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Matthew Rhys "Matt" Holland (born April 11, 1974 in Bury, England) is an Irish footballer currently playing for Charlton Athletic in the Football League Championship.

Initially rejected by Arsenal for being 'too small' he went to West Ham United where he moved up the ranks of the academy but never played for the first team.

In January 1995 Holland moved to Bournemouth, where before long he was handed the captain's armband and played 116 games scoring 18 goals. It didn't take long before George Burley took the dynamic midfielder to Ipswich Town.

In July 1997 Holland was signed for £800,000 and soon cemented himself as a crowd favourite and again was given the captain's armband. Whilst at Ipswich he captained the club into the Premier League and then into Europe before being relegated in 2002.

On his return from the 2002 World Cup Holland turned down a £4.5 million offer from Aston Villa. 10 months later Charlton came in for him with an initial offer of £750,000 rising to £900,000. Again with this move he assumed the captain's armband and was ever present in his first season for the club. This consistency followed on from his time at Ipswich where he had played an amazing 223 consecutive games, missing only one league match in six years due to international duty, and totalled over 300 appearances including 46 goals. He has now made over 100 appearances for the south east London based club.

Although born in England, he qualifies to play for Ireland through his grandmother and went with Republic of Ireland to the 2002 World Cup scoring the equaliser against Cameroon in their opening game. Ireland were eliminated from this tournament in a Second Round penalty shootout against Spain and Matt was selected to take a penalty.

Following Ireland's failure to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, he announced his retirement from international football, in early February 2006 having made 49 appearances bagging 5 goals.

He was one of several players and managers (including Danny Mills and Paul Jewell) who acted as summarisers for BBC Radio Five Live during the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Holland has also appeared on the BBC television program A Question of Sport.

Holland has one son, living in California, USA

• Matt Holland career stats at Soccerbase

v • d • e Republic of Ireland squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Given • 2 Finnan • 3 Harte • 4 Cunningham • 5 Staunton • 6 Roy Keane • 7 McAteer • 8 Holland • 9 Duff • 10 Robbie Keane • 11 Kilbane • 12 Kinsella • 13 Connolly • 14 Breen • 15 Dunne • 16 Kiely • 17 Quinn • 18 G. Kelly • 19 Morrison • 20 O'Brien • 21 Reid • 22 Carsley • 23 A. Kelly • Coach: McCarthy