Gerard Piqué Biography

Born on 2 February 1987 into a wealthy family, Gerard pique is a Spanish footballer who is playing as a center back in

. His main position is center back but  he is also good as a defensive midfielder. As the La Liga Best Defender and the Footballer of the Year in Catalonia, he is indeed one of the best defenders in the world who made it almost impossible for any striker to pass him through.

Gerard began to show interest in football at the age of 10 and so in 1997, he joined  La Masia to start his football and soon proved himself as a promising footballer. He remained at Barcelona youth Academy until 2004 but he preferred to start his senior football in the United Kingdom at Manchester United. But as he was so young,

didn't sign him a professional contract. His early days at Manchester were not quite easy though. He made his Man United debut as a substitute at the 67th-minute replacement for John O'Shea in a 3–0 League Cup victory at

. Until January 2005, he could not have his full FA Cup, so his first was in a 0–0 FA Cup draw with

. His Premier League debut was on 15 October 2005, again as a substitute for O'Shea, in a 3–1 win over

.

Gradually, Gerard could show his real instinct as a worthy center back, so in February 2005, Manchester United offered him a contract which run until the summer of 2009. Meanwhile, on 4 August 2006, for just one season, he joined

on loan. Even there, Pique could soon establish himself as one of the club's best, during that time, he managed to set an influential company with the Argentine Gabriel Milito, either as a center-back or a defensive midfielder. Once his loan period finished, it was officiated that Gerard Pique would be at Old Trafford for the following season. let's move forward to have an in-depth look at the personal and professional life of Gerard Pique.

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All You Need to Know About Gerard Pique Biography

Gerard Pique was grown up in a Catalan family. Growing up as a real football fan, he had Fernando Hierro in his mind as his hero. Gerard pique's middle name is Bernabeu, which he has inherited from Pique’s mother’s side, who is the daughter of former Barcelona president, Amador Bernabeu. It seems that his early life, was almost tied to Real Madrid, but he chose paradoxically. Keep reading to learn more about 

Gerard Pique life story.

Gerard Pique information

In the following part of

Gerard Pique Biography

, you can find some general information about him listed down here.

Gerard Pique Bio

• Full Name: 

  Gerard Pique Bernabeu

• Nickname:

  Piquenbaue

• Profession:

  Professional Football Player

Gerard Pique Physical Stats

• Weight:

  87 Kilograms

• Height:

  1.94 Meters

• Eye Color:

  Blue

• Hair Color:

  Brown 

Gerard Pique  Football Information

• Position:

  Centre-back

• Professional Debut:

  2004

Jersey Number:

3

Gerard Pique Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth:

  2 February 1987 

• Birth Place:

  Barcelona, Spain

• Zodiac Sign:

  Aquarius

• Nationality:

  Spanish

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Gerard Pique Early Life

In this section of

Gerard Pique Biography

we will have a glance at his early life. He was born into a prosperous family in Barcelona.

Gerard pique nationality

is Spanish. His father, Joan, is a businessman, and his mother, Montserrat, is the director of a spinal injuries hospital in Barcelona. He also has a brother, Marc. As mentioned earlier, he is the grandson of Amador Bernabeu, the former vice-president of Barcelona.

Gerard Pique childhood

had tied with an almost strange event. when he was only 17-month old, as he was playing in his grandparents’ home, the ball fell off the terrace and also Gerard who was playfully chasing it. He had been soon transferred to a hospital and after a two-day coma, he backed to his life.

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Gerard Pique Profile

n this division of

Gerard Pique biography

, we will review his professional career from his early days until now that he is indeed one of the greatest defenders in football history. As mentioned earlier, Gerard pique started his football debut in Barcelona Academy in 1997 and spent 7 years with them. In 2004, he left his hometown and joined Manchester United to continue his football career as a center back. Despite his first obstacles, as time passed, he could break into the main team and became a regular.

Once his contract with Man United finished, on 27 May 2008, Gerard Pique officiated that he would return to his hometown to play for Barcelona. He signed a four-year contract with Barcelona, with a €5 million buy-out clause. So he came back to his very first club to play for his hometown club and country. However, he had already said that he had such a great time in Man United, playing with world-class players gave him an unbelievable opportunity to learn and enjoy.

On 26 November 2008, in a 2008–09

group stage match, he could score his first goal for Barcelona. His first domestic goal though was scored two months later, on 29 January 2009, in a

match against local rivals

, by corner kick in the 57th minute he scored his first Barcelona goal, the club won the match  3–2. Scoring a goal in El Classico tastes completely different for either side. Pique's first goal in El Classico was so memorable, on 2 May 2009 Pique managed to score the sixth goal of Barcelona, against

. The match ended 6-2. After his goal, it was the first time that he showed such a passionate goal celebration.

Later on, in the 2009 season, he could achieve his first trophy with Barcelona. In Copa del Rey Final, Gerard pique and his club won a 4–1 victory over

and named the winner of Copa del Ray. But 2009 season, had something more for pique, as their ever rival, lost 3–2 to Villarreal, they brought home the La Liga cup.  Gerard Pique's first encounter with his ex-club- Manchester United- happened in the 2009 Champions League Final. Fortunately, Pique and his team could win the match which ended 2-0 and so Barcelona could complete a treble- three trophies in a single season.- and became the Spanish club to achieve this feat.

His impact and great performances made Barcelona's manager offer him an extension for his contract. On 26 February 2010, he signed the contract extension that kept him with Barcelona until 2015 summer.  laster on that season, Gerard Pique took a bigger step and was chosen as Barcelona captain. On 7 December 2010, in the last Champions League group stage match against Russian club

at Camp Nou, as the first captain - Carles Puyol and vice-captain Xavi- were absent Gerard pique who had just spent two years in Barca, was chosen to be the club's captain. 

Following the La Liga trophy of the 2010 season, Gerard Pique experienced his second Champions League Final again against his former club, Manchester United. Pique and his club again defeated Manchester and the final match ended 3–1 at Wembley Stadium. Once again, as the result of his brilliant performances and leadership, on 20 May 2014, Pique signed a contract extension with Barcelona, keeping him at the club until 2019. 

Stay tuned to read more about Gerard Pique Biography and get to know him better.

Style of Play

Gerard pique's main position is center-back. As a 1.94 -Meter defender, it is almost struggling for his rival to pass him through. Having trained in Barcelona, he became a modern and leading defender. His physical strength blessed him with the ability to play as a defensive midfielder and also as a sweeper(libero) depending on the situation. His style of play and techniques have some resemblances with the German legend, Franz Beckenbauer, a similarity that gave him the nickname "Piquénbauer". Despite the general belief, being one of the highest players, come in handy in attacking tactics, so he could perform as an auxiliary striker. 

But they're not his only abilities as a defender. Gerard Pique has an inner talent in ball-playing that makes him create an effectual central-defensive partnership with the more physical Carles Puyol. According to his former professional partner- Carles Puyol- Gerard Pique is, with no doubt, the best center-back in the world.

Reception

He is widely acknowledged as one of the best defenders in the world, not only at the club's level but also in the National team as a former defender of Spain's national team. Since his football debut, he made a significant progress that now, he is famous as a defender in terms of his knowledge, management, positional sense, balance, and awareness. His brilliant debut with Barcelona, as an almost novice defender, named him La Liga Breakthrough Player of the Year in 2008-9.

Goal Celebration

Gerard Pique doesn't have any special goal celebration. But once in the victory of Barcelona in front of the

, Pique scored the second goal at minute 65, and after that, he weaved his hands to do the sign of a double '2' with them, as his habit that for the first time he did  to thank his wife who just gave birth to their second child. This gesture also does the allusion to 2 February, the date of the birthday that has in common with his love partner, the Colombian singer Shakira. But that time, he did something more, Gerard carried the hand in command, doing the signal of a military greeting. Shakira later told that what Pique did was a dedication to his eldest son Milan, a heart-warming gesture that made Milan cried out of happiness.

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Gerard Pique Outside Football

The world of football is not endless. There is a time for each footballer to say goodbye to soccer and continue his life differently, that's a fact even for such a great defender. In this part of

Gerard Pique biography

we want to have a review of his life outside of football.

Pique is the founder and president of Kosmos Holding which is a sports and media investment group he originated with Hiroshi Mikitani -the founder and chairman of Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten- and Edmund Chu, Nullah Sarker, and Mike Evans. His investment group, struck a business with the International Tennis Federation for a 25-year, $3 billion partnership that will transform the Davis Cup and create substantial revenues for global tennis development. 

Besides being a businessman, in December 2018 Gerard pique officiated that he  bought the Spanish football club FC Andorra that currently competes in the Segunda División B, the third tier in the Spanish football league system. He has also bought a majority stake in another Spanish football club - Gimnàstic Manresa in July 2019.

Furthermore, he once went public as the face of Mango's men's line HE for four consecutive campaign seasons between 2011 and 2012. Stay tuned as we take a look at Gerard Pique biography to have a better view of his personal life.

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Gerard Pique Personal Life

Being born into a Catalan family at the heart of Barcelona, make him one of the controversial figures.  During the 2017 Catalan independence referendum, it was a general belief that he was one of the Catalan sides of the argument, as he voted and tweeted in favor of Catalan independence. his fans though didn't support his political approach and he received negative reactions. it may seem interesting for some to know that

Gerard Pique religion

is Roman Catholic.

Family, Children, and Relationships

Gerard Pique met his famous life partner, the pop star signer Shikra before the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Shakira was preparing the music video of his single named  "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)", the official song of the tournament. These two stars met each other as Gerard Pique appeared in the music video of the popular Colombian singer-songwriter.

Gerard and Shakira both were born on 2 February with 10 years difference. Their relationship had not been confirmed till September 2012 as Shikra revealed her pregnancy by posting a photo on Instagram. Their first baby-  Milan- was born on January 22, 2013, and then 2 years later their second child, Sasha Pique Mebarak, was born on January 29, 2015. This well-known couple is not yet married as they believed marriage could destroy the purity of their love.

Philanthropy

Like many other famous stars, Gerard Pique is also an active footballer in charity. As his second child was born, Shakira and Pique decided to dedicated the baby shower to UNICEF and Pique urged his fans to buy thank-you to raise funds for vaccination of children around the world. more recently, during the COVID pandemic, Pique accompanying with teammates including Lionel Messi decided to have a 70% pay cut in their salaries during the crisis, and fortunately, they continue their donation towards the salaries of all employees at the club during the state of emergency.

Legal Issues

On 10 July 2019, Pique was sentenced by a Spanish court to pay €2.1 million to the tax authorities as to the penalty of his conviction for image rights fraud. To pay less tax from 2008 to 2010, he acted as if he handed over his image rights to his Kerad Project company, but Spain’s High Court, the Audiencia Nacional, had rejected the appeal filed by the center-back.

His partner- Shakira- had also had the same problem. The Tax Agency had declared that between 2012 and 2014 she had been considered a resident of Spain and was consequently under the commitment to file her returns in that country. So she also summoned to the court after being accused by prosecutors of a €14.5 million fraud against the Spanish treasury.

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Gerard Pique Career Statistics

Following

Gerard Pique bio

, in this part, we would have a rundown of his Career Statistics. 

Clubs

As mentioned above, he had started his football at Barcelona youth academy, but he later preferred to join Manchester United. From 2004 till 2008, he could make 23 appearances and scored 2 goals.  At the end of the 2007 season, he could achieve the Premier League, FA Community Shield, and UEFA Champions League titles. In that very season, he was named the 450th player to score at least one goal for the club.

In 2008 he once again returned to Barcelona and till today he is playing there. On 20 October 2020, Pique signed a contract extension that would keep him at the club till 20 June 2024. So far, he made 553 appearances, scored 48 goals, and had 13 assists.

International

Gerard Pique started his national level with Spain under-19 team. As a part of Spain national team, he could win the 2006 UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Poland. A year later he was called up to play in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Two years later, in 2009, he started his national football at senior level. On 6 February 2009, Pique was invited to the senior squad for the friendly against England on 11 February. He soon got fixed in the arrangement that he became Spain's first-choice center-back at the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa and also had the opportunity to play every minute of Spain's UEFA Euro 2012 campaign.

Stay tuned to read more about  Gerard Pique Biography and find out what awards and titles he has won.

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Gerard Pique honors

Gerard Pique has won many team and individual honors during his career, both at the club's level with Man United and Barcelona and with Spain's national team. With Manchester United, he won the Premier League title in 2007-8, the FA Community Shield title in  2007, and the UEFA Champions League title in 2007–08.  With Barcelona, for eight times, he won the La Liga title, for six times he won Copa del Rey, for three times he won UEFA Champions League and UEFA Super Cup.

As one of the key players of Spain's national team, he won the 2010 FIFA world cup, 2012 UEFA European Championship, and 2006 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. He has also so many individual trophies which prove his importance as a center back. In 2020 he won Globe Soccer Awards – Player Career Award. During the season 2009-10, he named La Liga Best Defender, and also in 2019 he was chosen as Footballer of the Year in Catalonia.

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