England goalkeeper Robert Green is a mainstay of the West Ham United first team, starting 88 consecutive Barclays Premier League matches up until the end of the 2008/09 season.

Green joined West Ham from Norwich City, where he made 241 appearances in all competitions, in August 2006 for a fee that could rise to £2m. After initially battling Roy Carroll and Jimmy Walker for the jersey, he established himself as the club's No1 goalkeeper in February 2007.

At Norwich, Green made his debut in the East Anglian derby draw with Ipswich Town as a 19-year-old in April 1999. He helped the club to promotion to the Barclays Premier League in 2004, only to suffer relegation back to the Championship 12 months later.

Green made his debut in claret and blue in the 1-0 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane on 22 October 2006. However, he would lose his place to Carroll before returning in 1-0 home loss to Watford on 10 February 2007.

Having forced his way back into the side, Green played an influential role in helping the Hammers stave off relegation to the Championship with a string of superb displays, none more so than in the club's memorable 1-0 victories at Arsenal and Manchester United.

Green's heroics were rewarded with a new long-term contract in the summer of 2007.

The signing of former England international Richard Wright put pressure on Green at the beginning of the 2007/08 season, but he responded by playing all 38 Barclays Premier League matches, saving three penalties and being voted Hammer of the Year by the club's supporters.

June 2008 saw Green travel to Africa with the charity AMREF (African Medical and Research Foundation). There, he visited projects in Kenya and Tanzania before climbing the continent's highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro.

The 2008/09 season saw Green continue to put up consistently impressive performances for the club, none more so than in the 4-1 home win over Blackburn Rovers on 30 August, when he saved Jason Roberts' penalty, and the goalless draw at Liverpool on 1 December. Green's form was again noted by the fans, who voted him player of the month for August 2008 and Hammer of the Year runner-up.

At international level, Green has been a regular England squad member since first being named as an unused substitute by Sven-Goran Eriksson for the friendly draw with Sweden in Gothenburg in March 2004.

Green made his debut for his country as a half-time substitute in the 3-2 friendly victory over Colombia at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on 31 May 2005.

A year later, his hopes of being named in Eriksson's 2006 FIFA World Cup squad were shattered when he suffered a ruptured groin in a 'B' international against Belarus at Reading's Madejski Stadium on 25 May 2006.

While he has been named in more than 30 full England squads in total, the goalkeeper - popularly known as 'England's No6' by the Boleyn Ground faithful - had to wait until 11 February 2009 to make his second appearance for his country, again as a half-time substitute, in the 2-0 friendly defeat by Spain in Seville.