Wayne Bridge

Southampton

Bridge was born in Southampton, but moved to Stanmore, Winchester at an early age. He attended Oliver's Battery Primary and Kings' School, Winchester. When playing for Olivers Battery F.C. he was spotted by Micky Adams, who recommended him to Southampton, who signed him as a trainee in July 1996. He made his reserve team debut as a centre-forward against Portsmouth on 13 August 1997 and turned professional in January 1998. Bridge made his first-team debut on 16 August 1998 (the opening day of the 1998–99 season) coming on as a replacement for John Beresford, who had badly damaged his knee. Bridge made his first senior start in the next match on 22 August in a 5–0 defeat away to Charlton Athletic. As Southampton struggled to pick up points (with only two points after the first nine games), Bridge played (on the left wing) in most of Saints' league games until early December before losing his place to Hassan Kachloul. For the remainder of the 1998–99 Premier League season, Bridge was only used occasionally as Saints narrowly avoided relegation. He completed his first season as a first-team player with 15 starts and eight substitute appearances. The following season carried on in a similar vein with Bridge making occasional appearances on the left wing until injuries to Francis Benali and the poor form of his intended replacement Patrick Colleter gave Bridge the opportunity to play at left-back, where he soon became a fixture in the Saints starting line-up.…

During his time with Southampton, all Bridge's managers (Jones, Hoddle and Gray) predicted full international honours. He was soon making regular appearances for the England under-21 team, and the managers' prophecy was realised when Sven-Göran Eriksson gave him his first full cap against the Netherlands on 13 February 2002. He quickly proved himself and appeared twice as a substitute in the 2002 World Cup, although he did not appear at all in Euro 2004, with Ashley Cole being preferred. During qualification for the 2006 World Cup, Bridge occupied England's problematic left midfield position, but lost this to his Chelsea teammate Joe Cole when he received an injury. He returned to the England team for a friendly against Argentina in November 2005, covering for the injured Cole at left back and winning his 21st cap. Bridge played in the Euro 2008 qualifier match against Estonia on 6 June 2007, which England won 3–0, with Bridge assisting Joe Cole's goal with a long throw into the box. Bridge's final appearance for England was against Brazil on 14 November 2009. On 25 February 2010, Bridge announced his permanent withdrawal from international duty following allegations regarding England captain John Terry and Bridge's former girlfriend Vanessa Perroncel.

Club

International

Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Bridge goal.

Bridge was in a relationship with French model Vanessa Perroncel from 2005 to 2009. They had a son together, Jaydon Jean Claude Bridge, who was born on 21 November 2006. The next day, Bridge signed a new four-year contract with Chelsea. In January 2010, a super injunction was imposed by a High Court judge preventing the media reporting that Bridge's former teammate John Terry had allegedly had an affair with Perroncel shortly after she split from Bridge. The injunction was lifted a week later. On 25 March, Perroncel succeeded in a claim against Bridge for maintenance for their son with the High Court awarding her a payment of £6,000 per month until Jaydon's 18th birthday. The News of the World printed an apology for the story on 3 October 2010 to Perroncel for invading her private life, and indicating that she has refuted the claims against herself and Terry. On 8 April 2013, the Saturdays singer Frankie Sandford announced on Twitter that she was engaged to Bridge. She gave birth to their son, Parker Bridge, on 18 October 2013. The couple married on 19 July 2014 in a private ceremony. In January 2015, Sandford announced that they were expecting their second child. On 15 August 2015, Carter Bridge was born. Bridge was a contestant in the 2016 series of television series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, but was voted out on 2 December. In 2019, he won the first celebrity series of Channel 4's SAS: Who Dares Wins, after trekking the El Morado glacier in Chile. Bridge has…