Rutgerus Johannes Martinus van Nistelrooij (commonly spelled as van Nistelrooy; born 1 July 1976 in Oss, North Brabant) is a Dutch footballer who plays as a striker for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid C.F. He is currently the third-highest goalscorer in Champions League history, behind Raúl and Andriy Shevchenko, with fifty-seven goals. He is a three-time Champions League top scorer, as well Read more...

Van Nistelrooy has 64 caps and thirty-three goals for the Netherlands. His first tournament was Euro 2004, where he and the Czech Republic's Milan Baroš were the only players to score in all three group stage matches.

He was part of coach Marco van Basten's squad for the 2006 World Cup finals, for which he served as the official FIFA/SOS ambassador. He started, and was substituted, in Read more...

Van Nistelrooy married his girlfriend, Leontien Slaats, in July 2004. The couple had their first child, a girl named Moa Annette, in September 2006, and a son, Liam, in March 2008.