Damien Duff

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Damien Duff
Personal information
Full name	Damien Anthony Duff
Date of birth	2 March 1979 (1979-03-02) (age 30)
Place of birth	Ballyboden, Ireland
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Winger
Club information
Current club	Fulham
Number	16
Youth career
	Leicester Celtic St. Kevin's Boys Lourdes Celtic
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1996–2003 2003–2006 2006–2009 2009–	Blackburn Rovers Chelsea Newcastle United Fulham	185 (27) 081 (14) 069 0(5) 009 0(2)
National team2
1998–	Republic of Ireland	078 0(7)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:32, 9 November 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 01:22, 26 October 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Damien Anthony Duff (born 2 March 1979) is an Irish footballer. He currently plays as a winger for Premier League club Fulham and internationally for the Republic of Ireland.^[1]

Club career

Blackburn Rovers

Born in Ballyboden, County Dublin, Duff joined Blackburn Rovers as a trainee in 1996 after playing for Leicester Celtic, St. Kevin's Boys and Lourdes Celtic as a schoolboy in Hendon. He made his Blackburn debut at the age of 18 against Leicester City on the final day of the 1996-97 season. In his first full season (1997-98) he scored four goals. Blackburn were relegated the following season.

Duff helped Blackburn achieve promotion back to the Premier League in (2000-01) and then win the League Cup the following season. Following the World Cup 2002 Duff signed a new four-year contract with Rovers, though press reports had suggested that he was to change clubs. Despite injury problems in the 2002-03 season he finished top goalscorer for Rovers with 11 league goals.

Chelsea

In the run-up to the 2003-04 season Chelsea made a series of bids for Duff, with a £17m offer eventually triggering a release clause in the player's contract. Duff chose to move to West London in July. His first season at Chelsea was plagued by injury, and he missed the latter stages of the season, including the UEFA Champions League semi-finals. Duff scored six goals that season. He was instrumental^{[citation needed]} in securing for Chelsea the club's highest league finish for 49 years as well as the Champions League run, but the season ultimately ended trophyless and with the sacking of manager Claudio Ranieri.

The arrival of Dutch winger Arjen Robben and new manager José Mourinho posed a threat to Duff's place in the starting line-up for the 2004-05 season, but an injury to Robben at the start of the season saw Duff as the only available winger. Mourinho, however, did not play Duff in the early part of the 2004-05 season, preferring a more narrow approach. Duff eventually got into the side after four games and, when Robben returned to the side, Duff's versatility saw him move to the right wing and form a wing partnership with Robben. The season proved to be successful for both Duff and Chelsea. He scored ten goals, including a crucial strike in a 4-2 win against Barcelona in the Champions League, while the team won the Premiership title and the Football League Cup in which Duff scored the winning goal in the semi-final against Manchester United.

Newcastle United

In July 2006, Duff agreed terms over a £5m move to Newcastle United, signing a 5 year contract.^[2] Duff made his competitive debut in a UEFA Cup Second Round Qualifying first leg against Latvian side Ventspils.He scored his first goal for Newcastle in September that year in a 2–0 victory over West Ham United away at Upton Park. Duff suffered a knee injury in November that kept him out for four months, during which Newcastle had a bad run of defeats. He returned but was then ruled out for the rest of the season due to an ankle injury in a 2–1 loss to Portsmouth in April 2007.^[3] Sam Allardyce later described Duff's injury as 'career threatening'.^[4] Duff made a full return to fitness in December.

Duff was linked with an exit from the club, but remained at St. James' Park and made some key contributions^{[citation needed]} in the aftermath of Kevin Keegan's departure and Joe Kinnear's appointment as interim manager.

In the final match of the 2008–09 Season, against Aston Villa in a crucial relegation decider, Duff unluckily scored the deciding own goal that sent his side down. Much as when he did when with Blackburn, Duff confirmed his intention to stay at the relegated club and help them back into the Premier League. Duff scored Newcastle's first goal of the 2009–10 season against West Bromwich Albion.

According to the February issue of FourFourTwo magazine Duff was worth £14m, placing him 92nd in the magazine's 2009 Football Rich List.^[5]

Fulham

After playing one game for Newcastle in 2009–10, Duff returned to the Premier League, signing for Fulham for an undisclosed fee, and re-joining Roy Hodgson, his first manager at Blackburn Rovers.^[6] He made his Fulham debut coming on as a substitute against Amkar Perm in the Cottagers' Europa League qualifier match, setting up the third goal in a 3-1 win.^[7]

Duff played his first Premiership game against one of his old clubs Chelsea. The game was at Craven Cottage and Chelsea went on to win the game with a comfortable 0-2 win. Duff scored his first league goal for Fulham in a 2 - 1 victory over Everton, scoring in the 79th minute to give the Cottagers a vital win. His second goal for Fulham was scored against Man City after Zamora had set him up.^[8]

International career

Duff taking a corner for Ireland in 2008

At junior level, Duff played for Ireland in the 1997 and 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship.

Duff made his senior début for the Republic of Ireland in 1998 against the Czech Republic. He has since gone on to win 75 caps for the Ireland Squad, scoring seven goals. He played every game for them at the 2002 World Cup and was voted their player of the tournament scoring a goal against Saudi Arabia en route to the second round.

Honours

Blackburn Rovers

• League Cup: 2001–02
• UEFA Team of the Year: 2002

Chelsea

• Premier League: 2004-05 and 2005-06
• League Cup: 2004–05
• Community Shield: 2005

Newcastle United

• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2006

Statistics

^[9] As of 23 August 2009

Stats accurate as at 20:23, 9 November 2009

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Damien Duff

• Damien Duff FIFA competition record
• Damien Duff career stats at Soccerbase
• Football Database provides Damien Duff's profile and stats
• Newcastle Club profile

v • d • e Republic of Ireland squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Given • 2 Finnan • 3 Harte • 4 Cunningham • 5 Staunton • 6 Roy Keane • 7 McAteer • 8 Holland • 9 Duff • 10 Robbie Keane • 11 Kilbane • 12 Kinsella • 13 Connolly • 14 Breen • 15 Dunne • 16 Kiely • 17 Quinn • 18 G. Kelly • 19 Morrison • 20 O'Brien • 21 Reid • 22 Carsley • 23 A. Kelly • Coach: McCarthy