Gareth Bale is a Welsh professional footballer who has represented the Wales national football team as a forward since 2006. 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. As of November 2022, he is the country's all-time top goalscorer with 41 goals in 111 appearances.