Name	Ruud Van Nistelrooy
Height	6' 2
Naionality	Dutch
Date of Birth	1 July 1976
Place of Birth	Oss, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
Famous for

Ruud Van Nistelrooy is one of the best centre forwards in Europe and already a Champions League veteran. He’s your prototypical striker who combines prowess and strength with outstanding technique. Van Nistelrooy has been instrumental to Real Madrid’s success since landing in Spain. His scoring stats are absolutely astonishing, and he’s already put on countless highlight reel performances such as the 3-3 draw in the Camp Nou and his four-goal night against Osasuna, both during the 2006/07 season. The Dutchman tied a record held by Olsen, Puskas, Olmedo, and Hugo Sánchez to become the fifth player to score in seven straight matches, all of which were crucial to the 2006/07 title run. He also became the third Madridista after Di Stéfano and Hugo Sánchez to win Pichichi honours in his first season with Real Madrid. French sports paper L’Équipe included Van Nistelrooy in its 2007 all-star starting eleven.

Van Nistelrooy’s rise to stardom began in 1993 with Dutch Second Division side FC Den Bosch, where he spent four years before being transferred to Heerenveen. He scored 13 goals in 31 matches in his first season in top flight football and was quickly signed by PSV Eindhoven. His first season with the Dutch giant couldn’t have gone any better, and he was named Dutch Player of 1998/99 after fnishing as the top scorer in the Eredivisie and the second highest scorer in Europe. He netted another 29 goals in his second year with the club before suffering what could have been a career-ending injury.

PSV and Manchester United had a deal in the works when Van Nistelrooy hurt his knee in a friendly against Silkeborg. While recovering from his injury the following month, he fell and tore his ACL. Despite the problems, the Dutchman again finished with the Eredivisie scoring title and Europe’s Silver Boot. Sidelined for nearly a year, many questioned Van Nistelrooy’s return, but he quickly cast away any long-term doubts after making the switch to Manchester United.

His brace against Fulham in his Premier League debut was just the beginning. Van Nistelrooy went on to score dozens of goals for Manchester in the Premiership and the Champions League, a competition which he’s led in scoring on two different occasions. His main accomplishment in England was winning the 2002/03 Premiership, and the following season he added European football’s most traditional title, the FA Cup to the list.

Van Nistelrooy was first selected to play for the Netherlands on 18 November 1998. He was only 22 when he scored his first goal for the Orange in a match against Morocco. He wasn’t able to participate in Euro 2000, and Netherlands didn’t qualify for the 2002 World Cup. He did, however, play in Euro 2004, but was dropped from the semifinal match against host Portugal, which Netherlands went on to lose. Portugal would again eliminate Van Nistelrooy and the Netherlands in the quarterfinals of the 2006 World Cup in Germany.