Darron Gibson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Darron Gibson | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Darron Gibson | |
| Date of birth | October 25, 1987 | |
| Place of birth | Derry, Northern Ireland | |
| Nickname | Dar | |
| Playing position | Defensive Midfielder / Central Midfielder | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Royal Antwerp (on loan from Manchester United) |
|
| Youth clubs | ||
| 2004 | Institute F.C. | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 2005- 2006- |
Manchester United → Royal Antwerp (loan) |
0 (0) ? (?) |
| National team2 | ||
| Ireland | 0 (0) | |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Darron Gibson (born October 25, 1987 in Derry, Northern Ireland) is an Irish football player. He is a former pupil of St. Columb's College in Derry.
Contents |
[edit] Club Career
Gibson is a midfielder, and joined Manchester United from Institute as a junior.
The player is currently on loan to Royal Antwerp from Manchester United. The Belgian side are a feeder-club for the english team. On October 28, 2005 he appeared in his first senior game for United in a Carling Cup match.
Gibson is seen as a powerful and athletic midfielder, who can both attack and defend. In May 2006 he was voted as youth team player of the year.
[edit] International Career
Gibson is a Republic of Ireland under-19 international. In 2005 he rejected Northern Ireland, whom he had previously represented at under-16 level, in favour of fulfilling his dream of representing the Irish Republic at senior international level, the country he and his family has supported all his life. Although called into the Northern Ireland team at under-17 level, at the time this would have disqualified him from playing for the Republic in the future, so he rejected the call-up and has played with the latter's teams ever since.
He has yet to make an appearance for either the under-21s or the full team, although on 30 January 2007 he was called up by manager Steve Staunton to the senior squad [1] for the Euro 2008 qualifier against San Marino.
However, the Irish Football Association (the organisation that governs football in Northern Ireland) consider Gibson's eligibility for the Republic of Ireland as a matter of dispute, since they feel that Gibson may not meet certain new, stricter eligibility criteria introduced by FIFA in May 2004.[1] The association have claimed that the Football Association of Ireland have no right to claim a player from Northern Ireland, and while they have appealed to FIFA to adjudicate on the matter, it appears that FIFA already have already previously given the green light to the FAI calling up players from Northern Ireland as of 2006[2] and, subsequently, that Gibson indeed qualifies to play for the Republic by way of a provision in the Good Friday Agreement recognising:
"the birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both, as they may so choose, and accordingly confirm that their right to hold both British and Irish citizenship is accepted by both Governments and would not be affected by any future change in the status of Northern Ireland."
Darren Gibson has recently been selected for the full Irish international side for their Euro qualifiers against Wales and Slovakia on the 24th and 27th of March.
[edit] Statistics
| Club | Season | Premiership | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Others | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | ||
| Manchester United FC | 2005–06 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
[edit] References
- ^ "Gibson can't play for Republic, says Wells", Stuart McKinley, Belfast Telegraph (31 January, 2007). Retrieved 02 February, 2007.
- ^ "FAI responds over NI defections", BBC Sport Online (25 October 2006). Retrieved 02 February, 2007.
[edit] External links
| Royal Antwerp FC - Current Squad |
|---|
|
GK Tanghe | GK Ristovic | GK Izgi | DF Biga | DF Shawcross | DF Hilton | DF Gray | DF Lavan | DF Verjans | DF Verbiest | DF Tomsin | DF Cisse | DF De Laet | MF Di Gregorio | MF Baert | MF Van Mieghem | MF Jansen | MF Mamam | MF Köse | MF Gibson | MF Neagoe | MF Farssi | FW Lukanovic | FW Verveckken | FW Olguin | FW Campbell | Manager: Joyce |
  |
This biographical article related to Republic of Ireland football (soccer) is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
