Owen Hargreaves

Hargreaves was born in Calgary, Alberta, as the youngest of three children of Margaret and Colin Hargreaves, who had emigrated from the United Kingdom at the start of the 1980s.

His father played football for the Bolton Wanderers youth side and also for the Calgary Kickers of the Canadian Soccer League.

He is the only member of his family born in Canada; his brother Darren and his mother were both born in Wales, and his other brother Neil and his father were born in England.

As a youngster in North America, Hargreaves grew up mostly watching and playing sports like basketball, ice hockey, and American football.

His sporting heroes were basketball legend Michael Jordan and American football player Deion Sanders.

He did not begin to play football seriously until the age of 15.

Owen Lee Hargreaves (born 20 January 1981) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

He was known as a hard-working and "solid defensive midfielder who worked tirelessly to win the ball" and provide his teammates with possession.

He played with Calgary Foothills as a youth before beginning his professional football career in Germany with Bayern Munich.

Hargreaves tried out for Bayern Munich in October 1996.

Hargreaves moved at the age of 16 from Calgary Foothills to Bayern Munich on 1 July 1997.

He played in the Under-19 team for two and a half years before spending nine months with the Amateur team.

While with the Under-19s the team reached the final of the German Championship in 1998.

They lost in the final to Borussia Dortmund, but only after a penalty shoot-out in Dortmund's Stadion Rote Erde.

Hargreaves is one of only two English players to have won a Champions League medal with a non-English club, alongside two-time winner Steve McManaman (who won the Champions League with Real Madrid in 1999–2000 and 2001–02).

After seven years with the Munich side – during which time he won four German league titles and the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League – Hargreaves signed for Manchester United in 2007, winning the Premier League and UEFA Champions League in his first season.

Hargreaves initially played for Wales, and was capped three times for the Wales under-19 team, but then opted to play for the England under-21 team in 2000 and was capped by the senior squad the following year.

He is the only player to have played for England without having previously lived in England, and only the second, after Joe Baker, to have done so without having previously played in the English football league system.

On 12 August 2000, Hargreaves played in his first Bundesliga match against Hertha Berlin, making an appearance as a substitute for Carsten Jancker in the 83rd minute.

His first start came against SpVgg Unterhaching on 16 September 2000.

That season the club were Bundesliga champions and also won the UEFA Champions League, with Hargreaves starting the final in central midfield.

In the 2001–02 season Hargreaves established himself as a first team regular.

He made 46 appearances in all, with the club finishing third in the Bundesliga, making the quarter-finals of the Champions League and being defeated in the DFB-Pokal by Schalke.

The club regained their Bundesliga title in 2002–03, along with the DFB-Pokal.

2002–03 saw Hargreaves out injured on three occasions.

In September he tore a thigh muscle, then in October a calf muscle.

Towards the end of the season adductor problems meant he missed a further three weeks.

Altogether he made 25 Bundesliga appearances, four in Cup games and three in the Champions League.

On 26 January 2003, Hargreaves scored his first Bundesliga goal in the game against Borussia Mönchengladbach.

The 2003–04 season was Hargreaves' first with Bayern without winning any silverware.

After clinching the double the year before, the Bavarian side finished second in the Bundesliga, and were knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid.

Hargreaves made a total of 38 appearances for the club in this season.

In 2004–05 Hargreaves picked up another German championship and DFB-Pokal.

He made 27 appearances in the Bundesliga (one goal), played in three Cup games (two goals) and eight Champions League games.

In the 2005–06 season, he added another Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal title.

Hargreaves scored the first goal at the new Allianz Arena in a competitive match on 5 August 2005, against Borussia Mönchengladbach.

In all, he made 15 league appearances (one goal), four cup appearances (two goals) and three Champions League appearances.

However, his time at Manchester United was plagued with injuries and he was allowed to leave the club at the end of his contract in June 2011.

Hargreaves posted YouTube videos in a bid to convince potential suitors of his fitness, and in August 2011, Manchester City offered a one-year contract to Hargreaves, which he accepted.

As a Canadian citizen with a Welsh mother and an English father, Hargreaves was eligible to represent Canada, Wales or England.