50 Fun Facts About Wayne Rooney

In which area of Liverpool was Wayne Rooney born?

Croxteth: he grew up in a council house there with Everton pennants filling his bedroom window, yet at 18 he walked out on his boyhood club for Manchester United.

Which manager gave Rooney his Everton debut?

David Moyes: he later sued over a claim in Rooney's autobiography and won an apology and damages in 2008, five years before he became Rooney's manager again at Manchester United.

In 2007 Rooney carried a title belt into the ring in Las Vegas for which British boxer?

Ricky Hatton: the boxer followed a rival club, yet he asked his friend, a United striker, to carry one of his belts into the ring for his fight with José Luis Castillo.

As a boy, Rooney wrote to which Everton striker?

Duncan Ferguson: he was in prison at the time and wrote back, and by the age of 16 the young fan was his team-mate in Everton's first-team squad.

What did Rooney's T-shirt read after he scored in the 2002 FA Youth Cup final?

Once a Blue, always a Blue: two years later he left Everton for Manchester United, and in 2007 he answered the boos at Goodison Park by scoring and kissing the United badge.

Rooney's first senior goals came in a League Cup tie against which Welsh club?

Wrexham: he came off the bench after an hour and scored twice in the last eight minutes, taking Tommy Lawton's place as Everton's youngest scorer.

Rooney's first Premier League goal, at 16, ended whose 30-match unbeaten run?

Arsenal: the champions had gone 30 league games unbeaten until the substitute's last-minute shot, and their manager Arsène Wenger called him the biggest English talent he had seen since arriving in England.

Before Rooney joined Manchester United in 2004, Everton rejected a £20 million bid for him from which club?

Newcastle: their offer opened a bidding war with Manchester United, and within days Rooney had handed in a transfer request and left his boyhood club on deadline day.

Rooney scored a hat-trick on his United debut against which club?

Fenerbahçe: he had not played since breaking a foot at Euro 2004 three months earlier, yet the 18-year-old scored three times in a 6–2 Champions League win, the last from a free kick.

Rooney's first United trophy was a 4–0 League Cup final win over which club?

Wigan Athletic: in their first Premier League season the Latics trailed only 1–0 at half-time, then conceded three goals in one short burst, and Rooney scored the first and the last of United's four.

Why was Rooney sent off against Villarreal in the Champions League in 2005?

Sarcastically clapping the referee: he applauded in the face of Kim Milton Nielsen after a booking and got a second yellow card from the Dane who had sent off David Beckham at the 1998 World Cup.

Rooney won the Golden Ball at the 2008 Club World Cup after scoring the winner against which club?

LDU Quito: United were down to ten men after Nemanja Vidić's red card when Rooney scored the only goal, making them the first English club to win the Club World Cup.

Against which club did Rooney first score four goals in a single match, in January 2010?

Hull City: after an early opener he waited until the 82nd minute for his second, then scored twice more to send United top of the league while their own fans chanted against the club's owners.

Rooney's celebrated February 2011 overhead kick won a match against which club?

Manchester City: the 78th-minute kick won the game 2–1, Sir Alex Ferguson said he could not remember a better goal at Old Trafford, and fans later voted it the best of the Premier League's first 20 seasons.

Rooney's 2011 bicycle kick lost the FIFA Puskás Award to a goal by which player?

Neymar: his solo goal for Santos won the fans' vote ahead of Rooney's kick, yet it came in a match that Santos lost 5–4 after leading 3–0.

Whom did Rooney pass in 2011 to become the top-scoring Englishman in Champions League history?

Paul Scholes: three days after being dropped to the bench at Liverpool, Rooney scored twice against Oțelul Galați to pass his old teammate's 24 goals, and nobody passed Rooney until Harry Kane in 2024.

Which manager named Rooney United's club captain in 2014?

Louis van Gaal: weeks into the job, he said Rooney's professionalism and attitude to training had impressed him, and gave him the armband Nemanja Vidić had left behind, with Darren Fletcher as deputy.

Whose record for most Premier League goals for one club did Rooney take in January 2016?

Thierry Henry: Rooney's 176th league goal for United beat the Frenchman's 175, and the lifelong Evertonian got it by scoring the winner at Anfield, his first goal there in eleven years.

Rooney captained United to the 2016 FA Cup with a 2–1 extra-time win over which club?

Crystal Palace: Palace scored first and United had Chris Smalling sent off in extra time, yet Jesse Lingard's volley won it and gave Rooney, playing in midfield, the first FA Cup of his career.

In November 2016 Rooney became only the third player to reach 100 Premier League what?

Assists: he got to 100 by setting up both of Zlatan Ibrahimović's goals in a 3–1 win at Swansea, and only Ryan Giggs and Frank Lampard had reached that mark before him.

Rooney's record-breaking 250th United goal was a late free kick against which club?

Stoke City: United were losing until his free kick four minutes into stoppage time, and Rooney admitted the record felt strange because his team had wanted a win, not a 1–1 draw.

Whose Manchester United scoring record of 249 goals did Rooney break?

Bobby Charlton: eight days after his record fell, Sir Bobby walked onto the Old Trafford pitch before a cup tie and handed Rooney a commemorative golden boot himself.

Rooney's final United appearance was as a substitute in a 2–0 win over which club?

Ajax: he came on for Juan Mata in the 90th minute of the Europa League final, and minutes later he was the player who hoisted the trophy.

Rooney scored the final ever goal at which stadium in May 2017?

White Hart Lane: his consolation in a 2–1 defeat was the last goal at Tottenham's home of 118 years, where fans flooded the pitch at the final whistle and demolition crews took over the next day.

Which striker partnered Rooney in the 2008 Champions League final?

Carlos Tevez: he took and scored United's first penalty in the Moscow shoot-out that beat Chelsea, by which time Rooney had been substituted in extra time.

Who was the only player before Rooney to reach 200 Premier League goals?

Alan Shearer: Rooney became the 200 club's second member in August 2017 with a goal for Everton, the club where he had scored his first 15 years earlier, and called it a sweet moment.

Rooney's 60-yard goal from his own half for Everton in 2017 beat which goalkeeper?

Joe Hart: the England goalkeeper had run out of his area to clear, and Rooney struck the ball first time straight back over him from inside his own half to finish his first Everton hat-trick.

Rooney's first MLS goal, in July 2018, beat which American goalkeeper?

Tim Howard: Rooney slid the shot through the legs of his old Manchester United teammate, then broke his nose defending in stoppage time of the 2–1 win over Colorado.

Rooney left MLS in January 2020 to become player-coach at which club?

Derby County: he arrived to play and coach at once, and a year later he hung up his boots to become the club's permanent manager.

Rooney's side were docked 21 points in 2021–22 for financial breaches and what else?

Entering administration: even so, Rooney's team were not relegated until three games from the end, and the administrators later tried and failed to talk him out of resigning.

Which club sacked Rooney as manager in January 2024 after two wins in 15 games?

Birmingham City: the club dismissed John Eustace while sixth in the Championship to hire Rooney, and 83 days and nine defeats later he was out with the team down in 20th.

Rooney left which club by mutual agreement on 31 December 2024?

Plymouth Argyle: he left seven months after taking the job with the club bottom of the Championship, winless away from home with two points and 35 goals conceded in 13 league trips.

Rooney made his England debut in 2003 against which nation?

Australia: England fielded a different eleven in each half and lost 3–1, yet the 17-year-old who came on at the break took a youngest-player record that had stood since 1879.

Rooney became England's youngest ever goalscorer against which country in 2003?

Macedonia: England were losing in Skopje until the 17-year-old equalised early in the second half, and David Beckham's penalty then won a qualifier they could not afford to drop.

At Euro 2004, England's manager said he remembered no one making such an impact on a tournament as Rooney since whom?

Pelé: Sven-Göran Eriksson reached back to the 1958 World Cup for the comparison after Rooney's four group-stage goals, and days later the 18-year-old limped out of the quarter-final with a broken foot.

Rooney's 2006 World Cup red card was for stamping on which Portugal defender?

Ricardo Carvalho: Rooney's United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo sprinted over to the referee, got a shove from Rooney, and appeared on television to wink at his bench as the red card came out.

Rooney's only goal at Euro 2012 came against which co-host nation?

Ukraine: back from a two-match ban, he scored the only goal, and the co-hosts were denied an equaliser when the officials missed Marko Dević's shot crossing the line.

Rooney's first and only World Cup finals goal came against which country in 2014?

Uruguay: his equaliser lasted ten minutes before Luis Suárez, who had been in a wheelchair after knee surgery less than a month earlier, scored his second goal to beat England 2–1.

Whose international retirement opened the England captaincy to Rooney in 2014?

Steven Gerrard: Roy Hodgson passed the armband to Rooney, who scored the only goal, a penalty against Norway, in his first game as captain, watched by what was then the smallest England crowd at the new Wembley.

Rooney's record-breaking 50th England goal was a penalty against which nation?

Switzerland: Raheem Sterling was fouled late on at Wembley, and Rooney admitted he was very nervous as he stepped up, with so many phone flashes in the crowd that teammates compared it to a concert.

At Euro 2016 Rooney scored a fourth-minute penalty in a shock defeat to which nation?

Iceland: England's lead lasted two minutes and they trailed by the 18th, beaten by a nation with roughly the population of Croydon, and Roy Hodgson resigned as manager straight afterwards.

Rooney won his final England cap in 2018 against which nation?

USA: by then he was playing his club football in Washington, and he came out of England retirement for the last half-hour at Wembley in a match staged to support his charity foundation.

Which country tried to recruit the 16-year-old Rooney, who qualified through his grandparents?

The Republic of Ireland: his Everton teammate Lee Carsley sounded him out on behalf of manager Mick McCarthy, but Rooney said it never crossed his mind because he was English through and through.

Rooney's nickname 'Wazza' was a nod to which earlier England player?

Paul Gascoigne: the name echoed 'Gazza' because Rooney too was a gifted England player who made headlines off the pitch, and the papers also tried Roonaldo and Kanga-Roo.

Rooney shared his first four FIFA video game covers with which star?

Ronaldinho: the pair fronted FIFA 06 to FIFA 09, the start of Rooney's seven straight UK covers, and when a tabloid scandal broke weeks before FIFA 11 came out, EA kept him on the box.

Rooney has a tattoo of 'Just Enough Education to Perform', an album title by which band?

Stereophonics: weeks before he got the tattoo, Coleen had booked his favourite band to play a surprise set at the couple's wedding celebrations as her gift to him.

Which of Rooney's sons signed with Manchester United in 2020?

Kai: the eldest of the four boys signed at 11, and his father, by then managing a different club, posted a photo of the family at Old Trafford and called it a proud day.

In Nike's 2010 'Write the Future' ad, a triumphant Rooney beats which sports star at table tennis?

Roger Federer: that is the future in which Rooney wins the ball back and is knighted, while the one where his pass is intercepted leaves him bearded and living in a caravan.

Rooney came fifth in the 2011 Ballon d'Or behind which winner?

Lionel Messi: seven months earlier Rooney had equalised against him in the Champions League final at Wembley, only for Messi to score the goal that put Barcelona back in front in a 3–1 win.

Which England manager gave Rooney the number 10 shirt before the 2010 World Cup?

Fabio Capello: the Italian handed Peter Crouch the number nine and Rooney the ten, but Rooney did not score a single goal in South Africa and England went out 4–1 to Germany.