which he accompanied John Terry at the back.

With Manchester United, Rio Ferdinand's numerous trophies include the Premiership in 2006/2007.

In 2009, Rio Ferdinand launched an online magazine Number 5.

On 5 February 2010, John Terry was removed from captaining England following allegations about his personal life and it was announced that Rio Ferdinand would captain England for their home friendly against Egypt on 3 March 2010.

However, on 4 June 2010, it was revealed that Rio Ferdinand, who was due to be captain of England in the World Cup, was going to be out of the World Cup after suffering ligament damage to his left knee in training.

Ferdinand missed out on being included in the England squad for the next major tournament as well, Euro 2012.

In 2014, Rio Ferdinand signed for Queen's Park Rangers.

In May 2015, he announced his retirement from playing professional football.

He was subsequently a pundit on TV, for example, being on the BBC's Euro 2016 panel.

In 2017, the BBC announced that Rio would appear in a documentary entitled Rio Ferdinand: Being Mum and Dad, in which he would talk about his grief over his wife Rebecca's death from breast cancer in 2015. She was just 34. They had three children.

In September 2017, it was revealed that Rio Ferdinand was to pursue a career as a professional boxer.