Gareth Bale is a Welsh former professional footballer who represented the Wales national team as a forward from 2006 to 2022. He made his debut appearance for Wales on 27 May 2006, during a friendly against Trinidad and Tobago; at 16 years and 315 days old, Bale was the youngest ever player to represent the side at the time. In October 2006, during his third appearance for Wales, he scored directly from a free kick in a 5–1 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying defeat against Slovakia to become the nation's youngest ever goalscorer. With 41 goals in 111 appearances, is the country's all-time top goalscorer.

On 13 October 2015, Bale scored his nineteenth international goal in a 2–0 victory over Andorra during Wales' final qualifying match for UEFA Euro 2016, helping secure the nation's first appearance at a major international tournament since the 1958 FIFA World Cup. Bale was Wales' top scorer in their successful qualifying campaign, finishing with a tally of seven goals. During the final tournament in France, Bale scored in all three group matches at the tournament, against Slovakia, Russia, and England, as Wales topped their group and would go on to reach the semi-finals. Bale's opener from a free kick in his side's first group game against Slovakia was the first goal at a major international tournament by a Welsh player since Terry Medwin scored against Hungary in 1958. Bale became the Welsh national team's all-time top goalscorer on 22 March 2018, after scoring a hat-trick in a friendly against China at the China Cup. Bale entered the match on 26 goals, two short of fellow countryman Ian Rush's record tally, having not scored an international goal in eighteen months since November 2016. He scored twice in the first half of the game to equal Rush's record, before surpassing it with his third goal in the second half. He also became the first Welsh player to score a hat-trick at international level since Robert Earnshaw in 2004. He scored his second hat-trick in a fixture in September 2021, during a 3–2 victory over Belarus.

Bale played for Wales in the qualifying campaigns of every FIFA World Cup and European Championship from UEFA Euro 2008 to the 2022 World Cup, as well as in the finals of Euro 2016, where the side reached the last four before being knocked out by eventual champions Portugal. He also featured in the finals of Euro 2020, where Wales reached the round of 16, but Bale failed to score a goal. At the 2022 World Cup, he scored Wales' only goal of the tournament against the United States. Bale scored more times in qualifying matches than in any other format with 28 goals (14 in Euro qualifiers and 14 in World Cup qualifiers). His other goals included six in friendly matches (including three in the China Cup), three in the European Championship finals, three in the UEFA Nations League and one in the World Cup finals. He scored more times against China, Belarus, Andorra and Austria than any other opponent, with three goals each against the sides.

Goals Wales' score listed first, score column indicates score after each Bale goal.

+ International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competitionNo.DateVenueCapOpponentScoreResultCompetitionRef.17 October 2006Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales31–21–5UEFA Euro 2008 qualification228 March 2007Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales62–03–0312 October 2010St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland271–11–4UEFA Euro 2012 qualification47 October 2011Liberty Stadium, Swansea, Wales312–02–0UEFA Euro 2012 qualification511 October 2011Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria321–01–0UEFA Euro 2012 qualification612 November 2011Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales331–04–1Friendly711 September 2012Karađorđe Stadium, Novi Sad, Serbia361–21–62014 FIFA World Cup qualification812 October 2012Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales371–12–12014 FIFA World Cup qualification92–1106 February 2013Liberty Stadium, Swansea, Wales391–02–1Friendly1126 March 2013Liberty Stadium, Swansea, Wales411–01–22014 FIFA World Cup qualification125 March 2014Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales443–13–1Friendly139 September 2014Estadi Nacional, Andorra la Vella, Andorra451–12–1UEFA Euro 2016 qualification142–11528 March 2015Sammy Ofer Stadium, Haifa, Israel492–03–0UEFA Euro 2016 qualification163–01712 June 2015Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales501–01–0UEFA Euro 2016 qualification183 September 2015GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus511–01–0UEFA Euro 2016 qualification1913 October 2015Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales542–02–0UEFA Euro 2016 qualification2011 June 2016Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France561–02–1UEFA Euro 20162116 June 2016Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens, France571–01–2UEFA Euro 20162220 June 2016Stadium Municipal, Toulouse, France583–03–0UEFA Euro 2016235 September 2016Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales623–04–02018 FIFA World Cup qualification244–0259 October 2016Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales641–01–12018 FIFA World Cup qualification2612 November 2016Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales651–01–12018 FIFA World Cup qualification2722 March 2018Guangxi Sports Center, Nanning, China691–06–02018 China Cup282–0296–0306 September 2018Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales712–04–12018–19 UEFA Nations League B3116 November 2018Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales731–21–22018–19 UEFA Nations League B326 September 2019Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales782–12–1UEFA Euro 2020 qualification3313 October 2019Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales811–11–1UEFA Euro 2020 qualification345 September 2021Central Stadium, Kazan, Russia981–03–22022 FIFA World Cup qualification352–2363–23724 March 2022Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales1011–02–12022 FIFA World Cup qualification382–039 5 June 2022Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales1031–01–02022 FIFA World Cup qualification4014 June 2022De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands1062–22–32022–23 UEFA Nations League A4121 November 2022Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar1091–11–12022 FIFA World Cup

Hat-tricks

OpponentGoalsScoreVenueCompetitionDate 1 3 – (1–0', 2–0', 6–0') 6–0Guangxi Sports Center, Nanning, China2018 China Cup 22 March 2018 2 3 – (1–0', 2–2', 3–2') 3–2 Central Stadium, Kazan, Russia 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification 5 September 2021

Statistics

+ Appearances and goals by yearYearAppsGoals200641200771200850200970201041201163201253201352201453201565201611720173020186520199220204020211332022115Total11141

+ Goals by competition Competition Goals FIFA World Cup1 3 UEFA European Championship qualifiers14 FIFA World Cup qualifiers14 UEFA Nations League3 China Cup3 Friendlies3 Total41

See also

List of international goals scored by Ian Rush List of top international men's association football goal scorers by country

Notes

References