[19] He was named as BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2009, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2007 Birthday Honours for his services to football.

Giggs captained the Salford team to victory over their Blackburn counterparts, was man of the match, and the trophy was presented to him by Liverpool chief scout Ron Yeats.

[citation needed] United won the double that season, and Giggs was one of their key players alongside the likes of Cantona, Paul Ince and Mark Hughes.

"[33] As a result of this, he was afforded many opportunities not normally offered to footballers at his young age, such as hosting his television show, Ryan Giggs' Soccer Skills, which aired in 1994, and also had a book based on the series.

"[36] He was hailed as the first football star to capture the public imagination in a way unseen since the days of George Best;[37] the irony was that Best and Bobby Charlton used to describe Giggs as their favourite young player, turning up at The Cliff training ground just to watch him.

[citation needed] During extra time, Giggs picked up possession after Patrick Vieira gave the ball away, then ran from his own half, dribbled past the whole Arsenal back line, including Tony Adams, Lee Dixon and Martin Keown before launching his left-footed strike just under David Seaman's bar and beyond his reach.

[43] Giggs celebrated his 10-year anniversary at Old Trafford with a testimonial match against Celtic at the start of the 2001–02 campaign, losing 4–3 in a game featuring a cameo by Eric Cantona.

"[51][52] A week later, on 24 February, Manchester United chief executive Peter Kenyon refused to rule out the possibility of Giggs leaving Old Trafford, saying: "It's too soon to say whether we would even consider a bid, and all we want to do at the moment is concentrate on this season."

[69] On 24 February, Giggs scored the equalising goal against Fulham in a game which United went on to win via a late Cristiano Ronaldo winner to go nine points clear of Chelsea.

[71] In the 2007 FA Cup Final, Giggs had a goal ruled out in the 14th minute of extra time after referee Steve Bennett deemed him to have fouled goalkeeper Petr Čech in forcing the ball across the line.

Ten days later, on 21 May 2008, Giggs broke Bobby Charlton's appearance record for United when coming on as an 87th-minute substitute for Paul Scholes in the UEFA Champions League Final against Chelsea.

At the start of Manchester United's 2008–09 campaign, Sir Alex Ferguson began placing Giggs at central midfield, behind the forwards, instead of his favoured wing position.

[90] On 30 November 2009, the day after his 36th birthday, it was reported that Giggs would be offered an additional one-year contract which would run until the end of the 2010–11 season and see him past the 20th anniversary of his first game and first goal for United.

He scored United's equalising goal in a 1–1 draw at the Estádio da Luz, in the process breaking his own record for the oldest goalscorer in Champions League history.

On 19 November, Giggs played in a league game in his home country of Wales for the first time in his distinguished career against Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium in a United 1–0 win.

[112] On 2 October, after coming off the substitute bench against Shakhtar Donetsk, Giggs became all-time leading appearance holder in the European competition, overtaking Raúl, an achievement he described as "special".

[139] In a qualifier against England for the 2006 FIFA World Cup at Old Trafford where Wales lost 2–0, Giggs played against some present and former Manchester United teammates including David Beckham, Gary Neville, and Wayne Rooney.

Brazil coach Dunga complimented Giggs' performance by stating he would not look out of place playing for the five-time world champions alongside stars such as Kaká and Ronaldinho.

[146] In an interview with the Western Mail on 26 March 2010, Giggs hinted that he might be tempted to come out of international retirement for his country's UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, in order to cover for the injured Aaron Ramsey.

[148] On 28 June 2012, Giggs was confirmed as one of the three over-age players selected for Great Britain to compete at 2012 Summer Olympics alongside Craig Bellamy and Micah Richards,[149] and he was subsequently named the team captain.

[150] He scored with a header against the United Arab Emirates in a 3–1 win on 29 July to become the oldest goalscorer in the football competition at the Summer Olympics at the age of 38 years and 243 days, beating an 88-year-old record that had been held by Egypt's Hussein Hegazi.

When Moyes was sacked on 22 April 2014, after less than 10 months in the job, Giggs took over as the club's interim player-manager,[112] compiling a record of two wins, a draw and a defeat in the final four games of the 2013–14 season.

[154] After his final match in charge, a 1–1 draw with Southampton, Giggs admitted to breaking down in tears, in part due to the pressure of managing United, and also said he had struggled to sleep during the period.

A quick and technically gifted player, in his prime, his main traits were his speed, acceleration, strength, ball control, flair, dribbling skills, and trickery in possession, as well as his vision; he also was able to refine his crossing and passing ability as his career progressed, which made him an excellent assist provider, and saw him take on more of a playmaking role for his team in later years, which enabled him to dictate play in midfield and create chances for teammates, in addition to scoring goals himself.

A fast and energetic player, he also drew praise in the media for his tactical intelligence, movement, stamina, work-rate, and consistency; furthermore, he was an accurate free kick taker.

[183] In the same week, Giggs received a two-match suspension from international football for deliberately elbowing Russian player Vadim Yevseyev in the face during the first leg of the Euro 2004 play-offs.

[215][needs update] In November 2017, it was reported that Giggs had signed a consultancy deal with the Promotion Fund of Vietnamese Football Talents FC (PVF).

[218] A blogger for Forbes magazine remarked that Giggs had "not heard of the Streisand effect," observing that mentions of his name had increased significantly after the case against Twitter had been reported.

[220][221] Sunday Herald editor Richard Walker stated that the London High Court ruling had no force in Scotland, unless copies of the paper were sold in England or Wales.

[222] On 23 May, the gagging order set off a political controversy, with Prime Minister David Cameron commenting that the law should be reviewed to "catch up with how people consume media today".