Wayne Rooney and Patrick Vieira have become the latest legends to enter the English Premier League Hall of Fame.
Rooney and Vieira become the 9th and 10th footballers named in the EPL Hall of Fame after having been inducted through a public vote. They join the likes of Roy Keane, Steven Gerrard, Dennis Bergkamp, Alan Shearer, and Eric Cantona.
The EPL Hall of Fame recognizes and celebrates the players who have exceptional skills and talents and have graced the competition since its inception in 1992. It is the highest individual honor that the League awards to its players.
Vieira and Rooney are the first two inductees this year. There is also another public vote that has been opened up later to decide another six names to join them from a list of 25 former players.
Rooney is the second-highest scorer in the history of the League and won 5 titles with Man Utd, including three in a row between 2006/07 and 2008/09. He struck 208 goals in 491 appearances, a tally only beaten by inaugural inductee Alan Shearer, and also provided 103 assists. Thanks to his raw talent and technical ability, Rooney was chosen the Premier League’s Player of the Season 2009/10 and was named Player of the Month five times.
Rooney played and scored the first goal at the PL for Everton when he was 16 years old. Two years later, he joined Manchester United. Then he returned to Everton, scoring 10 goals, before moving to DC United in MLS. He came back to English football at Derby County, where he is presently the manager.
Meanwhile, Vieira captained Arsenal to have won three PL titles during 11 seasons. He was a colossal presence in the midfield of the English team from 1996 to 2005, having scored 31 goals and provided 34 assists in 307 PL matches. He won the title three times with the club.
Thanks to his power, tough tackling, as well as pinpoint passing and ruthless finishing, Vieira won the Player of the Season 2000/01 award and became one of the greatest central midfielders of his time. Vieira finished his PL playing career as a midfielder of Manchester City. He became the manager of Crystal Palace last summer.
Named in an elite club
A list of 25 other nominees who have the ability to join the PL Hall of Fame 2022 will be announced later, with fans invited to help choose 6 names.
Voting will be available at the website and the app of PL until 21:00 BST on 3rd April.
A PL Hall of Fame event will be held to formally honor the eight inductees later next month.
Contribution to a charity
All inducted nominees will be presented with a medallion engraved with their name and the year of their induction, along with £10,000 that will be donated to a charity of their choice.
Being inducted into the Hall of Fame, Vieira and Rooney join eight of the most iconic players in the history of the League.
