Bale and Milner receive MBE’s in Queen’s birthday honours list, Ferdinand gets OBE

Wales captain Gareth Bale has been awarded an MBE for services to football and charity in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Liverpool’s James Milner has also been awarded one, whilst former Manchester United and England international Rio Ferdinand has been given an OBE for the same services.

Bale is arguably British football’s greatest export after a trophy-laden nine-year spell at Real Madrid.

He became the first UK player to win the Champions League on five occasions when Real beat Liverpool in Paris on Saturday – his final involvement for the Spanish club.

Bale was twice named Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year at Tottenham before moving to Real in 2013 for a then-world record fee of £85million.

He has won La Liga three times among many titles with Real and scored over 100 goals, including three in Champions League finals.

He also inspired Wales to qualification for the 2016 and 2020 European Championships, and will lead the way in their World Cup play-off final on Sunday.

Bale has donated over €1million to hospitals in Wales and Spain in April 2020 in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, and has also supported other charities in his home country.