Gareth Frank Bale MBE (born 16 July 1989) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a right winger, most notably for Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid, and the Wales national team.

Being part of the trio dubbed BBC alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, Bale helped Madrid to win the Copa del Rey and the Champions League in 2014, and he scored in both finals.

[31] Sporting Director of Tottenham, Damien Comolli said, "Even if the examination reveals that Gareth's foot is stable, the decision has been taken to bring him back slowly to ensure he does not get a repeat of the injury or suffer any further damage.

When Assou-Ekotto was sidelined with an injury, manager Harry Redknapp decided to give Bale a chance and he impressed in Spurs' FA Cup third-round 4–0 win over Peterborough United.

[41] Three days later, Bale scored Tottenham's winning goal with his weaker right foot in a 2–1 victory over league leaders and eventual champions Chelsea and was named man of the match.

[43] He signed a new four-year contract at White Hart Lane on 7 May 2010, as a reward for helping the club reaching a 2010–11 UEFA Champions League qualification place.

[50] In the return match at White Hart Lane on 2 November, Bale provided a man-of-the-match performance, setting up goals for Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko to earn Spurs a memorable 3–1 win.

[51] On 4 November, Bale stated that he intended to remain at Tottenham for the remainder of his recently signed four-year contract, despite reported interest from other clubs,[47] then, in December, he was awarded the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year trophy.

[59] He continued his good form with the first goal in a 3–1 victory over Fulham the following week, whilst also setting up Aaron Lennon who made it 2–0 on the stroke of half time.

[82] On his return from injury, Bale scored a goal and assisted Clint Dempsey as Tottenham beat Manchester City at White Hart Lane.

[111] On 16 April, Bale scored the winning goal for Real Madrid with five minutes remaining in the 2014 Copa del Rey Final against rivals Barcelona.

[112] In the post match interview Bale stated, "I had to get round the player and go off the pitch to do it", while his Real Madrid teammate Xabi Alonso commented, "It was incredible, I have never seen anything like it".

[126] On 9 January 2016, Bale scored his second hat-trick of the season in Madrid's 5–0 defeat of Deportivo La Coruña in Zinedine Zidane's first match as head coach of Los Blancos.

[137][138] After missing more than a month, he returned to action for the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final in his hometown, Cardiff, which Real Madrid won 4–1 over Juventus; Bale made a late second-half substitute appearance, coming on for Benzema.

[146][147] Following the break-up of the BBC trifecta with Ronaldo's transfer to Juventus and the replacement of Zidane by new manager Julen Lopetegui,[148] Bale was ever-present during August 2018 and was awarded Cinco Estrellas Mahou for the Real Madrid Player of the Month, scoring against Getafe and Girona along the way.

[174] On 27 June 2022, Major League Soccer team Los Angeles FC announced that they had signed Bale to a 12-month contract using Targeted Allocation Money.

[177] Bale made 12 total appearances in the regular season for LAFC, starting two matches, but remained mostly unused as the club won the Supporters' Shield.

[184] Wales youth guru Brian Flynn commented that Bale was potentially a future star of the game, comparing his technical ability to that of Ryan Giggs.

[187] On 14 October, he played a part in Wales' final World Cup qualifier by setting up David Vaughan to score the opening goal against Liechtenstein and won the free kick that led to the second, Aaron Ramsey's first at senior level.

[190] He won his 100th Wales Cap during a World Cup Qualifying Match on 13 November 2021 against Belarus at the Cardiff City Stadium where he played 45 minutes being substituted at half time.

[191] On 9 September 2014, Bale scored two goals, one with a header and another with a free kick, as Wales beat Andorra 2–1 in their first match of the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying campaign.

[208] At the finals, he provided the assists for Aaron Ramsey and Connor Roberts's goals in Wales's second group match on 16 June, a 2–0 win over Turkey;[209] he helped his country qualify for the round of 16, in which they were beaten 4–0 by Denmark.

On 29 June, he advised the Team GB football manager, Stuart Pearce, that he would not be available for selection as he had aggravated an old back and hip injury during a training run.

In view of the short recovery time between the end of the Olympics and the start of the Premier League season, Bale had decided to withdraw rather than exacerbate the problem.

[223][224] Bale recovered from his injury in good time to be included on Spurs' pre-season tour of the United States, scoring against LA Galaxy on 24 July[225][226] and against New York Red Bulls a week later.

[228] Bale's appearances in Spurs' pre-season tour coincided with Team GB's Olympic matches, where they drew with Senegal before victories over the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay took them through to the knockout stages, where they lost to South Korea following a penalty shoot-out.

[231] Tottenham released a statement in relation to Bale's non-selection for Team GB, they stated that "Gareth sustained an injury as he built up his fitness ahead of joining up with Stuart Pearce's side.

[259][260][261][262][263][264] After a Champions League group stage match against Inter Milan on 2 November 2010, his teammate Rafael van der Vaart said, "Everyone is scared of him (Bale).

[304] On 26 March 2013, Bale filed an application with the Intellectual Property Office to create a logo based on his heart-shaped goal celebration along with his squad number (11) to be used on merchandise.

[313] Under the slogan "Together, we can beat Ebola", FIFA's campaign was done in conjunction with the Confederation of African Football and health experts, with the players holding up eleven messages to raise awareness of and combat the disease.