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Ruud van Nistelrooy (full name Rutgerus Johannes
Martinus van Nistelrooij, see IJ (letter)|letter
IJ; born July 1, 1976 in Oss, North Brabant,
Netherlands) is a Dutch football (soccer)|football
player currently playing for Manchester United. 
He wears the number 10 (number)|10 for Manchester
United and the number 9 for the Netherlands
national football team|Netherlands 

Ruud is an exceptional striker with phenomenal
finishing. He is also a regular penalty taker, and
has exceptional agility and balance for his height
 of 1.88 m 6 ft 2 in), which is often credited to
his previous training in gymnastics. Ruud's
strike-rate is nothing short of phenomenal. For
the Netherlands national football
team|Netherlands, Ruud has a remarkable return of
a goal every other game, scoring 22 times in 44
appearances. His record for Manchester United has
been truly startling. Ruud has scored 128 goals in
148 games for the Red Devils. His record in the
Champions League, spanning his time at PSV
Eindhoven and Manchester United, boasts an
incredible 46 goals in 55 Champions League
matches.

==Career in the Netherlands==
Van Nistelrooy started as a striker for Dutch
second division club-side, FC Den Bosch, but he
was converted into a centre forward at SC
Heerenveen in 1997.  His coach advised him to
learn from Dennis Bergkamp at Ajax Amsterdam, and
van Nistelrooy would drive for miles to watch his
older compatriot play in person.  In 1998, on his
22nd birthday, he was signed by PSV Eindhoven for
£4.2 million, a transfer record between two Dutch
clubs.

Van Nistelrooy repaid the faith by scoring 31
goals in 34 matches in his first season at PSV and
being voted Dutch Player of the Year by his fellow
professionals.  In his second season, he notched
up another 29 goals.

Manchester United had tried to buy van Nistelrooy
in 2000, but he had a serious knee injury in
training which saw him forego the 2000 European
Football Championship|European championships.  Van
Nistelrooy was finally signed in April 2001 for
Pound Sterling|£19 million, a year after
severely damaging his knee cruciate ligament.

==Manchester United==
During his first season at Manchester United, Ruud
played in 32 games and netted 23 goals and scored
in a record eight consecutive FA Premier League
games.  He scored 10 UEFA Champions League goals
and was named the PFA Players' Player of the Year.

During the following year, the 2002-2003 season,
Ruud scored 25 Premier League goals and 14 goals
in European competition while leading Manchester
United to the Premier League title. He also broke
the record for scoring goals in European
competitions for Manchester United in this season.

Ruud started off the 2003-2004 season in
spectacular fashion, scoring twice in his first
two league games. He missed a last-minute penalty
in an important match against Arsenal
F.C.|Arsenal, He also managed to score his 100th
and 101st goals for the club against Everton at
Goodison Park on 7 February 2004, as United earned
a 4-3 Premiership victory.

Van Nistelrooy was selected to play for Dutch
national football team|Netherlands at 2004
European Football Championship|Euro 2004.  Prior
to the team's opening match against German
national football team|Germany, van Nistelrooy
stoked up his country's already intense rivalry
with the Germany|Germans by saying that emotions
would be intensified by lingering bitterness over
World War II.  His comments were severely
criticised by the German media. During the match,
he scored an acrobatic volley, one of the goals of
the tournament, to silence his critics and single
handedly take Holland to the next round. He shared
the goal-scoring lead in the group phase with
England national football team|England teenage
sensation Wayne Rooney, who he plays alongside at
Manchester United, and was one of only two players
in the tournament to score goals in all three of
their team's group matches (the other was Czech
Republic national football team|Czech Milan
Baros|Milan Baroš).

Ruud missed a large part of the 2004/2005 season
through injury, but was still the top goalscorer
in the Champions League with 10 goals. Van
Nistelrooy is the second highest goalscorer in
Champions League history, with Real Madrid|Real
Madrid's forward Raul being the first.

Van Nistelrooy's success for Manchester United has
made him a target for many of Europe's top teams.
He has often been rumoured to be leaving Utd, with
Real Madrid touted as his most likely destination.
The more recent speculation has him being swapped
for Michael Owen but these stories have been
dismissed by Manchester United and van Nistelrooy
himself, who has stated that he wishes to keep
playing for United for as long as he can. He is
widely considered the greatest striker in the
world.


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succession box|title=PFA Players' Player of the
Year|before=Teddy Sheringham |after=Thierry
Henry|years=2002
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