Jonathan Woodgate

From Free net encyclopedia

Jonathan Simon Woodgate (born January 22 1980 in Middlesbrough, Teesside) is an English footballer, who plays as a defender for Spanish club side Real Madrid.

Woodgate signed for Madrid, frequently hailed as the biggest and most prestigious football club in the world, in August 2004 for a transfer fee of £13.4 million. This was to the surprise of many in the football world, as he had been prone to frequent absences through injury at his previous club, England's Newcastle United, where he had only been available for 37 of the 128 games that Newcastle played since he was signed.

Before signing for Newcastle in January 2003 for £9 million, Woodgate had previously played for Leeds United. He had begun his career at Leeds as a junior at the age of thirteen, after being spotted by one of the club's scouts whilst playing for his local junior team, Marton. He helped Leeds to win the FA Youth Cup in 1997, and in November the following year made his debut for the senior side.

He has been capped several times by England, making his debut for the national side under manager Kevin Keegan in 1999. However, both his club and international career have frequently been interrupted, not only by injury, but by controversy.

In 2000 he was involved in a court case and subsequently banned for a time due to his involvement with an incident outside a nightclub in Leeds. He was eventually convicted of affray and sentenced to one hundred hours of community service, as well as having been banned from international selection by the Football Association, which prevented him from being selected for the England squad for the 2002 World Cup. In September 2002, however, he returned to the England squad and has since regularly been called-up when fit.

Woodgate did not appear for Real at all in his first season in Spain. He finally made his debut on September 22, in a league match against Athletic Bilbao. However, the game went extremely badly for him, as he scored an own goal and was later sent off for a second bookable offence.Template:Ref Woodgate scored his first goal for Real Madrid in the 4-1 UEFA Champions League defeat of Rosenborg B.K. on October 19 2005, his first appearance for the club in European competition.Template:Ref

As of February 2006, Woodgate has established himself as a first-team player, with the other centre half position alongside him often rotating among the likes of Sergio Ramos, Ivan Helguera, Francisco Pavon and Alvaro Mejia, with one Spanish newspaper even having described him as having "become Madrid's true leader"Template:Ref. He was considered to have an outside chance of making the England squad for Germany 2006, but looks likely to have surgery on his back, which will rule him out.

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