Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional footballer, who plays as a central midfielder for the England national team.He is Chelseas all-time leading goalscorer. He is considered by some journalists, and some current players to be one of the best midfielders of his generation. Lampard began his career at West Ham United, for whom his father Frank Lampard, Sr. had also played. He secured a place in the first team by the 1997–98 season, and the following year helped the team finish 5th in the Premier League, their highest-ever Premier League placing. In 2001, he moved to rival London club Chelsea for £11 million.
From his début, he was ever-present in the Chelsea first team and made 164 consecutive Premier League appearances, a record for an outfield player.[9] He established himself as a prolific scorer at the west London club and was a key part of the sides which won back-to-back Premier League titles in 2004–05 and 2005–06 and a domestic cup double in 2007. He signed a new contract in 2008, becoming the highest-paid Premier League footballer at that time,[10] and scored in his first Champions League Final that year. He won a second FA Cup winners medal in 2009, scoring the winning goal in the final. In the 2009–10 season, Lampard helped Chelsea secure their first league and FA Cup Double, and also had his most prolific season with the club, scoring 22 league goals and 17 league assists. In 2012, Lampard captained Chelsea to their first UEFA Champions League success and a year later to their first UEFA Europa League title. He was released by the club after the 2013–14 season.
A three-time Chelsea Player of the Year, Lampard is the clubs all-time top goalscorer with 211 goals in all competitions.Lampard is one of seven players, and the only midfielder, to have scored 150 or more goals in the Premier League. He is second in the Premier Leagues all-time assists table, behind Ryan Giggs. In 2005, Lampard was voted FWA Footballer of the Year and was runner-up in both the FIFA World Player of the Year and the Ballon dOr. In 2010 he received the FWA Tribute Award.
Internationally, Lampard has been capped over 100 times by England since making his debut in October 1999, and has scored 29 international goals. He was voted England Player of the Year for two consecutive years in 2004 and 2005. He played in Euro 2004, where he was named in the team of the tournament after scoring three goals in four games. He was top scorer for England in their 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign with five goals, and played in the 2006 World Cup. He is Englands most prolific penalty taker with nine goals, surpassing the previous record holders, Ron Flowers and Alan Shearer.
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 4 May 2014.
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15 November 2013
Personal life
Lampard attended Brentwood School between 1989 and 1994, finishing with eleven GCSEs, including an A* in Latin.
His father is Frank Lampard senior, the former West Ham United player and assistant manager who was still associated with the club when Lampard junior was playing for them. His mother Pat died in April 2008 aged 58 as a result of pneumonia. Lampards uncle is Harry Redknapp and his cousin is Redknapps son Jamie Redknapp.
In 2000, Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and Kieron Dyer appeared on a sex video that was filmed at the holiday resort of Ayia Napa in Cyprus. Channel 4 aired a brief clip as part of their 2004 documentary Sex, Footballers and Videotape, claiming it was used to "remind the viewer that this is based on real life." On 23 September 2001, Lampard, along with three other Chelsea players was fined two weeks wages by the club for his behaviour whilst on a drinking binge on 12 September. Lampard and the others had abused American tourists at a Heathrow hotel, just 24 hours after the 11 September attacks. A hotel manager stated "they were utterly disgusting. They just didnt seem to care about what had happened".
It was reported by Mensa that Lampard showed an unusually high IQ score during neurological research carried out by the Chelsea doctor, Bryan English. English stated that "Frank Lampard scored one of the highest set of marks ever recorded by the company doing the tests".
In 2007, Lampard stated that he is a supporter of the Conservative Party.
Relationships
Lampard lives in Surrey and London. He has two daughters with his former fiancee, Spanish model Elen Rivas, Luna (born 22 August 2005) and Isla (born 20 May 2007). His autobiography, Totally Frank, was published in August 2006. In mid-February 2009, it was reported that Lampard and Rivas had split in November 2008 after seven years together.
Since October 2009, Lampard has been in a relationship with Christine Bleakley. On 15 June 2011, Lampards engagement to Christine Bleakley was announced by his agent.
On 24 April 2009, Lampard was involved in a radio confrontation with James OBrien on the London radio station LBC 97.3. Newspapers had reported that following Lampards split from Rivas their children were living with her in a small flat while Lampard had converted their family home into a bachelor pad. Lampard phoned in, objecting to criticism and asserting that he had fought "tooth and nail" to keep his family together.
International career
Fig : Lampard playing for Chelsea in 2008
Lampard was capped by England at youth level before making his under-21 debut on 13 November 1997 in a match against Greece. He played for the under-21 side from November 1997 to June 2000, and scored nine goals in 19 appearances, a mark bettered only by Alan Shearer and Francis Jeffers. He was capped once by England B, playing in a 2–1 home defeat to Chile on 10 February 1998.
Lampard earned his first cap for England on 10 October 1999 in a 2–1 friendly win over Belgium, and scored his first goal on 20 August 2003 in a 3–1 win over Croatia. Lampard became only the eighth English player to earn his 100th England cap, doing so in a friendly match against Ukraine, on 10 September 2013.
Euro 2004
He was bypassed for Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup, and had to wait until Euro 2004 to participate in his first international competition. England reached the quarter-finals with Lampard netting three goals in four matches. He scored against France and Croatia in the group stages, and in the quarter-final he equalised for England in the 112th minute against Portugal, bringing the scoreline to 2–2 but England lost on penalties. He was named in the team of the tournament by UEFA.
Post Euro 2004
He became a regular in the squad following the retirement of Paul Scholes, and was voted England Player of the Year by fans in 2004 and 2005. He was Englands top-scorer in their 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign with 5 goals. He scored two crucial goals in the qualifiers, the first against Austria in a 1–0 win, and the second, the winning goal against Poland.
2006 World Cup
In Englands first game of the tournament against Paraguay, Lampard was named Man of the Match as England won 1–0. Though Lampard played every minute of Englands 2006 World Cup matches, he went scoreless as England were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Portugal on penalties, and he was one of the three England players who missed their penalties, alongside Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher.
2007–09
He scored in a 2–1 loss to Germany in a friendly at the new Wembley in 2007.He was booed by England supporters while coming on as a second-half substitute during Englands Euro 2008 qualifying match against Estonia on 13 October 2007, and finished with one goal (in a 3–2 loss to Croatia on 21 November) as England failed to qualify for the tournament. He scored his first international goal in two years in a 4–0 win over Slovakia in March 2009, and also created another for Wayne Rooney. Lampards goal was the 500th England goal scored at Wembley. On 9 September 2009, Lampard struck twice in Englands 5–1 win against Croatia which secured their place at 2010 World Cup.
2010 World Cup and wrongly disallowed goal
In the round-of-16 match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup against rivals Germany, Lampard had a first-half shot at goal that bounced off the crossbar and from TV replays was clearly seen to cross the goal line. If counted, it would have tied the game 2–2. However, neither the referee nor the linesman saw it as a goal, and play was continued. In the second-half, Lampard hit the cross-bar again, with a 30-yard free-kick. The final score was a 4–1 win for Germany, eliminating England from the tournament.
As England exited the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Lampard had already achieved the record of having made 37 shots on goal without scoring in a World Cup tournament, more than any other player since 1966.
Euro 2012
Fig : Lampard taking a penalty in a Euro 2012 qualifier against Wales in March 2011
On 8 February 2011, it was announced that Lampard would captain the national team against Denmark in a friendly played the next day after both Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard were absent through injury. In the Euro 2012 qualifiers, Lampard netted two goals for England, both penalties. The first against Wales in a 2–0 win, and the latter vs Switzerland in a 2–2 draw, making Lampard Englands most prolific penalty taker ever.In November 2011, Lampard captained England to a 1–0 friendly victory over current World Champions Spain, a game in which he scored the only goal. On 31 May 2012, he was ruled out of the Euro 2012 due to a thigh injury. He was subsequently replaced by Jordan Henderson.
On 14 August 2012, manager Roy Hodgson announced that Lampard would captain the Three Lions in their upcoming friendly against Italy the following day, which England won 2–1.
2014 World Cup qualification
Lampard started Englands first game in qualification and starred as England thrashed Moldova 5–0, with Lampard scoring his 24th and 25th England goals. His first goal was Englands 100th ever penalty and his second was a header from a cross from Glen Johnson, after Steven Gerrard was substituted he captained the side.
Lampard scored his 26th international goal from the penalty spot against Ukraine equalling the amount of goals scored by Bryan Robson.
On 6 February 2013, Lampard scored the winning goal for England in a friendly match against Brazil at Wembley.
On 22 March, he surpassed David Platt as Englands second highest scoring midfielder when he scored his 28th international goal in a 0–8 win over San Marino.
GALLERY :
Fig : Chelsea players celebrate winning the UEFA Champions League
Fig : Lampard celebrating after winning the Premier League title with Chelsea
Fig : Lampard signing a match-day programme
Fig : Lampard celebrates winning the 2004–05 Premiership with Eiður Guðjohnsen and John Terry
Fig : Frank Lampard John Terry (2nd L) and Frank Lampard (2nd R) of. FC Bayern Muenchen v Chelsea FC - UEFA Champions League Final. In This Photo: Frank Lampard .
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